Since 2007 Gustav Lundgren has been touring as a solo artist: Video

18.09. – Happy Birthday !!! Gustav Lundgren was born in Stockholm 1980. He started to play guitar when he was 12 years old. For the first 3 years of his musical career Jimi Hendrix was his biggest role model. At 15 years of age Gustav began studying at Södra Latin in Stockholm.

Södra Latin is a school that has a program for young jazz musicians and many of Sweden’s prominent musicians started their careers here. During this period he met some of the most talented young players in Swedish modern jazz such as Jonas Kullhammar, Andreas Öberg, Fredrik Lindborg, Andreas Kleerup and Carl Bagge. During this period he listened to guitar players like: Pat Matheny, Max Schultz, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Bireli Lagrene and most of all the great John Schofield. In 1998 Gustav moved to Bollnäs were he studied Jazz at the Bollnäs-Folkhögskola. He met the great saxophone player Johan Hörlén who was teaching there. Johan later became a member of the Gustav Lundgren Quartet in 2001. All the spare money were now going to one thing, CDs.

He bought over 40 albums with the saxophone genius John Coltrane. Gustav was now practicing as much as 5 hours a day, he jammed with the other students 3-4 hours every day. After one year of hard work he got some problems with his hands and could not play for a while. In the summer of 1999 Gustav Played at the Stockholm Jazz Festival as a guest musician with Jonas Kullhammars band and in the audience were among others the great House producer Markus Enochson. Gustav and Markus has been working together ever since. In August 1999 Gustav moved again, this time to Svalöv in the southern part of Sweden.

He studied music at Fridhems Folkhögskola. Gustav were now playing with great musicians like Daniel Fredriksson, his own brother Hampus Lundgren and his old friend from Södra Latin Fredrik Lindborg. He also met the former student Martin Höper who he has been working with ever since. He also made his first tour to Spain with the “Mill Street Trio”. In the springtime of 2000 Gustav bought an apartment in Stockholm and met a girl called Alex. They are now married and have one son and one daughter together (Noa & Tea). In the autumn of 2000 Gustav Lundgren, Markus Enochson and Hampus Lundgren composed and recorded the music to the MTV European music awards 2000. The same year was the first year for Gustav to play at Hultsfred.

The Band included Frank Ådahl, Markus Enochson, Nassim AlFakir among others. In 2001 Gustav started to play with Turkish drummer R.M.S Ikiz. They started there own jazz club at Hannas Krog. Many great musicians played at the Club with Gustav and R.M.S, for ex Per”Ruskträsk”Johansson, Gustavo Bergalli and Karl-Martin Almquist. They also formed the group Mozaique with Linus Lindblom-Sax, Hampus Lundgren-Bass. The group started to play at different jazz-clubs in Stockholm and also made a tour to Turkey where they played concerts and made tv-sessions.

The group also recorded one album “29m2” (featuring Gustavo Bergalli). In 2001, Gustav also started to record a few tracks for his first solo CD together with Johan Hörlén, Karl-Martin Almquist, Daniel Fredriksson and Martin Sjöstedt. In November 2001 Gustav founded a brand new project, the Django Reinhardt tribute band called Hot Club de Suede featuring Andreas Öberg & Hampus Lundgren. The group became an immediate success. Gustav toured around Europe for 5 years with HCdS, they also made one tour to the USA with singer Connie Evingson.

The group has collaborated with guests-stars like Jimmy Rosenberg (NL), Yorgui Loeffler (FR), Ola Kvernberg (NO), Basily (NL), Lars Erstrand, Bengan Janson & Magnus Lindgren (S). They have released three albums, “avec” SJRCD002 (2002) “Hommage a Django” sitcd9309 (2004) & “Stockholm Sweetnin'” (2006) . In 2002 Gustav started to work with House Producer Rasmus Faber, 2002 was also the year when Gustav Lundgren & Fredrik Lindborg formed ”The Stockholm Swing All Stars”. The SSAS is now one of the most popular jazz bands in Sweden. Since the summer of 2003 Gustav has been working with his own group The Gustav Lundgren Quartet.

There first album “first impression” came out in September 2004 and there second one “second opinion” came out in April 2007. In December 2004 Gustav received his signature guitar model from AJL-guitars. In 2005 Gustav released his first solo album with Django music on the Norwegian label NORILDS MUSIK. The album was called ”Django Project vol 1″. He also played with his quartet at the EXPO 2005 in Nagoya (Japan). In November the same year, Gustav received the Louis Armstrong scholarship from the Swedish classic jazz society. Since 2005 Gustav has been a member of The Fredrik Lindborg Quartet. They have released 2 CDs and made many tours. In 2007 Gustav started to collaborate with Spanish guitar player Biel Ballester.

They have now toured in many different countries with there group ”Proyecto Django Escandinavo”. Since 2007 Gustav Lundgren has been touring as a solo artist in different countries playing with local musicians. In 2008 Gustav released his second solo album with Django Reinhardt music called ”Django Project vol.2”. He also produced and recorded a CD with Jelena Jakubovitch. 2008 was a busy year for Gustav with over 20 international tours and several recording sessions. He received money from the Swedish arts Grants Committee to make a tour in Turkey with The Bilal Karaman Group. Gustav also formed the group ”Trio Legacy” a Piano/Guitar/Bass trio inspired by the great trios of Nat King Cole, Oscar Peterson and Tal Farlow.

During 2008 Gustav started to dig more seriously in to the American Songbook. He started to collect DVDs with all the great musicals from the 1930-40s and also writing arrangements on the Standard songs for the new trio. Gustav also bought many CDs with the great Tal Farlow. Tal is known for his great interpretations of the Standards from the 20-30s. Tal Farlow is probably one of the strongest influences in Gustav Lundgren playing together with Kurt Rosenwinkel, Django Reinhardt, Bireli Lagrene, Jesse van Ruller and John Schofield. In early 2009 ”The Stockholm Swing All Stars”  released there first album, with a following promotional tour in Sweden. They made Radio and TV sessions (se them on YouTube). Gustav has over the years performed on TV shows in many different countries including The USA. In April 2009 He played in Tokyo and Osaka (Japan) with Rasmus Fabers 10 piece All Star band including Linda Sundblad and his old friends Melo, Emily McEwan & Thomas Eby. During late spring 2009 Gustav lived in Barcelona for 5 weeks playing with great musicians like Fredrik Carlquist & Phil Wilkinson.

In October 2009 Gustav Lundgren Quartet made 10 concerts at 8 different venues in 3 countries. All this was recorded live and released on the CD “8 Venues” on May 13th 2010. This was the third CD with the Quartet. It is available at www.lundgrenmusic.com . In January 2010 Gustav traveled to Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) to record with Daniel Santiago and Gabriel Grossi. The result was Amazing! Buy the Album “Janeiro” on Itunes. In July 2010 Gustav entered the big stage at Pori Jazz Finland with his Quartet. They played before Jeff Beck. More then 6000 people saw the show. There are several Videos on YouTube. Gustav also went back to the States 2 times during this year. He was performing at the Django in June Festival in Massachusetts with Biel Ballester.

He also made more than 35 concerts with the Stockholm Swing All Stars in Norway & Sweden during 2010. In the beginning of 2011 Gustav Lundgren & Max Alton finally got there own Studio in Stockholm. The place was messy in the beginning but after 3 months of renovation they finally got it in perfect shape. Since March 2011 many albums have been recorded down in this Studio. Now they call it the Farmer Street Studio. In the same month Gustav played in Indonesia at the Java Jazz Festival in Jakarta with the RaFa Orchestra. He also jamed with George Benson on Vocals!

The RaFa Orchestra also performed in England, Japan & Sweden during 2011. In May 2011 Gustav Lundgren & Daniel Santiago rounded up again for a European tour. They played in Stockholm, Riga, Salaspils, Jurmala, Sigulda, Huddinge and Rome. Gustav kept going to Barcelona at least 6 times a year to play with his friends Dave Mitchell, Anton Jarl, Fredrik Carlquist, Jorge Rossy and Biel Ballester. During the rest of 2011 Gustav made tours to Japan with the RaFa Orchestra, played at Womex with Jelena Jakubovitch & Lelo Nika but he also played in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo with Alex Buck and others. The concerts with the Stockholm Swing All Stars in Sweden and Norway continued. In January 2012 Gustav released his album “Gustav Lundgren Plays Django Reinhardt”.

On this one he plays most of the instruments him self, more then 13 actually. He also started to work with his new Gypsy Guitar Trio with Andreas Unge on Bass and Martin Widlund on Guitar. The trio made many concerts during 2012. For example they played at big festivals in Algeria, Finland (pori), Moldavia, Ukraine and Sweden. There are many videos on youtube from this period! In May 2012 Gustav played a few concerts in Paris with some amazing gypsy swing musicians like Edouard Pennes, Aurélien Bouly, Daniel John Martin & Bastien Ribot. In the summer of 2012 Gustav and his family decides to leave Stockholm and move to Madrid. In September the same year he makes a tour with the Brazilian singer Lili Araujo in Europe. He also plays in Lisbon with the RaFa Orchestra. While living in Madrid Gustav starts to work with players from the local scene such as the singers Celia Mur, Cecilia Krull & Aurora Artega, guitarist Jorge Guzman, bass player Ander Garcia and the great drummer Michael Olivera Garcia.

He also teams up with the Brazilian sing and songwriter Luiz Murá. They have played together ever since. In 2013 he´s still in Madrid but leaves Spain at least once a month to play abroad. He records the album ”Passageiros” with Lili Araujo, Bernardo Aguiar, Bebe Kramer & Gabriel Grossi in Rio de Janeiro. He goes back to Istanbul with Bilal Karaman.  He goes to Paris for concerts with guitar players Rocky Gresset, Aurélien Bouly & Remi Oswald. He releasees the album ”Plays Rodgers” with the Trio Legacy in both Sweden and Spain. He goes back to the Le QuecumBar in London with guitarist Edouard Pennes. He tours and records with Damon Brown, Fredrik Carlquist, Marc Miralta & Daniel Franck in Spain.

He plays a lot with Brazilian singer Simone Moreno in Stockholm. Makes a radio broadcasted concert in the Vienna concert hall with Jelena Jakubovitch. In october 2013 Gustav releases his new album ”Bossa Nova vol 1” together with Fredrik Carlquist, Tati Valle, Luiz Murá & Lili Araujo. In the autumn on 2013 Gustav moves back to Stockholm and starts to bring more and more musicians from abroad to make concerts with him in Sweden. In December 2013 he makes a tour with Edouard Pennes in Sweden. In January 2014 Gustav records the album ”Cruce de Caminos” together with the great Spanish singer Celia Mur. Gustav also keeps going back to Spain as much as possible to work with his old Spanish projects. In January 2014 he goes on tour with Jorge Guzman & Miguel Angel Navarrete in Spain. He also makes more then 20 concerts in Sweden together with the French guitarist Remi Oswald, including the Stockholm Concert Hall. During 2014 Gustav starts the Django Jam at Nytorget 6 in Stockholm every month. He also goes back to Paris for concerts with guitarists Noé Reinhardt, Michael Gimenez, Edouard Pennes & Rémi Oswald.

He also starts touring regularly with the Swedish group Unit and Mattias Welin. He invites the guitar players Gildas le Pape, Rémi Oswald & Olli Soikkeli to his Jam at Nytorget 6. He plays in Switzerland with Thomas Winteler. He tours Galicia with Jorge Guzman & Miguel Angel Navarrete. He also starts working with the world famous opera singer Anne Sofie von Otter.

They tour in Sweden & Switzerland. He tours Sweden with Lili Araujo and goes to the Django Reinhardt festival in samois sur seine. In July 2014 he records his album ”Bertheleville” in France with his Trio. He plays in Algeria with Cecilia Krull. They also perform on Algerian TV and Radio. He releases a new album with singer Matilda Mörk. He performs at the Jazzycolors festival in Paris with his Trio and tours Sweden with the Stockholm Swing All Stars. In 2015 Gustav spends one month in the south of Spain playing with the Organ genius Phil Wilkinson and the great singer Celia Mur. He makes a Swedish tour with the French guitarist Edouard Pennes. And starts to work regularly with the French violinist Aurelien Trigo. Together with guitarist Marin Widlund they move the Django Jam to a new venue in Stockholm called Häktet. They play there every monday night. Gustav tours the Costa Blanca in Spain with his Swedish Trio. He plays in the Berlin Opera house with Anne Sofie von Otter, Bengt Forsberg & Bengan Jansson. They also play at the Bergen International Festival in Norway.

He tours Spain with the group Menilmontant from Madrid and releases his new album Bertheleville on Vinyl. In 2015 Gustav receives the SLJB grant and the Albin Hagström grant from The Royal Swedish Academy of Music. He also goes back to Paris for a tour and releases the album Gustav Lundgren “French Connection” with French gypsy jazz musicians. Gustav spends his summer in Barcelona and records the album ”Mar” together with Brazilian Luiz Murá & Sergio Krakowski but also makes concerts with musicians like Jorge Rossy & Fredrik Carlquist. In august he brings his Swedish Trio to the Denia Jazz Festival in Spain. He finally buys an apartment in Barcelona and goes back to perform with his local projects as often as he can. Gustav Lundgren is currently living in between Stockholm and Barcelona.

In October 2015 Gustav plays at the Swedish Django Reinhardt Festival with Noé Reinhardt. In November he releases the album ”Mar” with Luiz Murá. They make 3 concerts in Stockholm and one in Barcelona. In November 2015 Gustav invites the French guitarist Romain Vuillemin for five concerts in Stockholm. They also records a couple of videos that you´ll find on youtube. Gustav also starts to work, perform and write music together with the American singer Jessica Curran. In January 2016 the Gustav Lundgren Trio performed four concerts in Sweden with the amazing French guitar player Antoine Boyer. One of these concerts was in the Stockholm Concert Hall. See the videos on Youtube!!! In May 2016 Gustav records a new album containing Jazz standards toghter with the american bass player Doug Weiss and the spanish drummer Jorge Rossy, The album is called “Jazz vol.1” (LMCD014).

In September 2016 Gustav performs in Washington State (USA) at the DjangoFest NW together with his new project “Acoustic Connection” featuring Antoine Boyer. He also performs with the Europe All Stars featuring Stochelo Rosenberg, Mozes Rosenberg, Christiaan van Hemert, Olli Soikkeli, Noé Reine and John Jorgenson. In October 2016 Gustav performs at the Stockholm Django Festival together with Aurore Voilqué & Samson Schmitt.

Gustav Lundgren is endorsed by AJL-Guitars, Eastman Guitars, ILT Scandinavia, GUZZ,  Jaf picks, Pyramid strings and AER Amps.

Has played with: Chris Cheek (USA), Bill McHenry (USA), Dick Oatts (USA). Jukka Perko (FIN) Nisse Sandström. Bernt Rosengren Per”Ruskträsk”Johansson. Johan Hörlen. Karl-Martin Almqvist. David Wilczewski. Gunnar Bergsten. Magnus Lindgren. Klas Lindkvist. Anders Ekholm Fredrik Lindborg. Jonas Kullhammar Fredrik Nordström. Kenneth Arnström John Nugent (CAN). Håkan Broström. Orange Kellin (USA/SWE). Antti Sarpila (FIN) Robert Nordmark. Erik Nordström. Timo Lassy (FIN) /Reeds.