Nils Landgren

Classically trained Swedish trombonist Nils Lennart Landgren has established himself on the international jazz and funk scene. Born in Degerfors on February 15, 1956, he studied at the Karlstad Conservatory and then at Arvika University, before becoming interested in jazz through the composer and trumpeter Bengt-Arne Wallin and trombonist Eje Thelin. He took part in numerous sessions for Eva Rydberg, the Abba group for the album Voulez-Vous (1979) and other pop artists, before recording his debut album Stretfighter (1984). He formed the Nils Landgren Unit and collaborated with Little Mike & the Sweet Soul Music Band, before joining the Radiojazzgruppen supergroup in 1989, the Swedish radio jazz orchestra created by Arne Domnérus. Parallel to his work as an accompanist, he released the albums Miles from Duke (1986), Chapter 2 (1989), Follow Your Heart (1990), Red Horn (1992), Ballads (1993), Gotland (1996) in collaboration with Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stańko, and two opuses with pianist Esbjörn Svensson, Swedish Folk Modern (1998) and Layers of Light (2001). Now a mainstay of German label Act Records, the trombonist nicknamed "The Man with the Red Horn" because of the colorful instrument he plays, renames his band Nils Landgren Funk Unit and alternates recordings under his own name and as band leader. Invited to sessions by Lars Danielsson, Lisa Ekdahl, Bernard Purdie, Eddie Harris, Monica Zetterlund, Lalo Schifrin, Ace of Base and the NDR Big Band, Nils Landgren produced the album Creole Love Call (2006) with keyboardist Joe Sample, and began a collective series of Christmas carols in several volumes, one every two years, under the title Christmas with Friends. Between each reunion appear The Moon, the Stars and You (2011), Eternal Beauty (2014) and Some Other Time: A Tribute to Leonard Bernstein (2016), with Janis Siegel and the Bochum Symphony Orchestra. The 4 Wheel Drive quartet he forms with Michael Wollny, Lars Danielsson and Wolfgang Haffner records a homonymous studio album in 2019, followed by a tour and its summary in 4 Wheel Drive Live (2020). In 2021, the album Kristallen sees him playing in duet with pianist Jan Lundgren. After Christmas with My Friends VII (2020) and Nature Boy (2021), the triple album 3 Generations (No. 69 in the German charts) is released, featuring a host of musicians around standards and original compositions, including Ulf Walkenius, Ida Sand, Cæcilie Norby, Iiro Rantala, Viktoria Tolstoy, Nguyên Lê, Camille Bertault, Adam Bałdych, Youn Sun Nah, Vincent Peirani, Émile Parisien and Joachim Kühn. In 2024, the Nils Landgren Funk Unit celebrated its 30th anniversary with the release of the album Raw. The trombonist and singer then joined forces with arranger Vince Mendoza, singer and pianist Ida Sand and the Sveriges Radios Symfoniorkester for the live standards album Love of My Life, released in 2026.