Jazz at its best is more cooperative than competitive. Pictured here is legendary Swedish bassist Palle Danielsson (center) with French pianist Michel Petrucciani (left) and American drummer Eliot Zigmund left. They performed and recorded as the Michel Petrucciani trio in the mid-late 1980s, most famously on “Pianism,” Petrucciani’s 1986 Blue Note debut.
With names like Grappelli, Petrucciani, and LeGrand, the French have the legacy heavyweights. BUT, Swedes like pianist Bobo Stenson and the late bassist Palle Daniellson have been indispensable to the "Nordic Sound," the distinct aesthetic of icy, atmospheric minimalism most associated with producer Manfred Eicher's ECM Records, the label famously known for producing "the most beautiful sound next to silence."
The Case for France
In France's case, the foundational names almost speak for themselves. Almost.
- Stephane Grappelli is the godfather of jazz violinists. He founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt (a Belgian by birth who spent the majority of his life from youth onward in and around Paris), influenced the next generation of French jazz violinists like the fusion-inclined Jean-Luc Ponty, and his recordings with Oscar Peterson, Gary Burton, and Joe Pass are simply indispensable to any library worth bragging about.
- Pianist and composer Michel Legrand studied with Nadia Boulanger, the mentor to several of the greatest musicians of the 20th century (Aaron Copland, Philip Glass, Quincy Jones, et. al.), performed and recorded with the best of the best American musicians including but not limited to Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans and Stan Getz, AND did all of this while becoming one of the most decorated film composers ever (Oscar wins for Summer of '42, Yentl, and The Thomas Crown Affair).
- In the late 1970s, trumpeter Clark Terry had a gig in Paris and needed a replacement piano player on short notice. When Terry saw Michel Petrucciani, all three feet of him, he thought someone must've been playing a joke on him. Terry soon found out that Petrucciani's playing was no joke. "He was a dwarf," Terry said, "but he played like a giant." Petrucciani, ever-aware of his mortality, is said to have approached recording like a man running out of time. He'll always be remembered for a vast catalogue of original solo recordings, a sometimes brash demeanor that belied his physical stature, and decorated partnerships with famed Americans like saxophonists Charles Lloyd and Wayne Shorter and guitarist Jim Hall.
- Richard Galliano: Because we're talking about France, it'd be malpractice not to highlight the most exciting jazz accordionist I've ever heard. Galliano's recorded with a who's who of international jazz superstars from Petrucciani and Italian trumpert master Enrico Rava to Chet Baker and American vocalist Kurt Elling. But the performance that hipped me to Galliano's brilliance — a 2019 guest appearance in Marciac, France with the Wynton Marsalis Quintet — remains the one I return to over and over again.
Contemporary French jazz, which for our purposes we'll define as newly jazz coming out of France over the course of my lifetime (mid 1980s onward) — straddles two worlds: On the one hand, a commitment to French-infused folk and Romani traditions (i.e. the Django/Grappelli-inspired Hot Club aesthetic) is ever present; on the other, the rising crop of French jazz musicians has proven adept at incorporating classic French motifs into a postmodern, increasingly genre-agnostic melange.
Because of the Django influence, French jazz guitarists seem to be held to the highest standards, and from the late 1980s onward, that standard bearer has probably been Bireli Lagrene. Personally, I've always loved 2015's D-Stringz (Impulse!) with founding Return to Forever bassist Stanley Clarke and fellow Frenchman Jean-Luc Ponty (violin).
But if we're talking the 2020s, I'd have to say that guitarists Michael Valeanu and Adrien Moignard are the two French jazz guitarists that have, at least for me, owned the front half of the decade. Synthesizing 100 years of tradition and filtering that through ears raised on the sounds of today, these guys are consistently adding vocabulary to this sacred, inherited language. Both have released excellent new music as solo artists and have put standout performances on wax as sidemen with French-American vocal sensation Cyrille Aimee.
As we look toward the 2030s, there are a trio of French instrumentalists I'm extremely high on: French-Malagasy pianist Mathis Picard, accordionist Vincent Peirani, and vibraphonist Simon Moullier.
Picard released what I still believe to have been the best live release of 2024, The Royal Room: Live in Seattle (La Reserve). Joined by drummer Jonathan Pinson and bassist Parker McCallister, Picard — born in France, educated in London and then at Juilliard — displays a mastery of the piano that's comprehensive. He’s capable of expressing his virtuosity in so many different musical tongues that one begins to wonder: is this what music classified as “contemporary jazz” should be capable of? If so, it will be a mighty high bar to clear.
Peirani, meanwhile, following in Galliano's footsteps, has become the world's leading and most sonically expansive voice on jazz accordion. Ironically (at least for this particular context), it was a recording date with Swedish guitarist Ulf Wakenius that put Peirani on Siegfried Loch's radar. Loch's the head man and founder of ACT Music, where Peirani's released about a dozen titles as a leader, the most recent being last year's Living Being IV: Time Reflections. Joined by some of the most exciting young instrumentalists defining the Parisian scene right now — saxophonist Emile Parisien, bassist Julien Herne, pianist Tony Paeleman, and drummer Yoann Serra — Time Reflections is a gorgeous record, easily the most electrifying accordion-led recording I've ever heard.
And, presently based in New York City, vibraphonist Simon Moullier, born and raised in the northwestern French city of Nantes, is no doubt one of the half-dozen most buzzed about mallet-wielders in the world right now, gigging and recording frequently with some of the brightest rising stars on the NYC scene, like bassist Alex Claffy, drummer J.K. Kim, and Icelandic vocal jazz/pop sensation Laufey. Which is all well and good...but wait until you hear him on saxophonist Ben Wendel's new album, Barcode, due out next month (March 2026) from Edition Records. Wendel wrote every tune on the album for saxphone and four of the most forward-thinking vibraphonists working today: Joel Ross, Patricia Brennan, Juan Diego Villalobos, and Moullier. It's truly stunning, groundbreaking work that will make you rethink what five brilliant musicians in the same room are capable of.
The Case for Sweden
With the Scandanavians, you're more likely to recognize them by sound than by name. Swedish instrumentalists have, for nearly half a century now, been integral in developing and refining the house styles at the major independent record labels in Europe, most notably ECM and ACT, both based in Munich.
Here are some classic names you need to know:
- Lars Gullin (bari sax): Gerry Mulligan's writing and playing on Birth of the Cool hipped Gullin to the "enormous" sonic possibilities of the baritone saxophone. He was a first-call local bari-man for American stars touring in Stockholm, playing with Lee Konitz, James Moody, Clifford Brown, Zoot Sims, and Chet Baker, who once told an interviewer he thought Gullin "played with more fire and authority" than Gerry Mulligan.
- Bobo Stenson: The pianist who, through collaborations Arild Andersen/Palle Danielsson (bass), Jon Christensen (drums), and Jan Garbarek (saxophone), helped craft Manfred Eicher's signature sound at ECM. Also played and recorded with Americans Don Cherry (trumpet), Charles Lloyd (saxophone), Gary Burton (vibes) and Paul Motian (saxophone) and shared the aforementioned rhythm section of Danielsson and Christensen with label-mate Keith Jarrett. A committed improviser, one of his stated goals is "to never do the same thing twice."
- Esbjorn Svensson: Pianist. Best known for the eponymously named trio (e.s.t.) — with drummer Magnus Ostrum and bassist Dan Berglund — he led from the early 1990s until his untimely death in 2008. That trio's fourth release, From Gagarin's Point of View (ACT Music, 1999), blew up internationally; going forward, e.s.t. was favorably compared to cinematically inclined, pop-curious piano-jazz peers across the pond like The Bad Plus, Brad Mehldau, and the Pat Metheny Group.
- Palle Danielsson: If the bassist is a band's anchor, then Danielsson was nothing short of ECM's anchor from the 1970's through the early 2000s, appearing on record dates led by Bobo Stenson and Jan Garbarek, Peter Erskine, Enrico Rava, and Keith Jarrett, among others. Jarrett's Belonging (ECM,1974), with Garbarek (sax), Christensen (drums), and Danielsson (bass) is cited by critics and musicians alike as a masterpiece, and I couldn't agree more enthusiastically.
The contemporary names you're going to want to know:
- Elsa Nilsson (flute): Born and raised in Gothenburg (Sweden's second-largest city), Nilsson now lives in Brooklyn, actively gigs in NYC, and is a member of the jazz studies faculty at the New School. Over her last several albums, her original compositions have drawn inspiration from her natural surroundings. 2024's Quila Quina (Ears and Eyes Records), a flute/piano duop with Argentine pianist Santiago Leibson, took awe-inspiring cues from Patagonian region of the same name. Her most recent release, last year's Glaciers (Gateway Music) with Danish vibraphonist Martin Fabricius, comprises 13 entirely improvised pieces recreating the sound and feeling of glaciers melting, freezing, moving, fracturing. It's definitely abstract, but certainly a deeply provocative exercise.
- Klas Lindquist (clarinet/saxophone): Long one of the most popular and decorated jazz instrumentalists and bandleaders in Stockholm, Lindquist was a revelation for me on last year's At Home (Turtle Bay Records), a duo outing with vocalist/pianist Champian Fulton.
- Norbotten Big Band: Not to be forgotten is this big band from Norbotten (the northernmost county of Sweden). These guys made their way onto my radar after collaborating with vocalist Michael Mayo, who, along with Tyreek McDole, is the most exciting young male voice in today's jazz world. While Mayo was touring Scandanavia, he stopped off to record in the remote wilds of northern Sweden, where he found this amazing collection of musicians with whom to record. Conductor Calle Rasmussen's arrangements of tunes from Mayo's Fly take an already incredible, Grammy-nominated album to a whole 'nother level.
