Frijazz äntrar scenen : Något nytt som skapar debatt och dess plats i den svenska jazzdiskursen

Sammanfattning: When a new type of jazz, later often referred to as free jazz, entered the Swedish jazz scene at the time when the 1950s became the 1960s, an intense debate occurred within the Swedish jazz community. A debate between those in favor of the new style, its expressions and the direction in which jazz was moving towards in general, versus those who disliked this new development, thought that it was too extreme and was not in line with the traditions of jazz. This essay will bring this debate to light and analyze different aspects of it, with a similar controversy in mind which took place at the time of the arrival of bebop, approximately fifteen years earlier. The primary aim is to integrate free jazz into the Swedish jazz narrative, something that has been neglected in earlier research. Through discourse analysis, contemporary thoughts and values are brought to the surface. In part to better understand how and why these different opinions came to be, but above all, if they were part of other contemporary discussions, strives and struggles within the Swedish jazz community. The findings point towards the fact that free jazz played an important role in both the contemporary Swedish jazz discourse and the development of jazz at large. Free jazz expanded the spectrum of expression within the genre and helped jazz in general to reach a status of high culture, a strive that had existed for a long time.