That the Swedish pianist Jan Lundgren has often accompanied mainstream leaders such as the US saxophonists Harry Allen and Scott Hamilton is no accident – Lundgren’s intuitions about when to do more with less make him an ideal accompanist, he has the most polished of keyboard touches, and a songwriter’s ear for melodies that sound simultaneously conventional and new.
Potsdamer Platz – one in an ongoing stream of releases from Munich’s classy ACT label on its 25th anniversary – is a showcase for Lundgren’s composing, and his Scandinavian quartet including former EST double-bassist Dan Berglund and the eloquent Finnish saxophonist Jukka Perko. The title track has a Keith Jarrett-like bluesy roll, Twelve Tone Rag is like a stretched Charlie Parker tune with a New Orleans blues pianist beneath, Lycklig Resa is a delicious waltz for Perko in smokily lyrical mood, while the ballads No 9 and Never Too Late reveal Lundgren’s delicate touch and his composing talents in subtle balance. The materials are close to lounge-bar jazz, but Lundgren’s use of them belong in another world entirely.
