Gugge Hedrenius Big Blues Band – Live! Feat. Thad Jones & Mel Lewis / Opus 3 Records

Before founding the Opus 3 label, Jan-Eric Persson had already worked for several major labels and Swedish radio as a sound and recording engineer. During this time, Persson met big band leader Gugge Hedrenius.

The two quickly became friends, and Persson repeatedly recorded live concerts and studio recordings of the big band when the opportunity arose. A few months before the official launch of Opus 3, in September 1975 to

be precise, this concert recording was made of the Stockholm-based combo, which included some of Sweden's most renowned jazz musicians among its members. At the same time, two true jazz greats from the USA were

guest performers in Gugge Hedrenius' band: Mel Lewis and Thad Jones. This unique audio document only recently resurfaced in the archives of the renowned Swedish label and shows how much the two American musicians

and the musicians around Gugge Hedrenius inspired each other to perform at their best. Beyond that, this magnificent production is also a splendid example of Jan-Eric Persson's understanding of reduced analog recording art.

The LP (180-gram vinyl, 33 RPM), which boasts outstanding sound quality, was pressed by Optimal Media. Andreas “Lupo” Lubich (Calyx Mastering, Berlin) is responsible for the lacquer disc cutting.

MUSICIANS

Gugge Hedenius Big Blues Band: Gugge Hedrenius, Anders Lindskog, Anders Norell, Bernt Rosengren, Bertil Lövgren, Bertil Strandberg, Bosse Broberg, Carl Lundborg, Charlie Malmberg, Chris Holmström, Christer Boustedt,

Dave Castle, Dicken Hedrenius, Georg Riedel, Göran Larsén, Håkan Nyqvist, Håkan Werling, Hank Crawford, Hector Bingert, Henrik Blommé

Lasse Lundström: bass
Mel Lewis: drums 
Thad Jones: trumpet 

Opus 3 is an independent Swedish music label dedicated to recording timeless acoustic music such as jazz, blues, folk and classical. Founded in late 1976 by sound engineer Jan-Eric Persson, the label has made it its mission to reproduce

voices and instruments as naturally as possible. To achieve this, Opus 3 selects recording environments with good natural. The label's recording techniques were developed specifically for acoustic music and were originally based on the use

of tube gear and “Blumlein” miking. In 2001, Opus 3 switched to digital eight-track technology and later to 16 channels – in the brand-new mixing and mastering studio designed and set up by Sweden's leading acoustic engineer Lennart Nilsson

to mark the label's 30th anniversary. Apart from a few digital intermediate steps all processing is still done exclusively analog.

We recommend the use of "L'Art du Son" LP cleaner to wet wash your vinyl. Even new records of high quality production will benefit from this.

Title

Side A
1. Stoney Lonesome
2. Angel Eyes
3. Easy
4. SBMN Blues

Side B
1. Big Blues Waltz
2. Big Blues Brent
3. Big Blues Samba
4. Kick Off Blues – Part Of.