Gunhild Carling is a Swedishjazz musician and multi-instrumentalist. She is famous for playing three trumpets at the same time.
Career
Carling became known for her performance at Allsång på Skansen on 20 July 2010. The same year, she became an expert commentator for Dansbandskampen at SVT. Gunhild plays trombone, bagpipes, trumpet, recorder, string instruments, and will often showcase all of her skills in one song, sometimes casually breaking into a tap dance or singing. Carling competed as a celebrity dancer in Let's Dance 2014 on TV4, placing third. In 2013, she performed with her 'Carling Big Band' at the Royal Palace in Stockholm in the celebration of King Carl XVI Gustaf's Ruby Jubilee. In 2016, Carling performed at King Carl XVI Gustaf's 70th birthday celebration. She was featured as a singer and multi-instrumentalist in several of Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox's adaptations of pop songs, which include a jazz swing version of Rick Astley's "Never Going to Give You Up", a 1920s jazz swing version of "Material Girl", a vintage jazz version of Europe's "The Final Countdown", a jazz cover of Pharrel Williams' "Happy", and a 1920s hot jazz cover of ABBA's "Dancing Queen". In 2016, she was featured at TEDxArendal, speaking about and playing trombone, which she has said is her favorite instrument. Carling often expresses her affection and respect for artists from early jazz, and especially the seminal New Orleans period. Among others, she refers to the influences of Louis Armstrong, Freddie Keppard, Jelly Roll Morton, Bix Beiderbecke, and Billie Holiday. Holiday's influence is patent in Carling's singing style. In 2003, Carling married Johan Blomé, who does photography and video production and also plays multiple instruments. She often performs with their children, daughter Idun Blomé and son Viggo Blomé. Beginning as a child, she has also performed many times with her siblings, sister Gerd and brothers Max and Ulf. They initially played with their musical parents Aina and Hans Carling, and the former continues to be a frequent member of her music troupe. In 2016, the "wonder woman of Jazz" explained the development of her talents and career:
"I haven’t ever been to a music teacher. I come from a family that plays music. I grew up in the south of Sweden, outside of Malmo. Our house was full of variety – circus, acting, dance, vaudeville and novelty. I just picked up instruments from when I was very young and played them. I started with the drums, then the recorder, trombone and trumpet. Then I started tap dancing, and after that harmonica and bagpipe. Later, I began composing music."
Carling does much of the artwork for her promotional materials. In 2018, Carling moved to northern California with her family. She had performances scheduled throughout the United States, but with venues closing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she often performs live via online social media. Several Carling videos have exceeded one million views. Her recorded albums are available as commercial CDs and digital downloads and on streaming services.
