Ove Lind

Sweden's leading clarinetist Ove Lind earned widespread domestic acclaim for a style shaped by Benny Goodman. Early associations took him first to Simon Brehm's band in 1949, then into Thore Swanerud's sextet and, from 1952 to 1954, the Swinging Swedes. Beginning in 1954, Lind and bassist Gunnar Almstedt jointly directed a quartet that included pianist Bengt Hallberg for a period; the group expanded to sextet size in 1956 and remained active through 1962. Throughout the next thirty years Lind worked as a freelancer in both middle-of-the-road pop and jazz, appearing on numerous sessions—one of them a 1970 date with Teddy Wilson—and heading his own dates for Swedish CBS in 1966, Gazell in 1968 and 1970, Euphonic in 1969 and 1974, plus Grammofonverket, Sveriges Radio, Phillips, EMI, and Phontastic from 1975 to 1980, often with vibraphonist Lars Erstand on hand.