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Doug Ramsey on Jazz and other matters...

Monday Recommendation: Jan Lundgren

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Jan Lundgren, Flowers Of Sendai (Bee Jazz)

Flowers of SendaiRecorded six months before his acclaimed All By Myself, pianist Lundgren’s 2013 trio album contains two unaccompanied pieces that differ from the solo album and from one another. Lundgren develops his “Flowers Of Sendai” into a series of dance-like chromatic passages seasoned with whimsy before he lets it down easy, still dancing. His version of Billy Strayhorn’s “Lush Life” lives up to the title, with sumptuous harmonies including, as a distingué trace of sophistication, an ever-so-slightly dissonant final chord. In the rest of the album Lundgren, his longtime bassist Mattias Svensson and new drummer Zoltan Csörsz Jr. explore his own compositions and others by Svensson, Richard Galliano, Paolo Fresu and Georg Riedel. Svensson’s powerful solo on fellow bassist Riedel’s “Melancolia” is a highlight. In the US, the French CD is extravagantly priced. The MP3 download is an affordable option.

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Doug Ramsey

Doug is a recipient of the lifetime achievement award of the Jazz Journalists Association. He lives in the Pacific Northwest, where he settled following a career in print and broadcast journalism in cities including New York, New Orleans, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, San Antonio, … [MORE]

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