Instrumental, English vocals
International relevance: ***
This is a bit of a stretch as this duo
wasn't technically Swedish. They did however operate in Sweden during
their short existence, releasing their lone album ”The Reality”
on a Swedish label.
Organist and singer Bruce Powell was
born and bred in Waukegan, Illinois, while noted drummer Wladyslaw
“Vlady” Jagiello was of Polish origin. They met in Stockholm in
1969 where Powell had a gig at the Grand Hotel. However, the gig was
cancelled when his Hammond B3 organ was damaged in transit. With the
instrument left for repair for a couple of days, he had some time off
in the Swedish capital. He met Jagiello at a local rock club. At the
club they sat in with the act for the evening, and the two musicians
got on well right away. The guys continued as a duo and got booked
for several gigs at jazz hangout Klubb Ernst. There they grabbed the
attention of Rune Wallebom, formerly of Swedish instro band The
Violents (also known for being rock'n'roll singer Jerry Williams
backing band). Wallebom was the co-owner of record label Svensk
American which mainly had various dance bands and other commercially
oriented singers in its roster. Wallebom promised Bruce & Vlady
that if they recorded an album for him and it sold in 20,000 copies,
he could break them in Great Britain. They taped the album in four
sessions which – of course – didn't sell a squat. Wallebom's wife
owned the other half of Svensk American, and when she divorced him,
she decided to dissolve the label almost immediately after ”The
Reality” was released, effectively ending all marketing and
promotion before it even had begun.
Being a drums and organ duo, it's easy
to initially mistake Bruce & Vlady for just another Hansson & Karlsson
or Sound Express. What most obviously sets ”The Reality” apart
from any of those bands is Powell's vocals, heavily steeped in
American soul music and with touches of the progressive jazz of the day. He's got a good clearly soul-inflicted voice that gives ”The Reality” the upper hand of other jazz steeped bands with a similar setting. With the
vocals as improvised as the music itself, the lyrics are mostly
on-the-fly soul clichés with a faint religious-cum-sociopolitical
bent in a slight 'life is hard, let's get together and we can make
it' vein. However, the vocals add a crucial element to the music.
The playing may
not be as intense as Hansson & Karlsson's at their most focused,
and on a few occasions Bruce & Vlady drop the ball rhytmically.
But nevertheless, they manage to create a certain darkish mood that
is quite appealing. Powell and Jagiello feed off each other's energy
going in directions that sometimes suggests a psychedelic vibe. The
album isn't a masterpiece and perhaps not one you'd play in any mood,
but once you put it on it's easy to get captured by its spirit.
”The Reality” has enough drive and
ideas that Bruce & Vlady could have built further upon had they
continued playing together, but Powell split Sweden soon after its
release in 1970 to return to the States. He later became a musical
director for a Milwaukee church. He lost touch with Jagiello whose
subsequent whereabouts I don't know anything about for certain,
although I seem to remember reading somewhere that he died or
disappeared under mysterious circumstances. (If anyone has any hard
facts on this, please drop me a line in the comments section below.)
As far as I know, none of the duo members ever recieved any royalties
for the Svensk American, but credible reissue label Vampisoul
relaunched the album to a positive reviews in 2015.
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