Jan Lundgren, born in 1966 in southern Sweden, is part of an impressive, long tradition of Swedish star pianists and is considered a pioneer of the emancipation of European jazz from American jazz. Lundgren as well as Bobo Stenson or Esbjörn Svensson have decisively shaped the sound of Scandinavian jazz with their compositions. This collection of 20 original compositions represents the pianist's personal selection. These are not transcriptions, as it is often the case, but all the notes correspond to the musician's original handwritten scores. Lundgren writes in his foreword to the songbook: ''It is important to me to give those who play my music as much space as possible to express themselves freely. For this very reason, my own recordings of these compositions often deviate from the original sheet music in terms of harmonies and melodies.'' All the sheet music is available as lead sheets for C instruments, allowing ensembles as well as solo artists to interpret Lundgren's compositions in their own way. In addition to Lundgren's personal selection of works, the music book contains a foreword in Swedish, German and English, a detailed biography in German and English and several portraits of the composer.