Samuel Hällkvist Center

Samuel Hällkvist has been appointed Jazz in Sweden artist 2010, a prestigious award that Caprice Records and Concerts Sweden have been giving annually since 1972, comprising an album release, a launch and a tour in Sweden and abroad during the year 2010.

Samuel says that two of the songs on the album were written for a project where the idea was to write a song every day, on the train to and from work. “Limitations and chance are things I use when I write music, ideas and processes are more important to me than the final result”, he explains.

The music takes unexpected turns and Samuel wants it to sound like the soundtrack of a film that doesn’t exist. He can play the guitar like a true virtuoso, but to him, atmospheres where there’s room for the imagination are more important than solo performances. “… that the music is saying something, whatever that may be”, he explains. In order not to make the record too experimentally predictable, Samuel has included Bill Monroe’s bluegrass classic “Blue Moon of Kentucky”.

Samuel Hällkvist was born in 1980 in the province of Dalarna, in the village Gustafs, and grew up with hard rock and metal. The fierce group Slayer was, and still is, one of the favorites. But one day in his teens back in Gustafs, someone had left a jazz record in the CD-player when he put it on. This changed Samuel’s life – he started playing the guitar, eventually got into the jazz programme at Skurup’s folk high-school, only to complete his studies at Malmö Academy of Music.

Today, Samuel lives in Copenhagen, playing with bands such as Television Pickup, Rhododendron String Band and 15,5. During 2010 he will focus on the new group Samuel Hällkvist Center and the launch of their first album.