Stay Now Joel Lyssarides

• 1 Fernqvist, Lyssarides: As Night Let Down Its Curtain 01:32
• 2 Fernqvist, Lyssarides: Sommarsnö 02:06
• 3 Fernqvist, Lyssarides: Cloudberry Hill 04:36
• 4 Fernqvist, Lyssarides: Is There a Way 04:05
• 5 Fernqvist, Lyssarides: Gowns of Dark 03:12
• 6 Fernqvist, Lyssarides: Procession 04:30
• 7 Fernqvist, Lyssarides: Chimera 05:08
• 8 Fernqvist, Lyssarides: Stay Now 02:49
• 9 Fernqvist, Lyssarides: Echoes 02:11
• 10 Fernqvist, Lyssarides: Down and Out 03:10
• 11 Fernqvist, Lyssarides: St. Joseph 05:04
• 12 Fernqvist, Lyssarides: The Last Verse 04:01
• Total Runtime 42:24

Info for Stay Now

Joel Lyssarides is Sweden’s rising piano star of the moment. And whereas awareness of him beyond Sweden’s borders may still be restricted to assiduous followers of the scene, his listening figures speak for themselves. Recordings by the pianist, born in 1992, are already among the most listened-to in European jazz; on Spotify alone he has reached well over 50 million plays. And yet these huge numbers are not the result of any calculation, audience targeting or 'crowd-pleasing' on the pianist's part. He explains: “As happy as I am that a lot of people obviously like my music a lot and want to listen to it again and again, the creative impulse always comes from within me. Me and my piano, they’re at the centre of my musical world.” His ACT debut “Stay Now”, Joel Lyssarides’ third album, is a dazzling and vivid insight into that world. One thing is abundantly clear: the time has arrived for Lyssarides to step out onto the international stage.

Joel Lyssarides is not yet thirty, and so the things he has already achieved musically are quite staggering: he has played countless concerts either solo or with his trio; he has collaborated with jazz, classical, blues and pop artists such as trombonist Nils Landgren and singer Viktoria Tolstoy, including her current album “Stations”... But he has also worked with YouTube phenomenon “Dirty Loops”, and with the great Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter. And despite Joel Lyssarides’ evident and impressive versatility and adaptability, jazz is at the very core of his work. The initial spark came from records by Miles Davis, Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk and others which were played in his Swedish-Greek parents' home. Thereafter came the music of Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett and Gonzalo Rubalcaba. Lyssarides studied music in Stockholm and Rome, and it was not long before recognition came in the form of numerous national and international jazz prizes. In just under ten years, Joel Lyssarides has received almost twenty of them, notably the Swedish Society of Composers’ Prize, the Bengt Säve-Söderbergh Award, the “Jan Wallander Award” and, in 2019 at only 26 years of age, Musician of the Year from Swedish Radio.

For Joel Lyssarides jazz is above all a language, a tool for uniquely personal expression. He composed the pieces for “Stay Now” in a remote house in the forest, a good half-hour outside Stockholm. And by preference at night, in silence, darkness and deep concentration. The atmosphere of this place is audibly reflected in the music, which is strongly influenced by space, sound and mood - reinforced by the highly concentrated, differentiated, subtle interplay of pianist Lyssarides with bassist Niklas Fernqvist and drummer Rasmus Blixt. The Swedish magazine “Lira” states: “Even though the concept of jazz is a very extensive one, it is too narrow of a description for the music of this trio.” What these three young musicians have in common is their capacity for great sensitivity and expressiveness. Their music is based on a vocabulary that draws equally from European classical music, jazz from both sides of the Atlantic and great songwriting, with all its depth and accessibility. And yet this has nothing to do with crossover. Everything flows and swings, nothing seems deliberate or contrived, one can hear a natural understanding for the infinite possibilities of every note. This trio has the self-confidence to put the entirety of their efforts into enhancing the expressiveness of the music.

And it is in the most intimate, quiet, focused and concentrated moments that the most spectacular things happen. The album title “Stay Now”, therefore, is above all an acknowledgement of quite how precious the here and now is. These are the moments when we start to understand the true value of present and past encounters. As we listen, we can let the moment linger… and allow ourselves to sink blissfully and unforgettably into it.



Joel Lyssarides, piano
Niklas Fernqvist, bass
Rasmus Blixt, drums

Joel Lyssarides
was born in Stockholm, Sweden 1992. His early exposure to music at home led to piano studies at the age of four. His interest in jazz came naturally, as he started to discover and explore his parents’ record collection with music by Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Thelonius Monk and others. ​

At the age of sixteen Joel was accepted to the Södra Latin College of Music in Stockholm, which at the time was the first and natural choice for young, Swedish musicians aspiring to pursue a professional career in music. His interest in jazz and harmony grew under the inspired teaching of Robert Malmberg, who opened new approaches to harmonic thinking inspired by Herbie Hancock and Bill Evans. ​

At the age of eighteen Joel was accepted to the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm, where Professor Ove Lundin was his teacher and mentor for three years. Ove took over where Robert Malmberg had stopped and continued to encourage Joel’s interest in harmony. This also included the discovery of classical composers such as Brahms, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff and Ravel.

During his last year at the Academy Joel spent a period in Rome at the Conservatorie Di Santa Cecilia. Here he studied the art of orchestration with a focus on string writing for orchestra under the guidance of the renowned Italian composer Antonio Di Pofi.

While still in Italy, it came to Joel’s attention that the Swedish bank, Handelsbanken, had issued a competion for all Swedish jazz piano students. The first prize was a brand new Steinway Grand Piano and access to a studio. Joel’s application included various performances of his own compositions as well as jazz standards. On March 26 2014, Joel received his prize instrument from Princess Christina Mrs Magnusons hand at a ceremony at Musikaliska in Stockholm,

In its citation the jury says: "A young musician whose playing is characterized by exquisite timbre feeling, subtle harmonies and vivid phrasing, for the benefit of innovation at the highest artistic level. With an imaginative musician-ship and an expression of an extraordinary kind, our prize winner creates a story filled with beautiful colours, beauty and a rare light."

Since graduation at the age of 21 Joel has been a sought-after pianist, session musician and arranger. He has played with a wide array of artists such as Anne Sofie Von Otter, Nils Landgren, Sven Bertil Taube, Silvana Imam, Dirty Loops, Norrbotten Big Band, Kristin Amparo and Svante Henrysson, as well as worked as an arranger for Benny Andersson (ABBA), various big bands, choirs and string quartets. ​

In November, 2017 Joel went into the studio to record his debut album along with his newly started trio consisting of Niklas Fernqvist on bass and Rasmus Blixt on drums. The music is a reflection of Joel’s background in classical music, jazz and Swedish folk Music.

Booklet for Stay Now