Claes Dahlgren

1949, the distance between Sweden and USA was extremely long, both in time and money. Getting there took a week or more by sea with the Swedish America Line's ships from Gothenburg. You could fly, but only at a cost equivalent to several regular monthly salaries, so that option simply did not exist for most people. In addition, the US dollar was expensive. In post-war Europe, all countries had poor economies and protected themselves with import restrictions. This also affected “Radiotjänst”, which had difficulty obtaining records from the large country in the west. Folke Erbo, responsible for gramophone music at “Radiotjänst”, contacted Claes Dahlgren (1917-79), who in 1949 had moved to New York from Stockholm. Dahlgren was a businessman by profession but had, among other things, written articles in “Orkester Journalen” under the signature "Jack Harlen", the same name he used as leader of his own dance orchestra in Skåne in the late 1930s. Claes Dahlgren was commissioned to select, purchase and send new 78´s records från US to “Radiotjänst” in Sweden. Dahlgren also began to submit reports from jazz life in New York - "jazz glimpses" that became extremely popular and very important for musicians and other jazz enthusiasts in Sweden. In New York, he also began writing more widely about American entertainment in the newspaper “Expressen” and “Fick Journalen”. Furthermore, he became an employee of the Swedish record company Metronome Records and helped them in various ways to monitor the American music world. At the same time, he was a contact person and PR agent for Swedish jazz musicians in the USA. He helped several of them get gigs there, such as Arne Domnérus and Harry Arnold. By having Swedish musicians' records played on American radio and helping them with contacts and gigs, he was able to promote Swedish jazz in this music's country of origin. In 1964, Claes Dahlgren became head of Sweden's Radio's New York office. He thus had to abandon the other assignments, but was able to continue with his radio programs.