Nils Landgren - Christmas With My Friends

The Guardian 80

(ACT)

Nils Landgren is a Swedish trombonist and bandleader who has played with everyone from Herbie Hancock to Abba. His Christmas albums are something of an institution in Scandinavia and Germany. They have appeared roughly every other year since 2005, when he assembled a group of fellow musicians for a Christmas concert in a Stockholm church. The recording was a surprise hit and there’s now a sellout concert series to go with each album release.

The format is simple: an artfully chosen miscellany of pieces played, sung and, in some cases, composed, by Landgren and his seven musical friends. Since they are all very good musicians, it adds up to an enjoyable hour’s music, seasonal but never corny. In this year’s programme, JS Bach meets Frank Loesser, John Rutter rubs shoulders with Bobby Troup and they all get along splendidly. It’s difficult to pick out high spots from a collaborative effort such as this, although I particularly liked Landgren’s Oh No, It’s Christmas Again! and Sharon Dyall’s Come One, Come All. The real charm of the thing, though, lies in its combination of polished musicianship and simple intimacy.