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Jan Lundgren

Lundgren, born in Kristianstad in southern Sweden on March 22nd 1966, and raised in Ronneby, Blekinge, had his first piano lessons at age five. He was soon discovered to have an exceptional musical talent. After a long period of classical training, he discovered jazz more or less by chance in the late 1980’s. He was instantly hooked, rapidly absorbed the jazz piano tradition from Oscar Peterson, Erroll Garner to Bud Powell and Bill Evans, and acquired a depth of knowledge of the Great American Songbook like possibly no other European jazz pianist.

While sailing through his studies at the renowned Royal College of Music in Malmö, he also took up a busy schedule as a professional musician that quickly helped to build his reputation in Sweden. Discovered by Swedish bebop legend Arne Domnérus, he frequently played with other Swedish stars like Putte Wickman and Bernt Rosengren.

Lundgren’s debut album “Conclusion” was released in 1994, and propelled his career firmly forward. The following year saw the formation of the Jan Lundgren Trio with long time student associates Mattias Svensson (bass) and Rasmus Kihlberg (drums), who was replaced in the beginning of the year 2000 by the Dane Morten Lund. This steady band recorded seven well-received and commercially very successful albums for the Swedish label “Sittel” in the period up to 2003. The album “Swedish Standards”, released in 1997 even became a bestseller and reached a place in the Swedish pop charts. But the album “Landscapes” (2003) sold comparably and both releases soon became classics due to their linking Swedish folk music and jazz. The band’s intense tour schedule founds a temporary peak in a concert at Carnegie Hall as part of “Swedish Jazz salutes the USA”.

As a sideman, Lundgren has accompanied such greats as Johnny Griffin, Benny Golson, Herb Geller, James Moody, or singer Stacey Kent. He has also shared the stage with ACT-artist Ulf Wakenius a number of times.

Jan Lundgren has been awarded a number of prizes since the early 90’s: In 1997 “Swedish Standards” became “best jazz album of the year”. He was nominated for the “Swedish Grammy” in 1995, 1997 and 2008 and the “Swedish Django d’Or Prize” in 1998, 2001 and 2002.

Having visited a long list of European territories and venues, Lundgren has also been on extended tours of Australia and Japan. He has visited the USA about 15 times and recorded some well-received albums for the label “Fresh Sound”.

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2
Album Review

Jan Lundgren: Into the Night

Read "Into the Night" reviewed by Phillip Woolever


This excellent album is part of a series of modern jazz projects with a twist, featuring live recordings by many of the German label ACT's top artists, in unique, uncategorized, and often first time formations. The album comes from a 2020 set at the Ystad Festival in Sweden, which homegrown pianist Jan Lundgren founded and has directed since 2010. This trio actually arose out of necessity after a musician in Lundgren's originally scheduled group, which included Lars Danielsson, ...

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Album Review

Larry Coryell & Philip Catherine: The Last Call

Read "The Last Call" reviewed by Phillip Woolever


ACT Music released this exceptional concert recording four years to the day after the February 19, 2017 death of 73-year old master guitarist Larry Coryell. The album documents a sensational set Coryell played with the equally skillful Belgian guitarist Philip Catherine at the Berlin Philharmonic. The event was an unplanned but fitting conclusion to their series of collaborations that began at the same location some forty-five years before. The sound dynamics and song selections create a vivid testimonial of musical ...

3
Album Review

Jan Lundgren: Potsdamer Platz

Read "Potsdamer Platz" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay


Pianist Jan Lundgren is a fine example of a classically-trained European musician with a strong empathy with mainstream jazz. Potsdamer Platz is, in turn, a fine example of Lundgren's ability to compose fresh-sounding and often beautiful tunes, allied to a talented quartet of players who know just how to bring the pianist's ideas to life. The all-Scandinavian band is terrific--Finnish saxophonist Jukka Perko, Danish drummer Morten Lund and Lundgren's fellow Swede Dan Berglund on bass. The quartet decamped ...

1
Album Review

Artistry Jazz Group and Friends: Tribute!

Read "Tribute!" reviewed by Chris Mosey


An absolute gem, featuring some of the best players in Scandinavia in an extremely well thought-out program of music, paying tribute to “musicians and artists who shaped new sounds and ideas." It's the brainchild of independent record producer Torgil Rosenberg and pianist Jan Lundgren. Three top Swedish musicians, Peter Asplund on trumpet, Klas Lindqvist on alto sax and clarinet, and Janne Bengtsson on flute, join Lundgren's already all-star Artistry group, filling out the sound on selected numbers. ...

72
Album Review

Jan Lundgren / Bengt Hallberg: Back 2 Back

Read "Back 2 Back" reviewed by Chris Mosey


An historic meeting of two giants of modern jazz in Sweden. Bengt Hallberg, born 1932, helped to found the idiom via his work with alto saxophonist Arne Domnérus in the 1950s and attracted international attention by recording with such US legends as Clifford Brown and Stan Getz. Leonard Feather praised his “unique light-fingered style." Jan Lundgren, born 1966, gigged with Domnérus and the great Swedish clarinetist Putte Wickman before going up against such visiting American luminaries as ...

427
Album Review

Jan Lundgren Trio: European Standards

Read "European Standards" reviewed by John Kelman


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 ...

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Album Review

Jan Lundgren: Magnum Mysterium

Read "Magnum Mysterium" reviewed by John Kelman


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 ...

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Recording

Jan Lundgren: In New York

Jan Lundgren: In New York

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

On May 31 and June 1, 2005, Swedish jazz pianist Jan Lundgren was in New York to record In New York for Marshmallow Records, an independent Japanese label founded in 1978. Backing Jan were bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington. The recording session took place at Nola's Penthouse Studio on 57th St., above the Steinway showroom (both now replaced by a zillion-story tower on what is known in New York as Billionaire's Row). Jim Czak, whom we all miss ...

Recording

Jan Lundgren: Styne and Young

Jan Lundgren: Styne and Young

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

In 2001 and 2002, Swedish pianist Jan Lundgren released songbook tributes to Jule Styne and Victor Young, respectively, with his trio and special guests. Within a few years, the prized releases recorded in Copenhagen on the Sittel label disappeared and were available only through independent sellers for upward of $155. Now, The Jan Lundgren Trio Plays the Music of Jule Styne and The Jan Lundgren Trio Plays the Music of Victor Young are available once again—this time digitally from Fog ...

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Recording

Jan Lundgren: A Retrospective

Jan Lundgren: A Retrospective

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Swedish pianist Jan Lundgren caught the tail end of West Coast jazz. At age 29 in 1995, Lundgren was recommended to producer Dick Bank by saxophonist Herb Geller, who had moved to Hamburg, Germany, in 1962 and met Lundgren while touring in Sweden in 1994. Bank was preparing to record an album of Lester Young's music with tenor saxophonist Bill Perkins. A  pianist was needed who was solid, intuitive and had the chops and sensitivity to play with the flavor ...

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Interview

Interview: Jan Lundgren

Interview: Jan Lundgren

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Pianist Jan Lundgren is widely known in Sweden but a little less so in the States, though he tours here occasionally. Wowed by his two most recent albums—Flowers of Sendai and All By Myself—I reached out to Jan, 48, for an email chat. His playing is both lyrical and rich with mood, influenced by a Swedish background and extensive listening to Bill Evans and other masters of chord voicings: JazzWax: Where were you raised in Sweden—and when did you first ...

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