Never let it be said that Sweden is one-dimensional when it comes to music -- quite the opposite is true, in fact. The same country that gave listeners the frothy Europop pleasures of
ABBA and
Ace of Base has also given them an abundance of challenging avant-garde jazz. A noteworthy example of Sweden's ongoing love affair with the avant-garde is
Titbits, which
Position Alpha recorded live in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1993. Over the years, the Swedish outfit has had different lineups and provided different types of jazz;
Position Alpha even flirted with rock for awhile. On
Titbits, the band favors an acoustic sextet format that includes four reed players -- Thomas Jäderlund, Jonny Wartel, Sture Ericson, and Mats Eklöf -- as well as drummer Per Ekblad and percussionist
Jonny Axelsson. Neither bass nor piano is used, and the horn section does a lot to shape the album -- which is appropriate when you consider that
Position Alpha started out as an all-saxophone quintet back in 1979.
Titbits is avant-garde but not totally atonal; instead,
Position Alpha goes for an inside/outside approach on material that ranges from the 30-minute title track and the
Ornette Coleman-influenced "Fisk 14" to Jäderlund's dusky "Woody Herman" (which is actually closer to
Charles Mingus than
Woody Herman).
Titbits, for all its quirkiness and eccentricity, usually has discernible melodies -- again, this is not an album of atonal chaos, although it certainly isn't an album of Tin Pan Alley standards either.
Titbits falls short of remarkable, but it's a decent effort that's worth hearing if you have a taste for the avant-garde. ~ Alex Henderson