GUNNAR NILSON & CARL HENRIC NORINS ORKESTER: SIL-JA-BLOO

I may be biased (since I come from the same town, Luleå), but I think Gunnar "Siljabloo" Nilson (1925-89) was one of the best European male scat singers. Anyhow, scat singing was his trademark and he got his nickname from this recording. He was very successful in Stockholm during the 1940s and 1950s as a singer and clarinetist, and he enjoyed it very much. Maybe a bit too much since he got problems with alcohol, which started to dominate his career instead of the music. He disappeared from the music scene and was gone for many years, until he was rediscovered in the late 1960s. He got back on his feet and started recording and performing again. One great album I can really recommend is "That's my desire" from 1971. He kept on touring, performing and recording until his death in 1989. He died by the way on a train journey between his home in Gothenburg and a gig in Västerås.
This recording from 1953 was released on the Roulette label, which has nothing to do with the American New York based Roulette label, which was founded a few years later. The Swedish Roulette label must have some sort of connection with the Triola label (see blogpost about Sonya Hedenbratt), since I've found records with the sleeve stating that it's a Roulette record and then the record has a Triola label. Maybe Triola reissued Roulette records - I don't know.

Not far from where I grew up in the town Luleå, a house was named after Gunnar "Siljabloo" Nilson shortly after his death. It was named "Träffpunkt Siljabloo" (I would translate that to "Rendezvous Siljabloo" since it's not only a good translation - it rhymes as well). During my years as a musician in the 1990s, I played there myself a couple of times.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Gunnar Siljabloo Nilson
• Carl Henric Norin
• 78 rpm
• record collecting

[gosta9]

Suveränt!!!!!!