Jan Lundgren - A Retrospective (2015)

Besides some CDs and LPs produced in Sweden and Japan, our own master pianist Jan Lundgren has recorded sixteen albums – nine of them under his own name – on the superb and very ambitious Spanish Fresh Sound label, today distributed all over the world. All but one were produced in Los Angeles by the legendary Dick Bank. The exception, Stockholm Get-Together from 1994, was produced by Jan himself.

Lundgren retrospective Mr. Bank has now put together an excellent and varied Lundgren compilation. He has chosen twelve selections from ten of his own Fresh Sound productions, recorded between 1995 and 2003, and he presents them chronologically. He lets us listen to Jan entirely on his own, with his American trios and together with jazz celebrities like Bill Perkins, Conte Candoli, Herb Geller, Andy Martin and, last but not least, Arne Domnérus and Pete Jolly.

To mention any particular selections seems unnecessary since all original albums from which Mr. Bank has made his choices have already been reviewed. But the duo version of “Barney Goin´ Easy”, or “I´m Checkin´ Out Go´om Bye” as the Ellington/Strayhorn composition is also named, with Domnérus on clarinet is really something very special. It is drawn from Dompan!, the album that Arne himself considered his very best ever. The playful collaboration with Jolly is also something that will make you shout with joy— if you love high-quality piano jazz.

The bassists and drummers who enrich the album—in particular the radar pair of Chuck Berghofer and Joe La Barbera—are also well worth praising. And so is Jim Mooney, who is responsible for most of the excellent sound quality. He is a member of the same league as his east coast counterpart Rudy Van Gelder. Lots of roses, also, go to the man with the great ideas, a perpetual preserver of high quality and good taste, Mr. Dick Bank. He is like a manager in the highest Spanish soccer division who knows not only the exact capacity of every player but also how to bring it forth. But the most praise goes, of course, to Jan Lundgren, who today is on the same level as his great Swedish forerunners and sources of inspiration, Jan Johansson and Bengt Hallberg. (Jan Olsson)

Tracklist:

01. Shorty George (3:30)
02. Swedish Pastry (5:43)
03. If You Could See Me Now (4:59)
04. On Green Dolphin Street (8:14)
05. Restless (5:10)
06. Rockin' Chair (7:26)
07. Barney Goin' Easy (6:02)
08. Doxy (4:58)
09. I've Never Been In Love Before (5:09)
10. You Stepped Out Of A Dream (5:44)
11. Angel Eyes (5:23)
12. Spring Isn't Spring Anymore (3:46)

Personnel:

Jan Lundgren, piano, with
Track #1: Bill Perkins (ts), Dave Carpenter (b), Paul Kreibich (d). Sage & Sound Studio, 1995
Track #2: Dave Carpenter (b), Paul Kreibich (d). Recorded at Sage & Sound Studio, 1996
Track #3-4 & 6: Chuck Berhofer (b), Joe La Barbera (d). Recorded at The Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles (#3), Sage & Sound Studio (#4), 1996; Capitol Studios (#6), 1999
Track #5: Herb Geller (ss).
Recorded at Sage & Sound Studio, 1997
Track #7: Arne Domnérus (cl).
Recorded at Entourage Studios, 2000
Track #8: Andy Martin (tb), Tom Warrington (b), Paul Kreibich (d). Entourage Studios, 2001
Track #9-10: Pete Jolly (p), Chuck Berhofer (b), Joe La Barbera (d). Entourage Studios, 2001
Track #11-12: Tom Warrington (b), Joe La Barbera (d). Recorded at Entourage Studios, 2003