Jan Lundgren

Jan Lundgren
Lundgren recording in Udine, Italy, summer 2013
Background information
Born	22 March 1966 Olofström, Sweden
Genres	Jazz
Occupation(s)	Musician, composer
Instruments	Piano
Years active	1991–present
Labels	Bee Jazz, Fresh Sound, ACT, Marshmallow, Volenza, Sittel, Four Leaf Clover
Website	janlundgren.com

Jan Lundgren (born 1966) is a Swedish jazz pianist and composer.

Lundgren was raised in Ronneby in the south of Sweden. He began learning the piano at the age of five, and moved to Malmö in 1986 to study at the Academy of Music. He graduated in 1991 and later became a lecturer at the Academy. Lundgren has been based in Ystad, on Sweden’s southern coast, since 2005.

Lundgren's trio, the Jan Lundgren Trio with Mattias Svensson (bass) and now Zoltan Csörsz (drums), broke through in 1997 with the album Swedish Standards, which won Orkesterjournalen’s Golden Record prize in 1998. In 2007, Lundgren became the first Scandinavian jazz pianist to be named an International Steinway Artist.

Since the early ‘90s, Lundgren has worked with a variety of Sweden’s leading artists both in the studio and/or at concerts. These include, inter alia, Dan Berglund, Povel Ramel, Putte Wickman, Bengan Janson, Jason Diakité, Peter Asplund, Monica Zetterlund, Lill Lindfors, Arne Domnerus, Jacques Werup, Goran Söllscher, Pernilla August, Georg Riedel, Göran Fristorp, Anders Bergcrantz, Sylvia Vrethammar, Jojje Wadenius, Bengt Hallberg, Lars Danielsson, Hayati Kafe, Lars Erstrand, Håkan Hardenberger, Miriam Aida, Ulf Wakenius, Michael Saxell, Rune Gustafsson, Nils Landgren, Pernilla Andersson, Hans Backenroth, LaGaylia Frazier and the Bonfiglioli Weber String Quartet.

Among the international artists Lundgren has worked with are Johnny Griffin, Mark Murphy, Eric Alexander, Richard Galliano, Paolo Fresu, Herb Geller, Joe LaBarbera, Andy Martin, Scott Hamilton, Arild Andersen, Pete Jolly, Bill Perkins, Peter Washington, Billy Drummond, Deborah Brown, Harry Allen, Grégoire Maret, Caecilie Norby, Chuck Berghofer, Tom Warrington, Paul Kreibich, Dave Carpenter, Mark Murphy, Conte Candoli, Jacob Fischer, Lee Konitz, Joe Ascione, Stacey Kent, Charlie Mariano, Jukka Perko, Morten Lund and Wolfgang Haffner.

Lundgren has recorded some 50 discs as leader or co-leader since 1994. These are on labels including ACT, Fresh Sound, Marshmallow, Sittel, Four Leaf Clover, Volenza, Alfa, Gemini and Bee Jazz. Some of Lundgren’s particularly well-received and strongest selling albums include the Fresu-Galliano-Lundgren recording Mare Nostrum (ACT), 2007, which had sold around 50,000 copies by 2014, and Together Again ...At The Jazz Bakery (Fresh Sound), released in 2011, which was chosen by critics at the UK magazine Jazz Journal as the year’s top jazz record. As a sideman, Lundgren has been involved in dozens of other recordings across a broad range of labels.

In addition, Lundgren has produced albums for the Volenza label, including recordings by the John Venkiah Trio, Fanny Gunnarsson Quartet and Hannah Svensson. He has also produced several of his own records.