New Album from The Nils Landgren Funk Unit

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A true musical cosmopolitan, Nils Landgren has performed alongside stars such as Fred Wesley, Maceo Parker, Thad Jones, Herbie Hancock and Roy Hargrove, among many others. Judging solely from a recording, one might surmise the immaculately funky trombonist might come from Detroit or Memphis or Chicago, but quite to the contrary, this trombone hero hails from Degerfors, Sweden. Landgren, who is also known as "Mr. Red Horn" for his eye-catching red-lacquered Yamaha trombone, has been a constant source of inspiration on the European jazz scene as an inexhaustible performer and bandleader and highly original composer and charismatic educator.

Immediately upon hearing the Swede play at the 1994 JazzBaltica Festival in Salzau, Germany, ACT Music founder Siggi Loch was so impressed with Landgren's stage presence and technical prowess, that he was sure he had made one of his most significant musical discoveries in the course of his 40+ year career in the record business. Landgren's fifteen albums and one DVD as a leader to date, his numerous collaborations on other ACT releases as well as Landgren's now permanent status in Joe Sample & The Crusaders are all testimony to Loch's initial hunch. These achievements have firmly established the 51 year-old as one of the driving forces both on the European jazz scene and the ACT artist roster.

Landgren is a hard-working and immensely versatile musician, who feels equally at home in small or a large group settings; from the swinging straight-ahead jazz tradition to modern European styles. However, one style of music for which the trombonist and sometimes vocalist has always held a particular place in his heart, is the funk of the 1960s and 70s heard in R&B and the genre known as soul-jazz.

The focus of the new album, Licence To Funk (a British spelling of license) is on the communicative qualities of funk. It comes as no surprise that a red-blooded musician like Nils Landgren would never let his jazz sensibility and fearsome virtuosity turn anything funk-oriented into an academic exercise. After all, this is an album for those who like to party, or as Nils states jokingly, an album "to move my old Swedish body to the beat."

As one could rightly expect, Landgren has found a universal and very contemporary vibe for this groove-based idiom. This may be due to subtle changes in his award-winning Nils Landgren Funk Unit featuring bassist and vocalist Magnum Coltrane Price and top German drummer and vocalist Wolfgang Haffner. New additions include keyboardist and vocalist Ida Sand, a new discovery from Sweden who recently released her ACT debut Meet Me Around Midnight and flutist/saxophonist Magnus Lindgren, who among other endeavours once wrote the music for the 2003 Nobel Prize ceremonies).

Landgren was also able to snag one of Detroit's true funk legends for this project, guitarist Ray Parker, Jr.. The composer of the multi-million selling "Ghostbusters Theme" had previously collaborated with Landgren on 2006's Creole Love Call, with jazz/pop innovator and Crusaders founder Joe Sample.

All the musicians are featured as composers on Licence To Funk. Fred Wesley's "House Party", the ecstatic opener sets the pace for what follows; a celebration of funk as a collective experience. Each of the twelve tracks shows a different aspect of the genre. The relaxed elegance of Landgren's own "Capetown Shuffle" contrasts with the exhilarating verve of the Ashford/Simpson classic "Stuff Like That." Lush gospel harmonies characterize the vocal sections of Magnum Coltrane Price's brisk "Freak U." Soulful solos by the two horn players crown Wolfgang Haffner's laid-back "Slowfoot", while vocalist Ida Sand charges her composition "Secret" with lascivious blues feeling and Landgren's own understated vocals bring a cool lounge vibe to "24Hours." The explosive riffs on "SampleRayT" conjure up the spirit of the Crusaders' heyday as does the power play of the whole band on "Brazos River Breakdown" an original by Crusaders-saxophonist Wilton Felder.

Licence To Funk opens a new chapter in one of the most impressive success stories of the European jazz of the last twenty years. Release Date: October 9.

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