Unbreakable Nils Landgren Funk Unit with Ray Parker Jr.

• 1 Unbreakable 05:46
• 2 Just a Kiss Away 05:20
• 3 Get Down on the Funk 04:02
• 4 Friday Night 06:07
• 5 Stars in Your Eyes 05:23
• 6 Rockin' After Midnight 06:12
• 7 Soulchild 05:13
• 8 Old School 04:42
• 9 Nlfu Funk 05:22
• 10 Bow Down 04:47
• Total Runtime 52:54

Info for Unbreakable

Unbreakable opens with the title song, Nils Landgren’s own composition. It begins with an unmistakeable guitar intro by Detroit funk legend Ray Parker Jr. (for the occasion an “Honorary Funk Unit member”) a funky riff that sets the pace for what’s to follow; a nonstop funk blowout.

Unbreakable opens with the title song, Nils Landgren’s own composition. It begins with an unmistakeable guitar intro by Detroit funk legend Ray Parker Jr. (for the occasion an “Honorary Funk Unit member”) a funky riff that sets the pace for what’s to follow; a nonstop funk blowout. The Funk Unit rhythm section is tighter than ever before and lays down a groove like no other band. The horn arrangements (by band member Jonas Wall) are exquisitely precise and the process of arranging, mixing and performing they have developed over the years is unique and totally their own. If you add to that an outstanding trombone player/lead vocalist you have one of the most dynamic groups of musicians ever to hit the stage in Europe. Some funk, some jazz and some straight-out party music, and when the likes of Ray Parker Jr., Randy Brecker and Tim Hagans are willing to come along for the ride, it’s bound to keep the recipe going and some good music playing. The title is important to Nils and marks something of a turning point in the history of his band: “Throughout all our years together, there have been countless moments of great joy and laughter, but also times when we had to fight to stay on the right track. Remembering the highs always helped us to face the lows and to get back up on our feet. The love for the music and for each other has always won and always will. We are unbreakable”.

Nils Landgren, one of the most successful European jazz musicians ever, has received a plethora of jazz awards and other honours, including the Swedish Grammy for “lifetime achievement” and the Royal Swedish medal ”Litteris et Artibus” from the hands of H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, for his outstanding achievements.

When ACT Music founder Siggi Loch, first heard Landgren play in 1994, the band was called Unit. ”Why don’t you call it what it is?", Loch said, and from that moment Funk Unit was born.

The first album on the - then young - ACT label would be Live in Stockholm, recorded in summer 1994 with Maceo Parker as special guest, and that would soon be followed by a string of Funk Unit records released on ACT. Some of the notable highlights are the Cannonball Adderley tribute Paint It Blue (1996) featuring Bernhard Purdie, Michael and Randy Brecker. Funky Abba (2004) and Funk For Life (2010) supported, together with Doctors without Borders, a project to support children and teenagers with their music in Kibera, one of the biggest slums in Nairobi, Kenya.

Ray Parker Jr., guitarist, singer-songwriter and producer. Previously lead guitarist with Stevie Wonder. Parker wrote songs and did session work for Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, Diana Ross and many others. Parker has scored six Top 40 hits as a solo artist; including the million selling hit single Ghostbusters in 1984.

Randy Brecker, trumpet player. Six-time Grammy award winner. Started his career as a member of Blood Sweat and Tears, and Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. His collaboration with younger brother Michael led to some of the most notable albums in the fusion genre, Brecker Brothers.

Tim Hagans, jazz trumpeter, arranger, and composer from Dayton, Ohio. USA. Three-time Grammy Nominee. In his early years he toured with Stan Kenton and Woody Herman. Among other artists Tim has recorded with Steps Ahead, Maria Schneider, Joe Lovano.

Unbreakable was recorded in November 2016 in the legendary Atlantis Studios in Stockholm, also the recording site for artists like ABBA, Scorpions, Elvis Costello and Esbjörn Svensson.

Nils Landgren, trombone, vocals
Magnum Coltrane Price, bass, vocals
Andy Pfeiler, guitar, vocals
Jonas Wall, saxophones
Petter Bergander, keyboards
Robert Ikiz, drums
Gäste: Ray Parker Jr, guitar on Unbreakable, vocals on Rockin’ After Midnight, Just A Kiss Away, Stars In Your Eyes & Bow Down
Randy Brecker, trumpet (on track 6)
Tim Hagans, trumpet (on track 9)

Recorded Nov 14-17, 2016 by Janne Hansson at Atlantis Studios, Stockholm
Produced by Magnum Coltrane Price & Nils Landgren

Nils Landgren
Born in 1956, Nils Landgren began playing drums at the age of six, before finally discovering the Trombone at age 13. Between 1972 and 1978 Nils studied classical Trombone at the music college in Karlstad with David Maytan , as well as at the University in Arvika with Ingemar Roos.

Meeting the legendary Swedish Folk-Jazz pioneer Bengt-Arne Wallin as well as the fantastic trombonist Eje Thelin persuaded Nils to move from strict classical studies to improvisation and to begin the development of his own approach.

After his graduation Nils moved to Stockholm to work as a professional trombone player. He was soon touring with the most successful Swedish pop star of that time, Björn Skifs’ “Blue Swede”, who got to number 1 in the US pop charts with “Hooked on a feeling”.

In 1981 Thad Jones invited the Swede into his new big band project “Ball of Fire”, to take the lead-Trombone chair. Ever since that time Nils Landgren has been involved in most styles equally: Jazz and Rock, Soul and Hip-Hop, Big Band sessions, and by his own reckoning, hundreds of albums including such internationals stars as ABBA, The Crusaders, Eddie Harris, Bernard “Pretty” Purdie, Wyclef Jean and Herbie Hancock.

He recorded and released his first solo album in 1984 and made another four in Sweden before he was discovered and signed by Siggi Loch and the German label ACT in 1994, who today are the biggest independent Jazz Label in Europe. Since the first release “Live in Stockholm”, he has recorded and released 30 albums as a Leader and another 20 as sideman and/or Producer, all on the ACT Label.

1998 Nils started his long collaboration with the NDR Bigband in Hamburg, first as section Trombonist, then as Artistic Advisor, lasting until 2012.

2001 Nils was appointed Artistic Director for the prestigious Jazzfest Berlin, a position he held for five years with great success.

In 2007, Nils was also appointed Artistic Director for one of two Swedish Proffessional Bigbands, Bohuslän Bigband in Gothenburg, a position he held until 2015 when he decided to move on.

2009 he started the project “Funk for Life” together with his band Funk Unit, a unique collaboration with MSF- Doctors without Borders. This Project aimed at schools in the slums of Nairobi, Kayelitsha in Cape Town and Soweto Johannesburg, presenting them with musical instruments to bring joy and new possibilities to kids of all ages as well as raising funds for MSF and their tremendous work.

This project is a lifetime commitment for Nils and right now he is focusing on helping young men and women who are in need of financial support for their studies, for building a better future for themselves and their families.

2012 marks the start of a new era for the Jazz Baltica Festival, one of Germany’s top festivals ever since it started in 1991 led by founder Rainer Haarmann. Nils has been performing as a musician at this Festival ever since the start and in 2012 he was appointed Artistic Director of the Festival. Since Nils took over, the Festival has been the subject of relocating from Salzau near Kiel to Niendorf to Timmendorfer Strand, both at the Baltic Sea, and he has, together with his staff, managed to make the Festival grow from 6000 visitors in Salzau to 19000 in Timmendorfer Strand.

Nils has been decorated with two medals from King Carl Gustaf in Sweden, “Letteris et Artibus” and “Medaljen för tonkonstens främjande” and with the German “Bundesverdienstkreuz” by Bundespresident Frank Walther Steinmeier. He is a Doctor (h.c.) at the University of Karlstad and Proffessor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg.

Nils Landgren: exclusive ACT Artist/Redhorn Music AB/Redhorn Talent/Redhorn Records.

Booklet for Unbreakable