A year after his first release, pianist Jonathan Fritzén releases his
follow up album VIP. About this self-produced work, Jonathan says:
"VIP has a groovier, deeper urban sound, while keeping the elegance
I aimed for on my first album. I'm very excited about it - everything
is just on another level".
As on his debut Love Birds, Jonathan covers eight different
instruments, but this time he has help. Guests include world-
renowned Jay Soto (guitar) and Michael Lington (sax) from the USA,
Swedish artists Laila Adéle and Greger Hillman, and some of
Sweden’s top studio musicians. Jonathan brought in Ollie Olsson for
mixing (Snoop Dogg, Robyn) and Björn Engelmann for mastering
(Backstreet Boys, Cardigans). Explaining the short time between
albums: "I've had so much response from listeners wanting more,
and with so many new ideas in my head - I had to get going right
away!".
Jonathan was born in Stockholm to a Swedish mother and American
father. He grew up in a musical family and started playing drums as
a young child. He later added piano, bass, guitar, flute and vocals.
His formal training is from the Royal Academy of Music in
Stockholm, where he was one of the first students to receive a
masters degree from the jazz department. At age 22 Jonathan had
already performed with several major celebrities on national TV and
toured with some of the most respected jazz musicians in Sweden.
Three years later he made a mark as the first pianist from Sweden to
release a smooth jazz album. Love Birds spent many weeks on the
smoothjazz.com chart, sold in over 30 countries, and received
stellar reviews in magazines like JazzTimes and various smooth jazz
sites. The first radio single from Love Birds, Temple Of Dreams, was
followed by Midnight Secrets.
With VIP, Jonathan has a new goal: " I'm going all out. There have
been no compromises in the making of this album, just making sure
everything’s top notch. I hope people enjoy listening to this record
as much as I enjoyed creating it”.
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