If proof is required that there are still some musicians in Sweden who can swing hard and soulfully, check out 43-year-old Kronkvist. Apparently, this is his 15th album as a leader, a couple of them featuring Afro-Cuban jazz, with assorted American rhythm sections including pianist Aaron Goldberg, bassist Reuben Rogers, drummer Gregory Hutchinson and vibes player Jason Marsalis. Using his regular countryman bassist, Kronkvist has hired the much-respected ‘Tain’ Watts on drums and the always inventive Orrin Evans, who recently replaced Ethan Iverson in The Bad Plus, on piano. The result is 80-minutes worth of relentless hard bop, driven by the incredible Watts, who this writer will always associate with the late pianist Kenny Kirkland. The intensity, drive and fire in Kronkvist’s solos is, at times, reminiscent of Jackie McLean but, mixed with an almost John Coltrane-like fervour and technique, comes out as quite individual. Overlong, and exhausting, but stimulating.