Album Notes

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”.