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Zethson, Alex / Johan Jutterstrom: It Could / If I (Thanatosis  Produktion / Astral Spirits)

The first duo album from Stockholm's long-standing duo of Johan Jutterström and Alex Zethson, reimagining songs from jazz standards to Leonard Cohen and the Pet Shop Boys as deconstructed etudes and expressive palimpsests, where meaning emerges through reinterpretation, erasure, and the intimate process of performance and transformation.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Alexander Zethson-piano

Johan Jutterstrom-saxophone


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Label: Thanatosis Produktion / Astral Spirits
Catalog ID: THT39/ AS246
Squidco Product Code: 36071

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2025
Country: Sweden
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at Hugoteatern, Stockholm University of the Arts, The University College of Opera, on September 2nd, 2023. by Goran Stegborn.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"A joint release from US label Astral Spirits (Austin, Texas) and Thanatosis Produktion (Stockholm), It could / If I is the first album from Stockholm-based, longstanding duo Johan Jutterstrom (saxophone) and Alex Zethson (piano). In addition to the duo's own reimaginations of a few so- called jazz standards, it contains songs by artists such as Leonard Cohen, Pet Shop Boys, John Lurie, and German 19th century composer Alexander Fesca.

"On this record what tunes are played somehow matters less than how they are played. The next to arbitrary choice of playing songs with titles that start with either It could or If I is given meaning only after that choice is made, when there's something to play, during the rearranging of them, and more importantly - during the playing of them. Everything from standards heavily rearranged into disparate etudes to original compositions. In a sense approaching them somewhat like palimpsests; scrubbing away at the songs in order to add new meaning to them while hoping that what was will still be possible to make out. Then, perhaps, it can start to make sense.

Love, want and anxiety - trying to stick jazz music, constantly approaching it, constantly getting closer but never meeting it at any infinite distance: 'It could have been very very beautiful, if I only ...'-thanatosis produktion/ Astral Spirits



"A5, B1 arranged by Johan Jutterström.
A1, B2, B4, B5 arranged by Alex Zethson & Johan Jutterström.
Compositions by: Alexander Fesca (A1), Johan Jutterström* (A2-A4, B3), Ralph Rainger (A5), Frank Loesser (B1), John Lurie (B2), Chris Lowe, Ennio Morricone, Neil Tennant (B4), Leonard Cohen (B5).
*A3 is a rearrangement by Jutterström of It could happen to you (Jimmy Van Heusen). A4 is a rearrangement by Jutterström of If I had you (Ted Shapiro, Jimmy Campbell & Reg Connelly). "


Artist Biographies

"Alexander Zethson has completed the bachelor performance programme in jazz at KMH and is currently studying at the second year of the master's programme with Lisa Ullén as his primary instrument teacher.

Alexander has participated in extensive concert and tour activities and has participated in fifteen record productions. The ensembles include:

• Niklas Barnö's free jazz group Je Suis!• A number of tours in Europe with Martin Küchen's group Angles 9

Alexander is also active as arranger and pianist in collaboration with the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, a cooperation which began in 2011. Zethson, Sofia Jernberg and Lene Grenager has arranged music from Hallingdal and Røros performed by the TJO with Zethson, Jernberg and violinist/Hardanger fiddler Olav Luksengård Mjelva."

-KMH Royal College of Music in Stockholm (https://www.kmh.se/alexander-zethson-received-the-rosenborg-gehrmans-scholarship)
4/9/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

Johan Jutterström is a Swedish woodwind player, known for the groups Belle, Crime Scenes, J/L Duo, and STHLM Svaga.

-Discogs, Johan Jutterstr website (http://johanjutterstrom.weebly.com/cv.html)
4/9/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Ob Ich Dich Liebe 03:30

2. If I (Talamod) 02:38

3. It Could Happen 02:58

4. If I Had (House In Bb. Major) 03:38

5. If I Should Lose You 02:18

6. If I Were A Bell 02:34

7. It Could Have Been Very Very Beautiful 04:15

8. It Could (Etude 23) 04:50

9. It Couldn't Happen Here 04:30

10. If I Didn't Have Your Love 03:41

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
Melodic and Lyrical Jazz
European Improvisation, Composition and Experimental Forms
Duo Recordings
Piano & Keyboards
Recordings by or featuring Reed & Wind Players
New in Improvised Music
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