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SWR Big Band - Magnus Lindgren - John Beasley - Bird Lives

CD / Vinyl / digital

SWR Big Band & Strings
Magnus Lindgren music director, flute & tenor sax
John Beasley piano & keys

Guests:
Chris Potter tenor sax
Joe Lovano tenor sax
Miguel Zenon alto sax
Tia Fuller alto sax
Charles McPherson alto sax
Camille Bertault vocal
Pedrito Martinez percussion
Munyungo Jackson percussion

2020 wasn’t just Beethoven’s year, it was also the centenary of Charlie Parker’s birth. And if it hadn’t been for the pandemic, the world would have seen notices of all kinds of major concerts to celebrate the legacy of Bird (as Charlie Parker was known), one of the giants of jazz; one of the great musical innovators of the 20th century; the co-inventor of bebop; and probably the most important and influential saxophonist in jazz.

The "Bird Lives" music on this new album was to have been recorded and premiered by the SWR Big Band a couple of months before Charlie Parker’s 100th anniversary, which was on August 29, 2020. The world premiere was scheduled at the iconic Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles - which seats 18,000 people - with co-arranger and conductor, John Beasley and his six-time GRAMMY-award nominated MONK’estra Big Band with a string section during the week leading up to Bird’s centenary. Both of those dates were lost to Covid, but the recording, a commission from the SWR Big Band, and with a stellar roster of guest artists, was able to develop at a much more measured pace. When safety rules permitted, the musicians met to record in Stuttgart mid November 2020.

The extra time enabled the collaborative partnership of Swedish saxophonist Magnus Lindgren and American pianist John Beasley as co-arrangers to imagine further and dive deeper. Lindgren and Beasley met at the Jakarta Jazz Festival in Indonesia 5 years ago. That sparked an invitation to have Sweden’s Blue House Big Band to play MONK’estra’s music. A bond was formed because of the mutual admiration for each other’s unique style of arranging. Both musicians were keen to find a project to work seamlessly together in the unusual guise of co-arrangers. "For both of us it was our first time arranging as a team," Lindgren points out. "We sent ideas and drafts back and forth between Stockholm and Los Angeles. We actually didn’t have many suggestions about each other’s writing because it was so fresh and had the bang-on feel we aimed for." Five of the eight tracks on the album are co-arrangements. "It was a very creative way to make music, " says John Beasley. "Two was more magical than one for "Bird Lives". As we were all in lockdown, working so closely with Lindgren, who has such a ripe musical mind, it surely was more fun but kept me sane."

Magnus Lindgren was voted Sweden's best jazz musician in 2001, he has gone on to win many important prizes internationally. He says: "When I started playing the saxophone at 13, Charlie Parker was my ultimate hero, so this project really does bring me full circle." Lindgren has been Artist in Residence with the SWR Big Band since 2018, a post which has been renewed for him for another three years. He has overseen an ongoing development in the band’s sound both through reinforcing its engagement as a specialist ensemble in orchestral jazz, and also by exploring various projects involving modern reinterpretations and makeovers of works from the jazz/big band canon.

John Beasley’s work as composer-arranger and pianist extends beyond jazz into film and television, notably alongside Thomas Newman working on "1917", James Bond: "Skyfall" and "Spectre". Beasley has nine GRAMMY nominations and won Best Arrangement for Charlie Parker’s "Donna Lee" in 2021. Beasley is Music Director for International Jazz Day global gala concerts hosted by the Herbie Hancock Jazz Institute. His 2016 "Jazz in the White House" earned Beasley an Emmy nomination for Best Musical Direction.

Based in Stuttgart, the SWR Big Band was founded in 1951 and from its early days has been known as the "Daimler of the big bands" - a reference to the fact that Stuttgart is Motor City. The band has been ranked among the best jazz orchestras in the world for many years, with four Grammy nominations. It has attracted a roll call of stellar guests, from Miles Davis and Chet Baker in the early days to Dee Dee Bridgewater and Jacob Collier much more recently.

"Bird Lives" sits firmly in this tradition, of the SWR Band wanting – and making sure they present – the absolute best in music. The guest artists on "Bird Lives", speaks to getting the A-list of saxophonists to pay tribute to Charlie Parker. On the opening track, multiple Jazz Critics poll-winner Chris Potter makes a mark with his inimitable sound and his flawless technique. Tia Fuller was musical director for Esperanza Spalding and solo projects like "Angelic Warrior" contributes an amazingly laid-back modern version of "Summertime". 

Then, two tracks on, we hear the great Joe Lovano letting his tenor sax hover over "I'll Remember April" with the particular warmth, softness, and expressive breadth that are uniquely his. Miguel Zenón brings a Latin touch and rhythm to Parker's "Donna Lee"; and sax-great Charles McPherson who toured with Mingus plays luminously and meltingly in "Laura", the song from the 1945 film with the same title. The French singer Camille Bertault is a new and rising vocalist. Her supreme craft and agility is heard here in a direct vocal transcribe of Charlie Parker's "Koko".

"Bird Lives" feels like a soundtrack for an imaginary film co-written by Lindgren and Beasley. The SWR Big Band performs with a string section of 10 players, but this recording is not a re-creation of Parker’s "Bird With Strings" albums. "We wanted to introduce new generations to Bird’s music, but we also wanted Bird fans to hear his music in a fresh and new approach," Beasley explains, noting that near the end of his life, Parker idolised Edgard Varese and was longing to bring more structure, depth and variety into the way he wrote for orchestra. "We didn't want to repeat what that has been done before, but rather create something different," adds Lindgren.

The choice of compositions is true to the duo’s aim: there are Parker originals such as "Scrapple from the Apple," bursting with bebop, there are also some of his favourite standards, such as the opening "Cherokee/Koko" mash-up and the grand finale "Overture to Bird". But above all the great arrangements suit the context: they not only play to the strengths of the classic big band and of Parker's endlessly inventive music, but also enhance them with newer stylistic elements, such as a joyous celebratory funk reading of "Confirmation". 

Charlie Parker was still in the early stages of working with orchestras when he died at the tragical early age of 34. "Bird Lives" may chart territory fulfilled dreams that Parker was not able to explore in his short lifetime. This recording has nothing of the "museum-piece" about it: this is music both of and for our time.


Credits:
Co-arranged by Magnus Lindgren & John Beasley Produced by Hans-Peter Zachary, Magnus Lindgren & John Beasley
The Art in Music: Vover art "“Palais VI”; Photo (detail) Charlie Parker by Gottfried Mairwöger,© Michael Ochs Archives

Artists: Magnus Lindgren
Format: CD, Vinyl
Instrumentation: Big Band & Ensembles
Land: Scandinavia
Credits
Line-Up:
SWR Big Band & Strings Magnus Lindgren - music director, flute & tenor sax
John Beasley - piano & keys
Guests: Chris Potter - tenor sax Joe Lovano - tenor sax Miguel Zenon - alto sax Tia Fuller - alto sax Charles McPherson - alto sax Camille Bertault - vocal Pedrito Martinez - percussion Munyungo Jackson - percussion

Recording Details:
Co-arranged by Magnus Lindgren & John Beasley Produced by Hans-Peter Zachary, Magnus Lindgren & John Beasley
The Art in Music: Vover art "“Palais VI”; Photo (detail) Charlie Parker by Gottfried Mairwöger,© Michael Ochs Archives

Manufacturer Info:

ACT Music + Vision GmbH & CO. KG
Hardenbergstraße 9
D-10623 Berlin
Manufacturer information

ACT Music + Vision GmbH & Co.KG
Hardenbergstr. 9
D-10623 Berlin

Phone: + 49 - (0) 30 310 180 10
E-Mail: info@actmusic.com

Magnus Lindgren

e.s.t. 30
Magnus Öström - e.s.t. 30CD / Vinyl / digital Magnus Öström drums Dan Berglund double bass Magnus Lindgren tenor saxophone, flute Joel Lyssarides piano Verneri Pohjola trumpet Ulf Wakenius electric guitar Love remains... In 1993, three musicians from Sweden, Esbjörn Svensson, Dan Berglund and Magnus Öström formed the band e.s.t.. Svensson and Öström had known each other ever since their first steps into music as children. Neither of them could have anticipated that e.s.t. would become the most influential band in European jazz of the noughties. And when the band formed they probably didn't think they were particularly ‘jazz’ either; all they wanted to do was to play the music which united their passions: rock, pop, classical, folk, improvisation. In the following 15 years, e.s.t. would play thousands of concerts worldwide, release ten studio albums and several live recordings, win awards, gold discs. We all know how the story ends. Or did it really end? And will it ever end? To mark the 30th anniversary of e.s.t., Magnus Öström and Dan Berglund combined forces with close musical friends Joel Lyssarides, Magnus Lindgren, Verneri Pohjola and Ulf Wakenius to give two major concerts, one at the Kölner Philharmonie and other at the Filadelfia church in Stockholm. They played a selection of quintessential pieces from the timeless e.s.t. repertoire, but in a way that has never been heard before. The six musicians, each one a solo artist of international renown, treat the original melodic and rhythmic contours of these tunes with tenderness and affection. The iconic melodies and rhythms are all there, but we also hear how they are opened up again and again, as the musicians immerse them in unexpected warmth and light. These players react to each other in fascinating ways, and there is also a definite tingle in the air as the audience listens to the music in pin-drop silence, then bursts into uninhibited applause atthe end. Magnus Öström reflects on how it feels to play this music today: “The emotions we experience have many layers, the depth of a lifetime. Firstly, it feels like coming home. There is sadness, gratitude, and happiness. And it seems unreal or even surreal and ever so natural at the same time. And you can't stop marvelling at how great this music is. Esbjörn’s compositions and the arrangements that we did together as a trio back then, feel timeless.” And he concludes: “In the end, what remains above all is the conviction that this music should be played and not lying around in a drawer.”“e.s.t. 30” zooms in from the widest of panoramas to the intimacy of the close-up. And from the total silence and weightlessness of space in the opener "From Gagarin's Point Of View" to the heartfelt sincerity of the final track "Believe, Beleft, Below", or as it is called in the later version with vocals: "Love is Real". “If we meet again, I'd tell you how I feel, I'd tell you from the start, I'd tell you love is real.” Love remains.

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Magnus Lindgren & John Beasley - Butterfly EffectCD / digital Magnus Lindgren flute, tenorsaxophone, clarinet John Beasley piano According to the "Butterfly Effect", tiny disturbances at one point on the earth’s surface, even the flapping of a butterfly's wings, can trigger huge changes in distant places. For saxophonist/ flautist/ clarinetist Magnus Lindgren and pianist John Beasley, the point of departure here is the smallest possible format for musical interaction, the duo. And it is a starting-point with enchanting consequences.Eleven original compositions – plus an arrangement of the Beatles classic "Come Together" – create musical worlds in microcosm for Lindgren and Beasley to explore together. Lindgren and Beasley’s lively musical minds and vast combined experience are well-known: both musicians are respected and admired worldwide as important, sought-after arrangers in jazz and popular music. Their first album together, "Bird Lives" was garlanded with three GRAMMY nominations and one win. Here, they have accelerated their art, creating what might be called arrangements in real-time.As with "Bird Lives", the appeal of "Butterfly Effect" lies in the fact that the two protagonists have such different musical backgrounds. Magnus Lindgren is from Sweden, and draws from a deep well of European classical music, but also the freedom of jazz and the emotionality of soul and pop. John Beasley is American, and combines a powerful imagination which shines through in his own recordings influenced by his experience of working with Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, Steely Dan, Dianne Reeves, his film and TV soundtracks, together with an imposing catalogue of arrangements and compositions for big band."Butterfly Effect" gathers these influences together to create a particularly fine distillate, and one which reveals a completely different side of Lindgren and Beasley from their work with large orchestras and big bands. What this recording delivers in abundance – and what the listener will also inevitably experience as each of these performances takes wing – is the spontaneity and alchemy of their interaction. Credits: Produced by the artists

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Bird Lives
SWR Big Band - Magnus Lindgren - John Beasley - Bird LivesCD / Vinyl / digital SWR Big Band & Strings Magnus Lindgren music director, flute & tenor sax John Beasley piano & keys Guests: Chris Potter tenor sax Joe Lovano tenor sax Miguel Zenon alto sax Tia Fuller alto sax Charles McPherson alto sax Camille Bertault vocal Pedrito Martinez percussion Munyungo Jackson percussion 2020 wasn’t just Beethoven’s year, it was also the centenary of Charlie Parker’s birth. And if it hadn’t been for the pandemic, the world would have seen notices of all kinds of major concerts to celebrate the legacy of Bird (as Charlie Parker was known), one of the giants of jazz; one of the great musical innovators of the 20th century; the co-inventor of bebop; and probably the most important and influential saxophonist in jazz. The "Bird Lives" music on this new album was to have been recorded and premiered by the SWR Big Band a couple of months before Charlie Parker’s 100th anniversary, which was on August 29, 2020. The world premiere was scheduled at the iconic Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles - which seats 18,000 people - with co-arranger and conductor, John Beasley and his six-time GRAMMY-award nominated MONK’estra Big Band with a string section during the week leading up to Bird’s centenary. Both of those dates were lost to Covid, but the recording, a commission from the SWR Big Band, and with a stellar roster of guest artists, was able to develop at a much more measured pace. When safety rules permitted, the musicians met to record in Stuttgart mid November 2020.The extra time enabled the collaborative partnership of Swedish saxophonist Magnus Lindgren and American pianist John Beasley as co-arrangers to imagine further and dive deeper. Lindgren and Beasley met at the Jakarta Jazz Festival in Indonesia 5 years ago. That sparked an invitation to have Sweden’s Blue House Big Band to play MONK’estra’s music. A bond was formed because of the mutual admiration for each other’s unique style of arranging. Both musicians were keen to find a project to work seamlessly together in the unusual guise of co-arrangers. "For both of us it was our first time arranging as a team," Lindgren points out. "We sent ideas and drafts back and forth between Stockholm and Los Angeles. We actually didn’t have many suggestions about each other’s writing because it was so fresh and had the bang-on feel we aimed for." Five of the eight tracks on the album are co-arrangements. "It was a very creative way to make music, " says John Beasley. "Two was more magical than one for "Bird Lives". As we were all in lockdown, working so closely with Lindgren, who has such a ripe musical mind, it surely was more fun but kept me sane."Magnus Lindgren was voted Sweden's best jazz musician in 2001, he has gone on to win many important prizes internationally. He says: "When I started playing the saxophone at 13, Charlie Parker was my ultimate hero, so this project really does bring me full circle." Lindgren has been Artist in Residence with the SWR Big Band since 2018, a post which has been renewed for him for another three years. He has overseen an ongoing development in the band’s sound both through reinforcing its engagement as a specialist ensemble in orchestral jazz, and also by exploring various projects involving modern reinterpretations and makeovers of works from the jazz/big band canon.John Beasley’s work as composer-arranger and pianist extends beyond jazz into film and television, notably alongside Thomas Newman working on "1917", James Bond: "Skyfall" and "Spectre". Beasley has nine GRAMMY nominations and won Best Arrangement for Charlie Parker’s "Donna Lee" in 2021. Beasley is Music Director for International Jazz Day global gala concerts hosted by the Herbie Hancock Jazz Institute. His 2016 "Jazz in the White House" earned Beasley an Emmy nomination for Best Musical Direction.Based in Stuttgart, the SWR Big Band was founded in 1951 and from its early days has been known as the "Daimler of the big bands" - a reference to the fact that Stuttgart is Motor City. The band has been ranked among the best jazz orchestras in the world for many years, with four Grammy nominations. It has attracted a roll call of stellar guests, from Miles Davis and Chet Baker in the early days to Dee Dee Bridgewater and Jacob Collier much more recently. "Bird Lives" sits firmly in this tradition, of the SWR Band wanting – and making sure they present – the absolute best in music. The guest artists on "Bird Lives", speaks to getting the A-list of saxophonists to pay tribute to Charlie Parker. On the opening track, multiple Jazz Critics poll-winner Chris Potter makes a mark with his inimitable sound and his flawless technique. Tia Fuller was musical director for Esperanza Spalding and solo projects like "Angelic Warrior" contributes an amazingly laid-back modern version of "Summertime". Then, two tracks on, we hear the great Joe Lovano letting his tenor sax hover over "I'll Remember April" with the particular warmth, softness, and expressive breadth that are uniquely his. Miguel Zenón brings a Latin touch and rhythm to Parker's "Donna Lee"; and sax-great Charles McPherson who toured with Mingus plays luminously and meltingly in "Laura", the song from the 1945 film with the same title. The French singer Camille Bertault is a new and rising vocalist. Her supreme craft and agility is heard here in a direct vocal transcribe of Charlie Parker's "Koko". "Bird Lives" feels like a soundtrack for an imaginary film co-written by Lindgren and Beasley. The SWR Big Band performs with a string section of 10 players, but this recording is not a re-creation of Parker’s "Bird With Strings" albums. "We wanted to introduce new generations to Bird’s music, but we also wanted Bird fans to hear his music in a fresh and new approach," Beasley explains, noting that near the end of his life, Parker idolised Edgard Varese and was longing to bring more structure, depth and variety into the way he wrote for orchestra. "We didn't want to repeat what that has been done before, but rather create something different," adds Lindgren.The choice of compositions is true to the duo’s aim: there are Parker originals such as "Scrapple from the Apple," bursting with bebop, there are also some of his favourite standards, such as the opening "Cherokee/Koko" mash-up and the grand finale "Overture to Bird". But above all the great arrangements suit the context: they not only play to the strengths of the classic big band and of Parker's endlessly inventive music, but also enhance them with newer stylistic elements, such as a joyous celebratory funk reading of "Confirmation". Charlie Parker was still in the early stages of working with orchestras when he died at the tragical early age of 34. "Bird Lives" may chart territory fulfilled dreams that Parker was not able to explore in his short lifetime. This recording has nothing of the "museum-piece" about it: this is music both of and for our time. Credits: Co-arranged by Magnus Lindgren & John Beasley Produced by Hans-Peter Zachary, Magnus Lindgren & John Beasley The Art in Music: Vover art "“Palais VI”; Photo (detail) Charlie Parker by Gottfried Mairwöger,© Michael Ochs Archives

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Born in St. Louis in 1926, the trumpeter was not just an instantly recognizable figure, he was a visionary who repeatedly gave new, decisive impulses to modern jazz, starting in the early 1940s while still in his teens, when he was at the heart of the invention of bebop. Then, in 1949, he countered the heat of bebop with cool jazz. And when the groundbreaking recordings of this period were released on “Birth of the Cool“ as late as 1957, Miles Davis, together with the masterly arranger Gil Evans, was already anticipating the next mini-revolution: modal jazz. Between 1957 and 1959, three epoch-making albums in this idiom were produced in quick succession: “Miles Ahead”, “Milestones” and “Kind of Blue”, the last of which became the most successful jazz album of all time. At this time, Miles Davis, still in his early 30s, was still to take his art in yet more new directions with hard bop, fusion jazz and jazz rock. Davis also had an uncanny and unerring knack for identifying talent. Throughout his career, he consistently brought the very best up-and-coming musicians into his bands, people who frequently went on to become stars in their own right: John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Bill Evans, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams, Ron Carter, Keith Jarrett, Joe Zawinul and many more. By the time Miles Davis died in Santa Monica in 1991 at the age of just 65, he had become one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. Miles Davis performed at the Philharmonie at the first Jazzfest Berlin in 1964, returning there as headliner a total of eight times. In memory of this lasting connection, and also to mark 30 years since Miles’ death, Siggi Loch, curator of the “Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic” series, devised a homage to this musical genius with “Sketches of Miles”. The spirit of Miles Davis was once again in the air on 27 November 2021 at the hallowed hall, where it palpably inspired and energized the participants in this unique concert. 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The reason it's difficult is because I am changing all the time.” Extremes of emotion are the very truth and core of Mingus’s music, and they are reflected in the six compositions by him heard here, on “Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic – Mingus 100”. The concert was one of the main events marking the centenary and took place on 13 April 2022 in the concert series curated by Siggi Loch. This album is a live recording from that concert. At one level, it was ‘just’ a concert. There were no protests. No basses or chairs were deliberately broken. Nobody took a shotgun and aimed it at a lightbulb. And yet, as is clear from this recording, the nine musicians who appeared on stage at this concert – and who mostly did not know each other before this project – each threw her or his whole musical essence into this project, while staying true to Mingus’s spirit and to his unique way of expressing defiance and dissent. The first musical sounds to be heard on the album come from Austrian bassist Georg Breinschmid (b.1973). One of the co-leaders of the project, he juxtaposes forthright attack and caressing tenderness in the Mingus manner as his bass introduces Mingus’s “Jelly Roll”. “Georg is a wonderful communicator and one heck of a bassist,” says the other co-leader, Swedish reedsman Magnus Lindgren (b.1974). Breinschmid’s story is remarkable. Until the age of 25, he had follo-wed a traditional path. As a young, top-flight classical double bassist, he had already become a full member of the Vienna Philharmonic, a role carrying lifetime tenure. He then turned his back on that world, and has pursued his own way as a musician rooted in jazz and Viennese popular music ever since. His passion for Mingus came early, and has remained with him. “As a fourteen year-old just starting on the bass, I remember loving the sound, the compositions, the whole package. It comes at you from so many sides,” he says. Breinschmid and Magnus Lindgren had not worked together before, but their mutual understanding and respect grew as they did. “Magnus is a great musician!” says Breinschmid. “An amazing virtuoso multi-instrumentalist, an expert arranger – simply a great artist. He always keeps a sense of the whole ensemble in his eye, and of how it’s going to work best.” Lindgren, better known on higher winds and flute, is to be heard here mainly on his vintage Selmer baritone saxophone, and also on bass clarinet. Lindgren was also drawn to Mingus’s compositions early on, his involvement strengthened by a close collaboration with Steve Slagle, a guiding light of the Mingus Big Band in the 1990’s. 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Two Americans are at the strong beating heart of the band: pianist Danny Grissett has had nearly two decades at the top level of the New York scene and has been a member of the Mingus Big Band. Drummer Gregory Hutchinson has worked in countless contexts, not least the classic second Joshua Redman Quartet from 1998-2001; he is one of the greats of our time. There are also two musicians who have made Germany their home. Since moving from Hungary to Germany in 1980, tenor saxophonist Tony Lakatos has appeared on over 300 albums and was a major presence in the Frankfurt Radio Big Band until 2021. The strong tone and improvising fluency of Australian-born trombonist Shannon Barnett, now based in Cologne, also prove ideal in this context. 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Credits: All music composed by Charles Mingus arranged by Magnus Lindgren (02, 03, 05 & 06) and Georg Breinschmid (01 & 04) French lyrics for Goodbye Pork Pie Hat and Self-Portrait in Three Colors written by Camille Bertault Live at Philharmonie Berlin, Kammermusiksaal, 13.04.2022 Recorded, mixed and mastered by Klaus Scheuermann Curated and produced by Siggi Loch Cover art by Soshu

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Stockholm Underground
Magnus Lindgren - Stockholm UndergroundCD / Vinyl / digital Magnus Lindgren flute Daniel Karlsson fender rhodes Henrik Janson guitar Lars DK Danielsson electric bass Per Lindvall drums Eric Bibb guitar & vocals Till Brönner trumpet Nils Landgren trombone Ida Sand vocals A re-connection with a musical icon or tradition – it is often the way something new, maybe even game-changing emerges. That was the idea in curator/ producer’s Siggi Loch’s mind when he suggested to Magnus Lindgren that he might look at re-tracing the footsteps of Herbie Mann. “Stockholm Underground” is a homage to the one of the greats of the jazz flute, and to his legendary 1969 album “Memphis Underground”, listed by Rolling Stone in 2013 in the “100 Best Jazz Albums” of all time. The key figure in this project is evidently Magnus Lindgren, a stalwart of the Stockholm jazz scene, and known in the role he has had for many years, as a member of the Nils Landgren Funk Unit. Lindgren is not just a hugely gifted saxophonist, he is also probably the best jazz flautist in Europe. And he is offering this aspect of his artistry for the first time in pure form: “Stockholm Underground” is the first album on which he plays only flute. When it comes to the emulating the soft melodic lines, producing the breathy tone, or indeed other Herbie Mann hallmarks such as singing-while-playing and multiphonics (on “Penny Blue” for example), Lindgren proves to be a complete shoo-in. He is also in the driving seat as composer/arranger, having penned eight of the twelve tracks on the album. The laid-back “sweet soul music” of Herbie Mann, who died in 2003, has been brought into the present day. Mann’s rhythm n’blues- imbued jazz was underscored with a touch of latin, inspired by Mann’s trips to Brazil. This project could only succeed with the right musicians; as the title “Stockholm Underground” suggests, most of them on this album are Swedish. And the fact that this tribute has come from Stockholm is no accident: alongside Paris and Copenhagen, the Swedish capital was a place of refuge for American jazz and blues musicians in the 60s, as they fled from discrimination and hardship. A musician such as Art Farmer was interpreting Swedish folksongs as early as 1964 in “To Sweden with Love.” Several, from saxophone icon Johnny Griffin to guitarist/singer Eric Bibb – who is in fact a guest on the album – made or still make their lives there; the “Stockholm Jazz Festival” was from early on the place for transatlantic meetings. The presence of these musicians has continued to influence Swedish jazz up to the present day, not least the players in the rhythm section on “Stockholm Underground”. With Henrik Janson on guitar, Lars Larry Danielsson on electric bass and Per Lindvall on drums – he also played with ABBA and a-ha – the original rhythm section of Nils Landgren’s Funk Unit, which became well known in Scandinavia and beyond, has been re-assembled. Already in the mid-90s, these musicians had proved that it is not only American musicians who can give authentic groove and soul – Europeans can do it, and develop it further as well. They are joined on keyboards by Daniel Karlsson. As his work with his own trio and with the band Oddjob demonstrates, his command of both melody and rhythm is masterful. They are a Swedish version of the legendary “Memphis boys”, the studio band at American Sound Studio, whose presence on hits by Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, Neil Diamond, Dionne Warwick, Wilson Pickett - and indeed on Mann’s “Memphis Underground”, made sure that they played their way into music history. Lindgren has also been Musical Director for some of the projects of Germany’s most popular jazz musician, the trumpeter Till Brönner. And Brönner is to be heard on two of the tracks of “ Stockholm Underground”. He is one of four distinguished guests. The second is Eric Bibb – mentioned above. He is there on the opener “Fluting” and then on the bluesy “Good Stuff” where his throaty voice and steel guitar add to the range of colours. Nils Landgren produced the album (together with Siggi Loch) and stepped into the session with his unmistakable trombone playing. Ida Sand’s soulful voice is just right for a Herbie Mann tribute, especially in a cover of “Chain Of Fools”, a track on “Memphis Underground” which had already been a global hit for Aretha Franklin. This is the only track from the original 1969 album to be reprised. With the other eleven tracks, from the rock classic “A Whiter Shade Of Pale” via Ida Sand’s “Brutal Truth” to Lindgren’s silky “Mr. Mann”, what emerges is a tribute to Herbie Mann which is contemporary, and always on the money. Mann’s variety of Memphis soul-jazz lives on in this new take – refreshed with Swedish cool. Credits: Produced by Nils Landgren & Siggi Loch Curated by Siggi Loch Recorded by Pelle Gunnerferfeldt at Ingrid Studios, Stockholm, March 8 – 10, 2017 Mixed and mastered by Klaus Scheuermann Cover art by Jan Håfström, Mr. Walker sculpture at Stockholm central station, photo by Mikael Silkeberg

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