In 2013, Gunhild Carling and her Carling Big Band performed at Stockholm Palace during the celebrations for King Carl XVI Gustaf's 40th Jubilee. In the decade before her move to California, she was a ubiquitous presence on Swedish television, appearing at music festivals and as an expert on the show Dansbandskampen.
Her stage has always been the family. Her father Hans Carling, born in 1942 and died in 2017, was a trumpet player and founded the Carling Family Band in the early 1980s. Her mother Aina played violin and banjo, brother Max clarinet, tenor saxophone and violin, sister Gerd piano, alto saxophone and trombone, and brother Ulf drums, trumpet and vocals. Gunhild, born in Göteborg in 1975, had played in this band since the age of seven. At ten, she received the Swedish Louis Armstrong Scholarship in 1985; in the same year, the album I Lost My Heart in Dixieland by the Carling Family Hot Five was released.
What stands out about her is her range. She sings and plays trombone and trumpet, harmonica, oboe, recorder, harp and bagpipes. Her best-known trick is playing three trumpets at once. Behind it all is a solid hot jazz foundation, with role models such as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, and when she brings out the harmonica, it turns into a blues with boogie feeling.
Today’s Carling Family brings together three generations in a vaudeville spirit. Daughter Idun plays trombone and sings, son Viggo drums, sings and dances, niece Nanna plays saxophone and is an acrobat, and niece Petronella plays tailgate trombone and juggles with the diabolo. Aina, Gerd, Max and Ulf also join in from time to time. The family pyramid is part of the programme just like breaks and riffs.
Gunhild Carling also became internationally known through Postmodern Jukebox, where she interpreted Madonna’s Material Girl and ABBAs Dancing Queen in the style of the Roaring Twenties. Her videos have reached over 50 million views. With her Big Band, she recorded albums such as Harlem Joy and Jazz Is My Lifestyle.
In 2024 she returned to the studio with her family; the album is called Jazz Odyssey. The title suits a band that travels from Göteborg to California and shows just how much circus spirit is in early jazz.
