30 – 31 January LABS (Lunds Akademsika Blåsarsymfonkiker/ Lund’s Academic Symphonic Wind Orchestra) and LAK (Lunds Akademiska Kör/ Lund’s Academic Choir) performed two concerts of film music, in the St Andreas Church in Malmö on Saturday, and in the assembly hall of Lund’s university on Sunday. The two ensembles together plus a number of soloists equaled at least 80 people on stage, maybe as much as 90. We played music from Lord of the Rings (Howard Shore) and Henry V (Patrick Doyle). The main composer of the weekend was John Williams. From his extraordinary repertoire we played Star Wars Saga, a medley of themes from the original trilogy, Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List and Duel of the fates from Star Wars Episode I.

Williams is a living legend in the world of film scores. I’ve listened so much to his music through the years, but this was the first time I actually played it. I felt as excited as the little kid I saw in the audience who probably had never heard Star Wars live before. The way he marveled at the percussion section really made my day. Williams’s music, as well as the Star Wars films, is highly romantic, almost exaggeratedly romantic. I always loved exaggeration. Caricature for me is usually more real than realism. But that’s just me.

I listened to the complete scores for the original Star Wars trilogy at work all day today, since I wasn’t ready to leave that far away galaxy just yet. These clips are from our sunday concert in Lund. Enjoy!

Bobbe Big Band plays at Malmöfestivalen, Saturday from 10 pm (22.00) to midnight and beyond. The place is Swingtältet (The Swing Tent), which you’ll find at Södertull, entrance free of charge of course! We have some great guest stars: Ola Åkerman and Ola Nordquist on trombones, Niklas Fredin on trumpet and song, and Ralph Berger Torres on more percussion instruments than you can name. BBBs LatinSwing concerto also features singer CJ Lennartsson, our smooth singing friend from the All That Jazz concerts. We’ll give you a sneak peak of this autumn’s big BBB concert project, in which CJ will interpret pop and rock classics.

This poster – probably the greatest BBB ever had – was made by Alfred Gunnarsson. Check out his blog and portfolio at Salmiak Media. He made it for the first time we played the concert, in April at Babel in Malmö. Two of the organisers of Malmöfestivalen were in the audience and offered us to play in Swingtältet. Welcome to the party on Saturday!