"History of Piano Jazz"
Interpretations – A personal tribute to my great inspirators
Jan Lundgren, solopiano
Fagerdala Event
Recorded live at Gula Byggningen, The Old Porcelain Factory, Gustavsberg, Sweden, 2006
"Thinking back, I was hugely influenced by Oscar Peterson for a time,
then Bill Evans and also Red Garland. Basically I was so interested in
what had been done in jazz history and sought to understand all the
different styles. I wanted to learn a little bit of everything so that
I could take what seemed to be the best parts of all those styles. I
wanted to go to the bottom of what jazz was all about and not merely
scratch the surface. So I tried to dig down and learn the language. I
spent many years listening and trying to absorb various aspects of it.
Then I attempted to play like Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Bill
Evans. As a teenager I tried to copy those masters and their styles as
a way of coming into the language. But of course you can´t just copy
without being yourself. When I performed I never transcribed a solo. I
listened so much to the music and tried to sound the same. I was
copying styles not the notes in actual solos.
It is so important when you play jazz that you try to be yourself.
You have to bring all your inner dynamics and feelings out in the
music. In that sense it isn´t possible to be a copy machine when you
perform."
(Liner note quoted from a cover article featuring Jan Lundgren made by Mark Gardner for Jazz Journal International, Nr 3, 2004)
