For those who might think Swedish jazz history begins with Esbjörn Svensson Trio, the compendium CD box series Svensk Jazzhistoria (Swedish Jazz History) will come as a huge revelation. Part of a unique, comprehensive box set series that started as far back as 1899, Vol. 11 whizzes us through the idiomatic and cross-cultural twists and turns of the decade of the 1970s. The four discs are presented in chronological order (1970-1973, 1973-1975, 1976-1977, 1978-1979) with all the cross-idiomatic chaos that entails. It might not be the most informative way of introducing Swedish jazz to the masses – and the most comprehensive literature is written in Swedish – nevertheless, this is one hell of a treasure trove of progressive and quirkily exotic sounds from a fascinating era of Scandinavian jazz. Shifting between early revivalist jazz, contemporary bop and jazz-rock fusions inspired by Weather Report and electric Miles – Nexus’ version of ‘Ido Lupino’ is a joy, as is an unissued rarity by a band called Appendix. Modernist baritone saxophonist Lars Gullin is perhaps one of the better known artists to those outside Sweden, performing here with the Radiojazzgruppen in 1976, the year of the release of the cult Swedish movie Sven Klang’s Kvinttet in which the main character was based on Gullin. More ethnic music influences are also evident with top jazz-rock band Rena Rama, which featured saxophonist Lennart Åberg and the pianist Bobo Stenson; Stenson appears again with his and Jan Garbarek’s quartet in 1974 on the track ‘Witchi-Tai-To’ on ECM. Swedish Big Band jazz during this decade sounded in very rude health with large ensembles led by the saxophonist Bernt Rosengren (the key instrumental contributor to the astonishing Polish film soundtrack to Roman Polanski’s Knife in the Water) and the progressive Gil Evans-like arrangements of Bengt Hallberg, pianist-arranger/vocalist Monica Dominique and the more angular charts of Lennart Åberg – the latter pair have biographical essays with English text published in a whacking great 188-page illustrated insert booklet. The other notes in English are an essay on female jazz musicians, and a seven-page introduction by Jazzwise’s own Stuart Nicholson is our most informative guide for non-Swedish language speakers.