"The story is quite simple-it chronicles the sorry fortunes of a late 50s small-town jazz band, making pocket money by doing local weddings and hops with decorously swung versions of "Sugar in the Morning." Their leader is Sven Klang, brilliantined and eternally grinning, a car dealer by day and a people dealer by night. His control of the band, on and off stage, in and out of bed, is complete-until the arrival of the new alto saxophonist who has played the Stockholm club circuit, a full-time jazz man whose art is his life. Trailing a tantalizing aura of Charlie Parker, Stan Getz and Sonny Rollins, he blows sounds the others never knew existed. The effect is cathartic, both musically and socially. Director Stellan Olsson captures the tangled lives and aspirations of his characters with knowing and sympathetic wit. His period sense is impeccable, transporting us almost hypnotically to the "short backs and sides" and duffle coats of those far-off days when James Dean was king and rock'n'roll was but a glimmer on the horizon." -George Kelly