Bebe Risenfors - Piano ballads and improvisations

Have you ever listened to Alice or Blood Money by Tom Waits? Perhaps you caught Elvis Costello at the Copenhagen Opera House performing songs from his unfinished opera, The Lost Songs of H.C. Andersen. Or maybe you've heard Anne Sofie von Otter’s moving album Theresienstadt. If so, then you’ve already heard Bebe Risenfors play, and yet, it is only now that he has released a solo album. "Piano ballads and Improvisations" will be released in May.

For nearly 50 years, Bebe has composed music for many of the leading theaters in the Nordic region. He has also toured and recorded with a long list of Swedish artists and bands, including Bad Liver, Andi Almqvist, Nicolai Dunger, Rikard Wolff, Bo Kaspers Orkester, Peter Jöback, Peter LeMarc, Thorstein Bergman, Dom Smutsiga Hundarna, and many more.

"Piano ballads and Improvisations", released in May on the Ella Ruth-Institutet label, is a true solo effort. Bebe has composed the music and lyrics, sings, and plays piano, bass, saxophones, clarinets, trumpets, castanets—along with a wide range of other instruments. He also handled the recording, mixing, and mastering himself, crafting a collection of jazz ballads that reflect on today’s world.

With themes of climate crisis, war, and the absence of love and common sense, these are hardly cheerful songs. But as Albert Ayler once said: “Music is the healing force of the universe.”

For the live performances, Bebe has assembled FLEN, a quartet of young jazz musicians from Sweden and Denmark. Their latest album, Välkommen till (featuring Per "Texas" Johansson), took the Swedish jazz scene by storm in 2023.

On stage:
Bebe Risenfors – piano, vocals
Andreas Lundblom – trumpet
Marius Zeeberg – saxophones
Olle Lannér Risenfors – double bass
Kristian Remnelius – drums