Jazz Articles about Jan Lundgren

Jan Lundgren Trio: European Standard

by AAJ Italy Staff
April 21, 2010

Pianista svedese strappato alla carriera tennistica, da qualche tempo è salito alla ribalta grazie a premi e collaborazioni importanti, tra le quali spicca quella con Paolo Fresu e Richard Galliano per Mare Nostrum. Musicista classico, nei primi anni della sua carriera da jazzista ha subito l'influenza forte dei grandi pianisti americani, da Erroll Garner a Bill Evans, passando per Oscar Peterson e Bud Powell. Ha dato un taglio netto nel 1997 con Swedish Standards, rielaborazione della ricca tradizione folk nazionale ...

Jan Lundgren Trio: European Standards

by John Kelman
April 17, 2009

While purists continue to debate and defend a by now non-existent demarcator between American jazz and that from everywhere else around the globe, most musicians have dispensed with such meaningless delineators and embraced music from all cultures within jazz's broad continuum. That needn't suggest that there's no place for the tradition where the music began, and Swedish pianist Jan Lundgren makes it crystal clear on European Standards that, in addition to a classical background that has infused albums like the ...

Jan Lundgren: Magnum Mysterium

by John Kelman
November 4, 2007

A diverse artist who has demonstrated equal aplomb covering the Great American Songbook and traditional Swedish folk songs, Jan Lundgren's musical interests seem limitless in scope. Magnum Mysterium is the Swedish pianist's most ambitious record to date, where he tackles European renaissance sacred music in collaboration with the Gustaf Sjökvist Chamber Choir and bassist/cellist Lars Danielsson. As 2007 nears its close, Magnum Mysterium may well prove to be its most purely beautiful release, an album where lush choral music is ...

The Jan Lundgren Trio: Plays the Music of Jule Styne

by Jack Bowers
October 17, 2004

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 ...

Jan Lundgren: Conclusion

by Jack Bowers
April 1, 1999

Conclusion, recorded in 1994, marked not an end but the beginning as leader of his own trio for pianist Jan Lundgren (which must be Swedish for “spectacular”). Lundgren, who turned 33 last month, has since verified his position as one of the most accomplished young pianists on the Jazz scene, in Sweden or anywhere else. Lundgren seems to have sprung fully formed from his cocoon, as Conclusion shows not the least trace of immaturity, and is in almost every respect ...

Jan Lundgren / Peter Asplund Quartet: California Connection

by Jack Bowers
April 1, 1999

The “California connection” on this colorful studio date, recorded in January ’96, is scrupulously forged between two marvelous young Swedish musicians, Asplund and Lundgren, and a duo of long–time West Coast stalwarts, Carpenter and Kreibich. Although Asplund was only 27 at the time and Lundgren 29, they play with an awareness and maturity far beyond their years, while Carpenter (37) and Kreibich (40) balance the scales with the bright–eyed energy and enthusiasm of callow apprentices. Asplund and Lundgren met and ...

Jan Lundgren: Bird of Passage

by Jack Bowers
March 1, 1999

I’d read several rave reviews of young Swedish pianist Jan Lundgren and looked forward to listening for myself to hear if he was as good as others said he was. He is. Lundgren has, among other things, exquisite taste, marvelous touch, flawless technique, an attentive ear, power to spare when called for, and a bounteous wellspring of creative ideas. He can swing too. Negatives? I can’t hear any aside from the fact that his compositions (“Bird of Passage,” “Departure,” “Looking ...