Svein Arne Øvergaard (1 January 1912 in Kristiania (Oslo) – 23 November 1986 in Oslo) was a Norwegian resistance member, boxer and jazz musician (

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

) and band leader, married to Gunhild Øvergaard (born Sandberg, 1912–1996), and known from the jazz scenes of

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

Biography

Øvergaard played in Willie Vieth's Kaba Orchestra and as leader of the mighty popular Funny Boys (1932–39), he was among the first Norwegian jazz musicians to be known outside of Norway. From 1937 he led since his own orchestra, including with bassist Fred Lange-Nielsen, drummer Per Gregersen, guitarist Finn Westbye, saxophonist Arvid Gram Paulsen, and clarinetist Einar Gustavsen. He also collaborated frequently with drummer

Pete Brown Peter Ronald Brown (25 December 1940 – 19 May 2023) was an English performance poet, lyricist, and singer best known for his collaborations with Cream and Jack Bruce.Colin Larkin, ''Virgin Encyclopedia of Sixties Music'' (Muze UK Ltd, 1997) ...

and guitarist Robert Normann. In 1938 he was Norwegian champion in boxing, junior light heavyweight, for the Boxing Club Pugilist. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he vent to the United Kingdom and became part of Linge Company with

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...

as main work.

Discography

;With Funny Boys * 2001: ''Jazz in Norway vol. 2 1938-43'' (RCA)

References

External links

Picture
of his orchestra (1939) at Norsk jazzarkiv 20th-century Norwegian drummers Norwegian jazz drummers Norwegian male drummers Norwegian percussionists Norwegian jazz saxophonists Norwegian military personnel of World War II Norwegian Special Operations Executive personnel 1912 births 1986 deaths Norwegian male boxers 20th-century Norwegian saxophonists 20th-century Norwegian male musicians Norwegian male jazz musicians 20th-century Norwegian sportsmen {{Norway-boxing-bio-stub