Jan Lundgren – Kind of Jazz

Jan Lundgren is one of our foremost musicians, and with around fifty CDs and a range of projects and collaborations, he has consistently shown his ability to embrace tradition while always evolving. Each year, Jan Lundgren presents three concerts under the banner Kind of Jazz – unique meetings with invited artists and ensembles. Kind of Jazz 2025 marks the series’ seventh season.

“The title Chamber Jazz signals an intimate way of making music together, and this time there will be no drums,” says Jan Lundgren. “For the first time, I’ll be working with American cornetist Warren Vaché, who is considered one of the greats today and one of the few still active who has played with legends like Benny Goodman. Warren’s roots are in the swing era of the 1940s, with early influences such as Roy Eldridge and Bobby Hackett. The Great American Songbook will be central, and we’ll definitely include something by Duke Ellington.”

Joining Jan Lundgren and Warren Vaché are two of Denmark’s finest jazz musicians: guitarist Jacob Fischer – “we’ve played together in many settings since the 1990s; he’s a true musician’s musician,” and bassist Thomas Fonnesbæk, “arguably Denmark’s top bassist and a successor to the great Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen.”

Note: The cornet is similar to the trumpet but is slightly more compact and has a warmer sound.

Jan Lundgren is one of our foremost musicians, and with around fifty CDs and a range of projects and collaborations, he has consistently shown his ability to embrace tradition while always evolving. Each year, Jan Lundgren presents three concerts under the banner Kind of Jazz – unique meetings with invited artists and ensembles. Kind of Jazz 2025 marks the series’ seventh season.

“This is a tribute to Bill Evans, who was one of my most important influences when I started playing jazz,” says Jan Lundgren. “I was captivated by his sound: his way of playing and voicing chords, the immense richness of his harmonies. It made him truly unique, and I consider him one of the most important jazz musicians of all time. We’ll play some original Bill Evans music, like Waltz for Debby and Very Early, as well as music he’s associated with, such as Song from MASH. We’re paying homage to both the artist and the composer. To recreate his style and not just play the songs requires a deep understanding of the artist – without losing oneself.”

Just as Bill Evans had his trio, Jan Lundgren has put together an exceptionally skilled trio here. German drummer Wolfgang Haffner, one of the foremost in the world, has previously worked with Jan Lundgren (as well as with Nils Landgren, for instance). The renowned Swedish bassist Anders Jormin has also taken a leading role in international music and is now a professor at the Academy of Music and Drama in Gothenburg.

Jan Lundgren is one of our foremost musicians, and with around fifty CDs and a range of projects and collaborations, he has consistently shown his ability to embrace tradition while always evolving. Each year, Jan Lundgren presents three concerts under the banner Kind of Jazz – unique meetings with invited artists and ensembles. Kind of Jazz 2025 marks the series’ seventh season.

This year’s Kind of Jazz series concludes with a duo performance. Till Brönner is Germany’s leading jazz trumpeter, often mentioned in the same breath as Chet Baker. “I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time,” says Jan Lundgren. “This will be our first concert together. He’s extremely busy, so it has taken some time to make this happen. Among Till Brönner’s idols are Chet Baker and Miles Davis. The title’s ‘vs’, versus, isn’t meant as a competition, but perhaps it suggests a playful shadowboxing. I look forward to a delightful meeting with lots of spontaneous twists. It’ll be melodic, with a blend of original compositions, jazz classics, and some pop elements.”

Till Brönner’s dozen solo albums, most recorded in Los Angeles, have been hugely successful, with his debut album in 1993 winning an award. He has performed with virtually all the international greats and was invited in 2016 by President Barack Obama to the White House for International Jazz Day. This will be the first time the renowned German trumpeter performs at Konserthuset Stockholm.