Nils Landgren – Christmas With My Friends

In the organizer's words:

New "Christmas With My Friends" album in 2025
Swedish jazz musician's Christmas project on tour again in winter 2025

Perhaps the most important spiritual tradition in the Western world is Christmas - and music is a crucial part of it. Around the world, Christmas carols form a genre of their own, 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 the many very different Christmas songs 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 was the start of a whole series that is released every two years and also goes on tour regularly. In 2025, the time has finally come again: a new "Christmas With My Friends" album will be released and presented live as part of a tour.

Nils Landgren, who celebrates his 70th birthday next year, will be accompanied by his musical confidants Jonas Knutsson (saxophone), Johan Norberg (guitar), Clas Lassbo (bass) and Ida Sand both on piano and together with Sharon Dyall, Jessica Pilnäs and Jeanette Köhn as one of a total of four female singers.

The joyful atmosphere of these joint sessions is ultimately transferred to the album. Logically, 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, emphatic and reduced musical language, the focus 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.

Nils Landgren (tb, voc)
Jeanette Köhn (voc)
Sharon Dyall (voc)
Ida Sand (p, voc)
Johan Norberg (g)
Jessica Pilnäs (voc)
Jonas Knutsson (sax)
Clas Lassbo (b)