Calling You Rigmor Gustafsson with Radio String Quartet Vienna

• 1Still Crazy After All These Years04:29
• 2Makin Whoopee03:50
• 3Goodbye For Now03:13
• 4I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself03:54
• 5Fancy Nancy02:25
• 6If It's Magic04:00
• 7Please Don't Stop04:00
• 8Close To You04:13
• 9Wherever We Go05:20
• 10The Dry Cleaner From Des Moines04:39
• 11Calling You05:01
• 12Nothing's Better Than Love03:24
• 13Ack Värmland du sköna05:38
• Total Runtime54:06

Info for Calling You

Vocals meet string quartet: unique, amazing and marvelous!

In musical history, the most pioneering collaborations were often the least obvious. Calling You will probably also be a surprise for most, as Swedish singer Rigmor Gustafsson joins forces with the radio.string.quartet.vienna. Both parties are certainly capable of surprises: Gustafsson has gained considerable attention with her interpretations of artists ranging from Dionne Warwick and Burt Bacharach to Michel Legrand, very different in style to the originals, whilst the radio.string.quartet.vienna succeeded in “changing the rules and prospects for the traditional string quartet” (The Guardian) in 2006, with Celebrating The Mahavishnu Orchestra.

Rigmor Gustafsson has long established herself as a prima inter pares amongst Sweden’s jazz singers. Having trained in America as well as her home country, she embodies the merits of both regions’ schools of jazz. Whether in her headstrong interpretations or, most recently, her own compositions on Alone With You, it is always the naturalness, the allure and the depth of her singing which stands out. “She has her soul in her voice,” summed up her friend and mentor Nils Landgren. The prominent late critic Werner Burkhardt added, “Her soul speaks to other souls.”

The radio.string.quartet.vienna also assumes an undisputable special position. With the violins of Bernie Mallinger and Johannes Dickbauer, which cover the entire sound spectrum, Asja Valcic’s furious cello and Cynthia Liao’s lascivious viola, the quartet can claim to have totally redefined the string quartet genre. No other ensemble emulates their balance between classically stringent sound architecture and improvisational imagination, the unique, brilliant, expressive power of the softest pizzicati to overwhelming rhythmic “stampedes”, unheard of up until now from strings. None other than John McLaughlin himself found them to be “simply unique.”

For those involved the collaboration was astonishingly logical. “The first time I heard the radio.string.quartet.vienna, in 2008 in Essen, I fell in love with them. I felt a special connection due to their homage to the Mahavishnu Orchestra. I played the guitar when I was a girl and my absolute hero was John McLaughlin which was probably, in hindsight, a bit unusual for a girl from a farm in Sweden without any musical tradition in her family,” says Gustafsson. Only a short while later she asked the Viennese group if they would be interested in working with her. Bernie Mallinger, the leader of the r.s.q.v., thought this was a “funny coincidence”. “For all of us, the Beatles were our first “drug” and we had, therefore, been toying with the idea of doing something with song for sometime already,” he explains. “Despite this though, we thought about it carefully beforehand. We wanted to maintain the special quality of the quartet and not end up, as is often the case with many string duets, as an accompanying “keyboard substitute”. Yet Gustafsson quickly ruled out this danger in her boundless trust: ‘You compose and I’ll sing!’”

This trust continued throughout the recording process. Each musician was allowed to contribute songs which were important to them and which would be suitable for the project. As such, the tracks range from pop songs such as Paul Simon’s “Still Crazy After All These Years” and Stevie Wonder’s “If It’s Magic”, to the Burt Bacharach classic “Close To You”, jazz standards (“Makin’ Whoopie”) and intricate rarities such as Joni Mitchell’s “Drycleaner from Des Moines” and Richard Bona’s “Please Don’t Stop”, as well as the Swedish folk song “Ack Värmeland Du Sköna”. This great musical richness is presented in the highly distinctive, sometimes warm, sometimes dynamic but always enjoyable style of the r.s.q.v., and carried by Gustafsson’s individual and moving voice.

Aptly enough, the greatest span in range is between the string quartet’s two own compositions: Asja Valcic’s “Fancy Nancy” is a crazy gallop whilst Johannes Dickbauer’s “Wherever We Go” is a heart-rending pop elegy. The title track was the last to make it onto the album, as Mallinger explains: “On the day before we went into the studio I was talking about films with my girlfriend and we got talking about “Out of Rosenheim”, which I had never seen before. A few hours later I rented it out and when I heard the unbelievable “Calling You” on the trailer, that evening, my girlfriend could see me getting increasingly restless. I spent nearly the whole night arranging the song and in the morning it was ready to practice and play.”

To describe the finished album as surprising would be a considerable understatement - there is probably no other song album which unites vocals and strings in such a way as to form the “tapestry” of emotions found here. r.s.q.v. and Rigmor Gustasson sound as though they were made for each other – in this case, one plus one equals one

Rigmor Gustafsson, vocals radio.string.quartet.vienna:Bernie Mallinger, violin Johannes Dickbauer, violin Cynthia Liao, viola Asja Valcic, cello

Produced by Rigmor Gustafsson with radio.string.quartet.vienna and Christoph Burgstaller
Executive Producer: Siegfried Loch
Recorded and mixed at 'Clipwerk', Vienna, by Christoph Burgstaller, June 7 - 10 and October 25 - 30, 2009
Mastered by Klaus Scheuermann

Rigmor Gustafsson
was born and grew up on a small farm in Värmland, in the very heart of Sweden. She picked up the guitar at age nine, and soon discovered her passion for jazz. It soon became clear that she wished to turn this passion into a career. But who was going to let a girl with a guitar play in their band? She had a wonderful voice, so she packed her guitar in its case and became a singer.

After her education at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm, she rapidly became known in Sweden as an excellent vocalist. She worked with various big bands, led her own small groups, performed on Swedish television and made numerous recordings for radio. In 1993 she moved to New York, to study at the New School and at Mannes College of Music with Sheila Jordan, Clark Terry, Richie Beirach, Phil Markovitz, Reggie Workman and Joe Chambers. She performed in the New York jazz clubs with Fred Hersch and Ted Rosenthal, recorded with Randy Brecker, Bob Mintzer and Dick Oatts, and soon Gustafsson herself was teaching at Mannes College of Music. She founded her first quintet, which toured all over Europe.

In 1996 Rigmor returned to Stockholm, was given a teaching position at the Royal Academy of Music and has since been regarded as a star of the young and lively Swedish jazz scene. In Germany the audience celebrated her performance at the JazzFest Berlin 2001 and she was immediately invited to the JazzBaltica Festival 2002, which presented her to a wider German audience as “a new star singer” (Jazzthetik). The same year she was a guest star on Nils Landgren’s highly successful album Sentimental Journey (ACT 9409-2) and in 2003 she presented her debut on ACT I Will Wait For You (ACT 9418-2), which established her firmly in the tradition of great Swedish jazz singers like Monica Zetterlund, Lill Lindfors, Sylvia Vrethammer or Alice Babs. I Will Wait For You rocketed up to second place in the German jazz charts and No.1 in Sweden, where she took over from Norah Jones, who had held place for 74 weeks. The German Jazz Award and a Gold record in Sweden were tangible rewards for the success of this album produced by Nils Landgren.

The following year Gustafsson and the French-American pianist Jacky Terrasson released a moving and sensual tribute to one of the greatest singers of pop culture, Dionne Warwick: Close To You (ACT 9703-2). Rarely have pop songs looked so good in jazz clothes. The new arrangements fit the soul-classics like a glove. The songs retain their pop identity, yet they have become exciting contemporary jazz. Gustafsson was not only rewarded with the Swedish Jazz Award, she was named “Best singer of the year” by Werner Burkhardt in the end-of the-year review in the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

On her next album On My Way to You (ACT 9710-2), released in February 2006, Gustafsson interpreted Michel Legrand’s world famous melodies from films with great jazz feeling. Some of his songs like “Windmills of Your Mind", "Once upon a Summertime" or "You Must Believe in Spring", have become part of the world's musical heritage, and Gustafsson û directed by producer Landgren û proves to be the ideal voice for these songs. Michel Legrand himself admits: “I am honoured that Rigmor has chosen to do some of my songs. She knocks me out!” On My Way to You even placed Gustafsson 12th in the Swedish POP charts, and the album won a gold record in Sweden.

Her current album Alone With You (ACT 9717-2, to be released in fall 2007), her fourth release on ACT, ventures into uncharted (for Gustafsson) territory. Although she has been writing music and also lyrics herself for years, Gustafsson is more known to the public for her exceptional and empathic versions of other people’s songs. Now she has taken another step forward and put together a highly personal album comprised exclusively of her own songs.

“Her soul speaks to other souls”, Werner Burkhardt wrote about her performance at JazzBaltica a few years back. One is hard put to find better words for her voice and her personality.

The radio.string.quartet.vienna are:
Bernie Mallinger – violin
He studied at the Music University Graz (Classical Violin/Concert). After finishing studies Mallinger stayed for some months in the USA (New School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, Juilliard School in New York). Since 1997 free-lancing artist. In the following years cooperation at about 100 CD- productions in the field of Jazz, Folk, Pop, and New Music. Stage work from duo up to work as soloist with big bands and orchestras. Performances in numerous theatre- and show productions. Since the winterterm 1999/2000 lectureship at the University of Art/Graz (dep. Jazz). Further pedagogical work within the frame of workshops and jazzdays in Austria, Spain, and in the USA.

Igmar Jenner – violin
Born 1980 in Berlin, studied chamber music at the Arts University in Graz. Scholar of the “Henri Mancini Institute Los Angeles”. Played with musicians such as Herbie Hancock, Bobby McFerrin and Vince Mendoza. Now working as a freelance composer and musician in Austria. Won the “Austrian World Music Award 2010” with the duo “Igmar Jenner & Borut Mori” (violin + accordion). Leader of the string ensemble “String Syndicate”.

Cynthia Liao – viola
Born in Taipeh, Taiwan. First studies of viola and composition in Taiwan. Studied viola at University for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna with Thomas Kakuska. 2000 graduation with the title “Magistra artium”. Chamber music studies with members of Artis Quartett, Wiener Sextett and Alban Berg Quartett. First solo performance at the age of 13. Subsequently concerts with orchestras in Austria (Vienna Mozart Orchestra), Italy, Taiwan, Corea and the USA. 1995-1997 Principal Viola of the "Wiener Jeunesse Orchester", 1998-1999 of the Vienna Chamber Opera and 2001-2003 of the milanese symphony orchestra “Giuseppe Verdi”. 2002 Invitations as soloist at the „Teatro La Fenice“ in Venice; 2004 group leader of the violas in Brucknerorchester Linz. Since 2003 Member of Vienna Chamber Orchestra and the Vienna Chamber Philharmonic. Since 2005 member of the Ensemble Reconsil Vienna for contemporary music. Liao performed with chamber orchestras at numerous festivals, as Wiener Festwochen, Bregenzer Festspiele, Klangfruehling Festival, Kammermusik Festival Stresa etc.

Asja Valcic – cello
Asja Valcic studied with V. Despalj (Zagreb/Croatia), L. Teraspusky (Massachusetts/USA), N. Schahovskaja (Moscow/Russia) and K. Georgian (Detmold, Germany). Graduation with Soloist's Diploma. She attended master classes with B. Pergamenchikov und B. Greenhouse. She has played chamber music with G. Schulz (Alban Berg Quartett), H. Schoneweg (Cherubini Quartett), I. Bolton (Brodsky Quartett), I. Bieler (Melos Quartett), A. Engegard (Orlando Quartett), T. Brandis (Brandis Quartett), and many others. As a soloist she performed with the Zagreb Philharmonic, Belgrade Philharmonic and the Westfälische Kammerorchester, conducted by the likes of Kazushi Ono and Zubin Mehta. In 1995 she won the „Concours international de jeunes concertistes de Douai“ in France. For her recordings of the Sonatas of Shostakovich and Schnittke she was awarded the German Record Critics' Award in 1998. Valcic is teaching at the music academy of Zagreb (Croatia), at the Dartington International School of Music/England, in Chioggia/Italy and at the university of music Detmold/Germany. Since 2008 she is playing in duo with Klaus Paier.

Booklet for Calling You