Lars Danielsson, double bass, cello
: ECHO JAZZ AWARD 2016 ::
BEST INTERNATIONAL DOUBLE BASSIST 2015
for album « JUST THE TWO OF US »
: ECHO JAZZ AWARD 2015 ::
BEST INTERNATIONAL DOUBLE BASSIST 2014
FOR album LIBERETTO II
Swedish bassist, cellist, composer and arranger Lars Danielsson is well-know and admired throughout the International jazz scene for his lyrical playing and strong groove. Born in 1958, he is a musician with particularly broad interests. At the conservatory in Gothenburg he had studied classical cello, before changing to bass and to jazz. As a bassist he has a uniquely rounded sound, which is as lyrical as powerful. The "Lars Danielsson Quartet" with former Miles Davis saxophonist David Liebman, pianist Bobo Stenson and legendary ECM drummer Jon Christensen has received a lot of recognition and numerous awards during the 18 years of its existence. Danielsson has released ten solo-albums since 1980 with his quartet and guests such as Alex Acuña and John Abercrombie. The Quartet has been a testing ground for Danielsson’s work as a composer and arranger, which has extended over the last years to include both - symphony orchestra and big band music. He has worked with Denmark’s Radio Concert Orchestra as well as the JazzBaltica Ensemble as a composer, arranger and producer. Lars Danielsson has worked with: Randy and Michael Brecker, John Scofield, Jack DeJohnette, Mike Stern, Billy Hart, Charles Lloyd, Terri Lyne Carrington and Dave Kikoski. He has also been a member of the "Trilok Gurtu Group". As a producer, Lars Danielsson worked with Cæcilie Norby, Jonas Johansen, the Danish Radio Concert Orchestra and Viktoria Tolstoy. In 2007, he received a commission for a piece with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra featuring himself as a soloist together with Leszek Moždžer. He has also received a commission from the NDR Big Band and Wolfgang Haffner to write a piece for the JazzBaltica Festival 2007. Furthermore, he has been working with the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra in collaboration with Vytas Sondeckis and Bugge Wesseltoft. His 2008 album “Pasodoble” was a huge success. Jazzwise UK wrote about Danielsson’s collaboration with Polish pianist Leszek Moždžer: “A clarity of thought and execution rarely encountered in jazz.” “Pasodoble” was followed by another collaboration with Leszek Moždžer on the 2009 album “Tarantella”. Once more the album caused enthusiastic reactions by Jazzwise: “Easily Danielsson’s finest album to date, it also numbers among the finest albums in the ACT catalogue.” On the first album of his band “Liberetto”, Lars Daniellson teams up with Armenian piano shooting Star “Tigran”, e.s.t. drummer Magnus Öström guitarist John Paricelli and Trumpeter Arve Henriksen. STERN magazine attested the Liberetto debut, which hit store shelves in 2012, a "mighty energy" that unleashes itself from a power centre of serenity.
"Never change a winning team" – The old sporting wisdom can also be applied to music: When soul mates and perfectly matched musicians find one another, they are well advised to stick together. "Liberetto II" by the exceptional Swedish bassist and cellist Lars Danielsson is the living proof. On "Liberetto II", Danielsson and his quartet take that energy a step further, exploring new musical dimensions at the borders between chamber jazz, classic and European folk. The melody is always the focus, and the way they develop and creatively manipulate it stands – as Danielsson's title neologism suggests – to equal parts in the formal tradition of European classical music and in the improvisational freedom of jazz.
Danielsson proves himself once again to be a grand master of atmosphere – the art of taking a melodic miniature and transforming it into an elegiac tale that you emotionally simply can't escape; like "Miniature", in which a simple musical motif evolves into a melancholy work of art.
In the final assessment, music is a matter of feeling. This masterful Liberetto ensemble gives Lars Danielsson the greatest possible freedom to express himself, to create sounds that are first and foremost one thing: touching.