Gustav Lundgren: Live At Fasching

If the Norway's Eivind Aarset is one side of Scandinavian fretboard virtuosity, Sweden's Gustav Lundgren is the other. Aarset works with experimentalists such as Jon Hassell and Jan Bang. Lundgren is more straight-ahead, evoking Jack Wilkins and Pat Metheny. Both guitarists, however, are lyrical players. If you enjoy the linear melodism of Lundgren's Live At Fasching, the chances are you will find pleasure in Aarset and Bang's recent Snow Catches On Her Eyelashes (Jazzland, 2020). The two albums are light years apart and yet close enough to orbit each other.

Recorded in Stockholm in February 2020, Live At Fasching is Lundgren's third album with bassist Doug Weiss and drummer Jorge Rossy, following Jazz Vol. 1 (Lundgren, 2017) and Jazz Vol. 2 (Lundgren, 2018), both of which were recorded in Spain on a single day in 2016. Weiss and Rossy's paths had already crossed in bands led by Brad Mehldau, making them empathic accompanists for Lundgren.

The material comprises jazz standards and Great American Songbook covers, preceded by Lundgren's "Till Pappa," composed in memory of his father. Axel Stordahl's "I Should Care," Miles Davis' "Solar," Jimmy McHugh's "I'm In The Mood For Love," Vincent Youmans' "Tea For Two" and Jerome Kern's "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" follow.

No paradigms are shifted, no goalposts moved, but the eternal verities of swing and melody are celebrated.