"Les Parapluies De Cherbourg"
Jan Lundgren, piano/ Jesper Lundgaard, bass/ Alex Riel, drums
Marshmallow Records
Recorded on December 3-4, 2003. Sun Studio Copenhagen.
One of the many virtues of the exceptional Swedish jazz pianist Jan
Lundgren is his curiosity to seek out and find popular songs – not
necessary only the famous tunes but obscure melodies which may have
slipped through the net – from Hollywood and Broadway and give them
jazz treatments…..On this latest collection he appraises 10 themes
which all stem from movies produced during a 35-year period (1929-1964)
when the rapid progress in jazz development matched cinematic
innovation……Jan shows his respect and admiration for the intent of the
composers by frequently delivering not only the melodies but the verses
that should precede them. Thus listeners will encounter the virtually
unknown preludes to “Singin´ in The Rain” and “Love is A Many
Splendored Thing”…… Lundgren´s attention to this type of detail and his
concern about an interpretation being true to the intended feeling of a
song as projected not only through the notes but also the lyrics has
earned him the respect and admiration of fellow musicians young and
old.
Jesper Lundgaard, for instance, relishes every opportunity to work
with the pianist. “We have been recording together regularly for
several years and also did an album a decade ago. Jan is very talented,
a beautiful player. I think he has really picked up on the elegant
tradition of Hank Jones and Tommy Flanagan, that very softly spoken
style but with just the right amount of tension and very swinging. I
think he is a master of that idiom. At the same time he has kept up
with more modern styles and I detect a shift in his playing towards the
approach of McCoy Tyner and Herbie Hancock.” That point is also
emphasized by Alex Riel: “Jan mixes old and new stuff. He is well aware
of earlier styles, but also likes the more recent tradition. He is very
good and so easy to work with at all times. I´ve been fortunate to play
with many of the top pianists and he is certainly one of them. His
timing and his melody approach are just exceptional.”
