"Stockholm Get-together!"
Featuring Herb Geller
Jan Lundgren, piano/ Herb Geller, alto saxophone/ Lars Lundström, bass/
Anders Lagerlöf, drums
Fresh Sound Records
Recorded at Flash Music Studio, Stockholm, September 11 & 12, 1994
…..Herb Geller was on the telephone from Hamburg. He had just returned
home after a short tour in Sweden, and we had much to discuss…..The
conversation was winding up when Herb added: “Oh, yeah, I almost forgot
to tell you: I did a recording while I was in Stockholm. I´ll send you
a cassette”……A week or so later the cassette arrived in the mail. I put
it on, and immediately after the last track had played I telephoned to
Hamburg. As soon as Herb came on the line I had to know: “Who is that
pianist?....This has to come out. It may be the best I have ever heard
you play on record, and Jan Lundgren is simply tremendous.”
…..Gifted and exciting, he knows that unlike his predecessors, he
must travel. He will not restrict himself to labels found mainly in his
country. Jan Johansson (who died tragically in an automobile accident
at 37) and Bengt Hallberg, who continues to play, never realized the
acclaim that surely should have been theirs. Both were the choice of
Stan Getz, and they certainly would have been more visible had they
played throughout Europe, visited the United States and Japan
extensively. Young Mr. Lundgren made his first visit to the United
States (Los Angeles) in June, 1995. The reaction was overwhelming, as
can be read elsewhere in these notes.
…..His first influences were many: Oscar Peterson, Bud Powell, Errol
Garner, and Bill Evans: and later, Red Garland and McCoy Tyner. It can
be said now that he is quite familiar with virtually every top player
of the past half century. Both Johansson and Hallberg were early role
models.
…..This could very well be Herb Geller´s finest recording in a
career that stretches back over 40 years. The swinging Jan Lundgren
Trio could very well be the reason!
