Jack Noren

Who was Jack Noren?

Jack Noren was a jazz drummer and vocalist born in America but best known for his work in Sweden.

Noren was born in Chicago to parents of Swedish ancestry. He played with Gene Ammons and others in the middle of the 1940s before moving with his family to Sweden in 1946. There he worked as a lumberjack briefly before joining a Swedish jazz band as a replacement for a sick drummer. This led to time spent touring and/or recording with Thore Jederby, Nisse Skoog, Seymour Österwall, Arne Domnérus and Rolf Ericson, and Lars Gullin. In addition to playing with Swedish musicians and ensembles such as Reinhold Svensson, Gösta Törner, Swede Starband, Expressens Elitorkester, Leonard Feather's Swinging Swedes Bengt Hallberg, Putte Wickman, Åke Persson, and the Scandia All Stars. He also recorded as a vocalist with Jederby, Domnérus/Ericson, and the drummer Anders Burman. Noren's reputation in Sweden was such that he was frequently called upon by visiting American musicians, such as James Moody, Charlie Parker, Zoot Sims, Stan Getz, Lee Konitz, Clifford Brown, and George Wallington.