Nils Landgren - Love of My Life (2026)

Trombonist, singer, festival director, mentor, promoter, bridge-builder. Recipient of the Federal Cross of Merit, the Sir George Martin Music Award, and the highest orders for art and culture from the Swedish royal family. A tireless worker, performing 150-200 concerts a year at peak times. And, perhaps most importantly: a staunch optimist, a truly warm-hearted person. Everything Nils Landgren does is somehow connected to love: love for music, for his instrument, the red trombone, for the people on and off stage. And for his wife, the actress Beatrice Järås, to whom he has been married for 48 years. And so, there could be no more fitting title for his new album than "Love of My Life."

Recorded with a band of close friends, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and lavishly arranged by seven-time Grammy winner Vince Mendoza, Nils Landgren's new album spans a wide range: from touching original compositions to songs by Cat Stevens, Leonard Bernstein, Kurt Weill, Herbie Hancock, and fellow musicians like Joe Sample and Ida Sand. This diverse repertoire reflects the inclusive power of Nils Landgren, both as a person and as a musician.

As is so often the case with Nils Landgren, "Love of My Life" is a musical family affair: He is accompanied by Sweden's rising piano star Joel Lyssarides, double bass virtuoso Lars Danielsson, drummer Robert Ikiz – also a permanent member of the Nils Landgren Funk Unit – and singer and longtime collaborator Ida Sand. For Nils Landgren, a lifelong dream has come true. In the album's liner notes, he writes: "Deep down, I'm still just the boy from the small Swedish steelworkers' town of Degerfors. I still can't quite believe that I was invited to play music with a whole symphony orchestra and some of my best friends." If you know Nils Landgren, you know: This statement isn't false modesty, but genuine humility.

Nils Landgren - vocals, trombone
The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Ulf Forsberg - concertmaster
Joel Lyssarides - piano
Lars Danielsson - bass
Robert Ikiz - drums
Ida Sand - vocals on #1, 4, 9, 10, 11, piano on #4