The Masters' Meet

Two generations playing together, improvising together, each at a grand piano, each offering delights from the breadth of jazz and popular music. This is what happened when we brought together the Swedish jazz pianists Bengt Hallberg and Jan Lundgren in a unique exhibition of double play. Both of them also brought their own, newly written tunes that now could be recorded for the first time.

Bengt was fresh from a nine-year break, and Jan could not resist taking time out from his packed international schedule to rise o the challenge. Two giants of piano jazz: Bengt born in 1932 and Jan in 1966. The two have double played before, but never with one another. In 2001 Jan played with legendary pianist Pete Jolly on the album Collaboration in Los Angeles, while Bengt recorded with Norwegian pianist Kjell Bækkelund. This time Studio 2 at the Swedish national radio´s broadcasting house was the ideal venue for yet more inspired music making. And they loved it.

Improvisation is the essence of jazz. Asking two musicians to improvise on the same tune makes huge demands of their talents. They need acute sensitivity, an intimate feel for the music´s dynamic, thorough knowledge of harmonic structure, and the ability to create a musical dialog. All this comes naturally for these two men; so naturally, that their dynamic sometimes seems to have a child-like ease about it in brims with humour.

 One might not expect that these two pianists, with their large age difference – and the resulting diversity in musical pedigree  – possess the capacity to play together with such a rich, mutual musical language.

As Jan´s and Bengt´s joyful interaction took flight in take after take, those present in the studio soon realised how unique this recording would be.

Torgil Rosenberg
Producer