#Sittel Records

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Jan Lundgren Trio

Plays The Music of Jule Styne

Sittel Records, 2004

Jan Lundgren, piano;

Mattias Svensson, bass;

Morten Lund, drums.

Eric Alexander, tenor saxophone;

Mark Murphy, Caecilie Norby, vocals.

In reviewing an earlier album by Swedish pianist Jan Lundgren (Bird of Passage, Four Leaf Clover), I wrote that "he has, among other things, exquisite taste, marvelous touch, flawless technique, an attentive ear, power to spare... and a bounteous wellspring of creative ideas." Listeners should be pleased to learn that nothing has changed.

Well, one thing has changed—the music itself. Rather than playing mostly his own compositions, as he did on Passage and the more recent For Listeners Only (Sittel 9273), or Swedish folk music, as on Landscapes (Sittel 9297), Lundgren has chosen to reprise songs by the renowned Broadway/Hollywood tunesmith Jule Styne whose body of work includes such memorable themes as "Make Someone Happy," "People," "The Party's Over," "Time After Time" and many others. Lundgren has also enlarged the trio on half a dozen numbers, inviting vocalists Cæcelie Norby ("Make Someone Happy," "The Party's Over") and Mark Murphy ("What Makes the Sunset," "The Things We Did Last Summer") and tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander ("It's You or No One," "Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry") to help enliven the session. Why he found it necessary to do so is anyone's guess, but Alexander's fiery commentary is welcome in any framework, no questions asked, and he burns some serious rubber on "It's You or No One."

The trio sans guests opens with "You Say You Care" and "People," closes with "Time After Time" and "I Fall in Love Too Easily" and is heard as well on "Dance Only with Me." Lundgren, bassist Mattias Svensson and drummer Morten Lund are fastened at the hips, Lundgren solos astutely on every number, and Svensson and Lund respond emphatically whenever their names are called. While Norby and Murphy are, to me, the shaky links in the chain, those who appreciate vocals more than I may see that quite differently.

In any event, Lundgren, his capable colleagues and Alexander's impassioned tenor make the album well worth one's consideration, as do the wonderful songs by the great Jule Styne.

JACK BOWERS in All About Jazz

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Jan Lundgren Trio feat  Grégoire Maret 

Live @ Jarasum International Jazz Festival, Oct 2014   

Jan Lundgren: piano Mattias Svensson: double bass Magnus Öström: drums/percussion Gregoire Maret: harmonica (composition: Ivan Lins)

Jan Lundgren was born in southern Sweden on March 22, 1966, and he had his first piano lessons at age five. After a long classical training, he discovered jazz more or less by chance in the late 80’s. Instantly hooked, he rapidly absorbed the entire jazz piano tradition and acquired an amazing knowledge of the “Great American Songbook.” While sailing through his studies at the “Royal College of Music“, he immediately built up a strong reputation in Sweden. After his stunning debut album (Conclusion), released in 1994, he recorded 7 very successful trio albums for Sittel until 2003. (Swedish Standards), linking folk music influences and jazz improvisation (1997), has become a classic since. Lundgren has accompanied such greats as Johnny Griffin, Benny Golson or singer Stacey Kent. He has been honored with an impressive number of prestigious awards such as the Thore Ehrling Award in 2010 and most recently the Skåne Cultural Award 2012. The pianist has visited a long list of renowned festivals, concert halls and clubs all over Europe as well as in the US, Korea and Japan, and his trio, Jan Lundgren Trio, released new album (Flowers of Sendai) in 2014. Maret grew up in Geneva, Switzerland, the son of a Harlem-born, African-American mother and a Swiss father. After studying at the prestigious Conservatoire Supérieur de Musique de Genève he decided to undertake jazz studies at New York's New School University. Intending to return to Switzerland and a career as a teacher, Maret soon found himself working regularly with NYC's finest jazz musicians, and his decision to stick around for a year after graduation was extended indefinitely. Over the course of the past decade, Grégoire Maret has emerged as a unique and compelling new voice across a wide spectrum of the modern jazz world. That his chosen instrument - the harmonica - is a relative rarity in the genre is one element in his singular sound, but far from the whole explanation. After all, the extensive list of heavy hitters who have enlisted him for their own projects is unparalleled: Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Cassandra Wilson, and Marcus Miller are some of his most prominent employers, none of whom have the patience to employ novelty for novelty's sake.

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Jan Ludgren Trio

I Love Jan Lundgren Trio

Figaro, 2013

Jan Lundgren, piano

Mattias Svensson, bass

Zoltan Csörsz Jr, drums

Lundgren's trio, the Jan Lundgren Trio with Mattias Svensson (bass) and now Zoltan Csörsz (drums), broke through in 1997 with the album Swedish Standards, which won Orkesterjournalen’s Golden Record prize in 1998. In 2007, Lundgren became the first Scandinavian jazz pianist to be named an International Steinway Artist.

Since the early ‘90s, Lundgren has worked with a variety of Sweden’s leading artists both in the studio and/or at concerts. These include, inter alia, Dan Berglund, Povel Ramel, Putte Wickman, Bengan Janson, Jason Diakité, Peter Asplund, Monica Zetterlund, Lill Lindfors, Arne Domnerus, Jacques Werup, Goran Söllscher, Pernilla August, Georg Riedel, Göran Fristorp, Anders Bergcrantz, Sylvia Vrethammar, Jojje Wadenius, Bengt Hallberg, Lars Danielsson, Hayati Kafe, Lars Erstrand, Håkan Hardenberger, Miriam Aida, Ulf Wakenius, Michael Saxell, Rune Gustafsson, Nils Landgren, Pernilla Andersson, Hans Backenroth, LaGaylia Frazier and the Bonfiglioli Weber String Quartet.

Among the international artists Lundgren has worked with are Johnny Griffin, Mark Murphy, Eric Alexander, Richard Galliano, Paolo Fresu, Herb Geller, Joe LaBarbera, Andy Martin, Scott Hamilton, Arild Andersen, Pete Jolly, Bill Perkins, Peter Washington, Billy Drummond, Deborah Brown, Harry Allen, Grégoire Maret, Caecilie Norby, Chuck Berghofer, Tom Warrington, Paul Kreibich, Dave Carpenter, Mark Murphy, Conte Candoli, Jacob Fischer, Lee Konitz, Joe Ascione, Stacey Kent, Charlie Mariano, Jukka Perko, Morten Lund and Wolfgang Haffner.

Lundgren has recorded some 50 discs as leader or co-leader since 1994.These are on labels including ACT, Fresh Sound, Marshmallow, Sittel, Four Leaf Clover, Volenza, Alfa, Gemini and Bee Jazz. Some of Lundgren’s particularly well-received and strongest selling albums include the Fresu-Galliano-Lundgren recording Mare Nostrum (ACT), 2007, which had sold around 50,000 copies by 2014, and Together Again ...At The Jazz Bakery (Fresh Sound), released in 2011, which was chosen by critics at the UK magazine Jazz Journal as the year’s top jazz record. As a sideman, Lundgren has been involved in dozens of other recordings across a broad range of labels.

In addition, Lundgren has produced albums for the Volenza label, including recordings by the John Venkiah Trio, Fanny Gunnarsson Quartet and Hannah Svensson. He has also produced several of his own records.

 In August 2014, Lundgren released his second solo studio album, All By Myself (Fresh Sound), which is a collection of standards from the great American songbook. The album was voted best new release of 2014 by Jazz Journal's critics. Lundgren's newest release as leader, in January 2016, is a live recording with Mattias Svensson on bass and the Bonfiglioli Weber String Quartet, The Ystad Concert: A Tribute to Jan Johnasson (ACT).

in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Lundgren