It is January 2020 and no one knows that we are about to face a pandemic. At the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm, a jazz concert is held – an unusual event within Piano Visions’ recital series. The program lists "Hultén and Forkelid" for this concert which will be both acclaimed, recorded, stored and matured until 2024.
We are now releasing pretty much the entire concert as an album, so you can enjoy the pre-pandemic sounds.

Pianist Adam Forkelid and saxophonist Örjan Hultén met as colleagues at Bollnäs Folk High School. Together, they formed the group now called Örjan Hultén Orion. The duo reunited for this unique concert, where they also played some Orion songs as well as newer compositions.
Their interplay is telepathic, heartfelt and humorous. Someone in the audience described it as “melodic avant-garde”, hence the album title.
Stockholm 2024

Track list:
1. January Blues
2. Dark Maze
3. Lights
4. Sorrow-Silence Suite: 1. Sorrow
5. Sorrow-Silence Suite: 2. Silence
6. Etyd 1
7. Reminiscence
8. Bartok’s Playground
9. Radio In My Head

Digital booklet - pdf >>

Recorded live at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm on 11 January 2020.
Recording and production: Leonardo Wehlander and Johan Sandback
Cover art (drawing): Jenny Svenberg Bunnel

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Selected quotes:

"Detta är briljant. Avancerat och enkelt på samma gång."
-Jazzporten

"Delivers everything one might wish for in a Jazz album: great music, spirited improvisations and an obvious love of the act of playing music. Wholeheartedly recommended!"
-Adam Baruch - The Soundtrack Of My Life

"Det låter på alle slags strålende av det melodiske og vakre møtet mellom to strålende instrumentalister som tydeligvis stortrives i hverandres selskap."
- Nettavisen

"Häpnadsväckande hur de förmår upprätthålla skivlyssnarens intresse med bara två sammanflätade instrument i över 50 minuter ... så lycklig blir jag av deras eminent elastiska samarbete och den väsentliga musik duon skapat." 4/5
- Kulturbloggen

"Om någon undrar om en duo av det slaget fungerar är svaret ett tveklöst ja. Tycker man om John Coltrane, Stan Getz och Sonny Rollins - med en tillsats av Ornette Coleman - så borde Avant-garde Mélodique vara en solklar vinnare." 4/5
- Kulturdelen

”Ett möte i den högre skolan med två starka, drivande, kreativa, självständiga men också inlyssnande musiker”
- OrkesterJournalen


The album on Spotify:




The album on YouTube: