Nils Landgren - "Christmas with my Friends"

Christmas is perhaps the most important spiritual tradition in the Western world - and music is a crucial part of it. Around the world, Christmas carols form a genre of their own that is linked to the festive and joyful community like no other. Christmas music has also always exerted a magical attraction on many jazz musicians.

Trombonist, singer and producer Nils Landgren, one of the most versatile, creative and successful jazz musicians in Europe, dreamed for many years of celebrating a musical Christmas in the company of good friends and playing a selection of many, very different Christmas songs that he has encountered throughout his career. The result was "Christmas With My Friends", released in 2006, which soon gained a reputation among fans and critics alike as one of the most beautiful Christmas records ever recorded. This marked the start of a whole series that is released every two years and also goes on tour regularly. Nils Landgren is accompanied by his musical confidants Jonas Knutsson (saxophone), Johan Norberg (guitar), Clas Lassbo (bass) and Ida Sand on piano, and as one of four singers together with Sharon Dyall, Jessica Pilnäs and Jeanette Köhn, Landgren is once again bringing his popular Christmas project to the stage this Advent.

The joyful atmosphere of these joint sessions is ultimately also transferred to an album. It is logical that the equal participation of so many different and highly qualified individuals results in an enormous range all by itself. And the democratic approach also explains why the very different pieces fit together so harmoniously. A particular highlight are the choral passages with the four female singers, which are rarely experienced together in this quality class. The clear, haunting and reduced musical language, the reflection on the essentials, is what makes it so appealing for everyone involved.

'Christmas With My Friends' remains an invocation of peace and friendship that everyone can wholeheartedly endorse. Nils Landgren and his friends are looking forward to telling their personal musical Christmas story once again.