I Will Do It

Pop with jazzy, a sometimes slightly melancholic touch, but also with humor within reach. Patrick Rydman belongs to the rare kind of singers that merges jazz with other genres in a completely natural and magnificent manner. Born and raised outside of Gothenburg, Patrick Rydman is a rare occurrence on the Swedish music scene: A male jazz singer of the younger generation who furthermore writes his own material. His music sounds like poetic singer/songwriter jazz with strong pop sentiments and a little bit of circus, according to Patrick himself. Influenced by songwriters like Bacharach, Jobim, Paddy McAloon, Bill Withers and Joni Mitchell, raised on pop songs and tunes from the Great American Songbook, the resulting mix is Patrick's own: melodic, personal, groovy, intimate and full of variation. Patrick has been seen and heard on the Swedish music and theater scene in a multitude of groups, projects and productions. He is a singing, composing and arranging member of the vocal ensemble Amanda with numerous shows in Sweden and abroad and two Swedish Grammy nominations to their credit. He has produced and written songs for other artists, worked as a theater musician, composed for the stage and radio, sung Burt Bacharach-hits in the cult show The Missing Fortnight and been featured vocal soloist with Bohusln Big Band on several occasions. Apart from his original material, he has sung a large part of the Great American Songbook, where he has collaborated extensively with piano player Anders Persson (who has played with Toots Thielemans, Jim Beard and Viktoria Tolstoy to name but a few) having as a guiding light the classic recordings of Bill Evans and Tony Bennett. 50's, 60's and 70's soul, pop and rock n' roll hits and contemporary classics are also part of his vast repertoire. The jazz influence originally comes from his father who was a talented amateur musician and an avid be-bop listener. Originally starting with the trumpet (which he still plays from time to time, including on his own recordings), Patrick moved on to the drums and in his later teens started focusing on his singing. I Will Do It is his debut as a solo artist. PRESS QUOTES: Not only the cover of I Will Do It oozes nostalgia. When you open the cover there is a black CD that looks like vinyl, where you can even see the 'tracks'. Very neatly done. Patrick Rydman makes his solo debut with this record, but his musical track listing is long. He is for example a member of the Amanda vocal ensemble and has also been singing with Bohusln Big Band, which shows the scope of his artistry. This is also mirrored in the album which offers a mix of jazz, pop and singer/songwriter with a light retro feel. He sings with natural pathos in a row of original songs that have a pleasing straightforwardness to them. Among others, Fabian (keyboards) and Josef Kallerdahl (bass), who otherwise can be heard in MusicMusicMusic, are playing on the recording. In other words, musicians who can really stretch it. The CD feels very genuine and appealing. With this mature debut he blows many much more merited gentlemen away. It is for real and full of life straight through. ANDREAS LAGERKRANTZ, LIRA It's hard to not smile cosily when listening to Patrick Rydman for the first time. He manages to touch some kind of nostalgic string that reaches from today via easy listening and Burt Bacharach down to some early fusion of jazz and blues that can only melt one's senses. It's a little of the 60's, it's a little kitsch, sure, you can't get away from that. It's a little 'Music to watch girls by', to quote Andy Williams, without it being present at all; hardly even the spirit of it, but I still can't escape the reference. For understandable reasons, when you hear it. Patrick Rydman is experienced, despite this being his solo debut. As a prominent member of groups like Amanda and Slabang. And sure, one notices the experienced craft; it is at times almost sophisticated, it is beautiful and it is soft in that..., well, attractive way. And first and foremost, he manages to avoid those obvious pitfal