Staffan Harde - Staffan Harde (2015)

2015 release. A reissue of Staffan Harde's self-titled album, originally released on Svenska Jazzriksförbunded Records (SJR) in 1972. Based on the tiny Swedish fishing island of Smogen, guitarist Staffan Harde created a wholly unique and wondrous approach to his instrument, documented assiduously on hand-made reel-to-reel tapes and this lone LP from 1972, which features Harde solo and with small groups. His accomplices included pianist Lars Sjösten, bassist Lars-Urban Helje, and the acclaimed percussionist Bengt Berger, one of Don Cherry's close associates. The music presented on this extremely rare record is unusually singular. With an unadorned guitar tone, simple and straightforward, and low action, Harde's slinky, spidery runs and knotty, weirdly shaped chords have a surprisingly fresh sound four decades after he recorded them, with heavy chromaticism and a defiant rhythmic freedom. Basically unknown since this lone release, which he thought would gain more traction than it did, Harde retreated to work in a bakery on the island. A testament to both his strangeness and his brilliance, the eponymous LP has never before been reissued. Corbett Vs. Dempsey worked with Harde's family and saxophonist Mats Gustafsson, a huge Harde fan who lovingly produced the CD reissue for Corbett Vs. Dempsey. Photography by Björn Lindelöw. Remastered at Experimental Sound Studio, Chicago, 2015; Produced by Mats Gustafsson and John Corbett.