MATHIAS LANDÆUS TRIO
Kontakt:
info@landaeus.com
Hemsida:
www.landaeus.com
Gruppmedlemmar:
Mathias Landæus, piano
Johnny Åman, bas
Cornelia Nilsson, trummor
Mer med Mathias:
MÜÆM - 2024
Mathias Landæus & Martin Küchen
Kontakt:
info@landaeus.com
How do you maintain a deep awareness of the fragility of life, yet continue to celebrate its excitement and beauty?
With over 20 albums to his name, that seems to be the question that Swedish pianist Mathias Landæus answers, time and again. His music, and the inspiration for more than 200 compositions, can be reflective, pensive, even sorrowful - yet a playful outburst or a moment of pure joy is always just around the corner.
"Improvised music" he explains "is a deeply human activity. The ability to connect and use your mind is something that humankind needs to cultivate in these times.” Then, a quick reflection: "At least that's how I justify my greatest pleasure in life, which is playing with Cornelia Nilsson and Johnny Åman!"
Active on the international scene for three decades now, this current iteration of the Landæus trio has been together 8 years - and it shows. As with many of the greatest groups in jazz history, there's a level of understanding and sensitivity between the players which cannot come from anything else.
Even the line-up speaks to the concept of growth and personal development; when Åman joined Mathias more than a decade ago, drummer Cornelia Nilsson was a high school student in the audience, inspired by the music she heard them making. Still only in her early 30s, her recent debut album featuring Aaron Parks saw her win Denmark's biggest jazz award, The Ben Webster Prize - perhaps testament to both Landæus's awareness of the scene, and the level the trio demands of itself.
Listening to the trio in full flow, it's unsurprising to learn that Mathias spent a large chunk of the 1990s honing his playing on the New York scene. Undulating explorations give way to joyous, hard-driving swing, revealing a player whose roots are in the jazz tradition, but his imagination stretches further.
From their base in the South of Sweden and Denmark, the trio's discography boasts collaborations with a who's who of the improvisation scene, from Martin Küchen, Ellekari Sander and Gilbert Holmström to Tim Hagans, Seamus Blake and many more. But it's the core of the trio, which they return to religiously, that presents their music in its purest form.
With Landæus, the music seems to be an organic extension of his life; social responsibility, climate change and local community are all important; he has a long history of organising concerts in his home country and, more recently, setting up his initiative Jazz for Climate Justice.
After 30 years of experimentation, it would be unjust to pigeon-hole the music; indeed the descriptions in the press have covered them all! Jazz Magazine in France noted the connection to Ornette Coleman and Paul Bley, whilst others have talked about inspirations from Messiaen’s La technique to the sweeping romance of Bill Evans.
All of this is deeply evident from the trio's imaginative live shows; intuition over setlists and a freedom to play which could just as easily see them intertwine their original music with a jazz standard, a pop tune, or some warped Strauss. The thing that ties it all together? A deep connection to their instruments, to the history of jazz and, ultimately, to each other.
”The trio is totally engaged… solid and powerful” Avant Music News
“a pianist of deep emotional intensity working with fluid, dense colors and twisted phrasing, all leading into a forest of delight.” StereoTimes
”Landæus Trio is now as established and close knit as you can ask for.” OrkesterJournalen