The site
With this site I want to share my musical life with you in the hopes that you will be both entertained and inspired in the same way that some of my favourite websites have inspired me.
Here you can find my recordings, listen to sound clips and read about my different projects. This site also serves a promotional purpose. The internet is a great way of distribution for an independent artist like myself. Here you can book gigs, clinics or contact me for sessions. contact@lallelarsson.com
The Gig Schedule and Upcoming Events are current and will be updated as dates are confirmed.
I also aim for the site to be as interactive as possible. You can leave comments and I can reply.
I hope you will enjoy this site.
Official bios:
Full bio (Swedish and English)
Swedish bio (short)
English bio (short)
Me
So who am I?
Let me introduce myself. I’m a pianist and composer from Sweden. My name is Lars-Egon Larsson but my friends call me Lalle Larsson (The spelling Lale Larson comes from Americans having problems with my name; it seems to be easier this way)
I was born into a theatre family and I have played music all my life. Over the years I have worked all over Europe playing mainly jazz, fusion, prog rock and classical music.
My first professional gig was with a rhythm & blues/soul band - I was about 16 years old. We played around Sweden and Denmark for about a year. I got to see pubs and clubs that normal 16 year olds weren’t allowed to go to. That was a big part of growing up.
One year later I moved to Vienna, Austria, to attend the European “American Institute Of Music”. There I studied jazz & harmony and theory with Elias Meire & Les Wise among others. I also played and studied pieces by Frederic Chopin and Johann Sebastian Bach. Both composers have been a major influence on my playing ever since.
During those two years I met some great people like guitarists Milan Polak, Phi Yaan Zek and Todd Duane. People I have worked with on and off ever since. Through Phi I also got in touch with my great friend Matt Williams who later became very important for my music as he started the record label Liquid Note Records.
After Vienna I was also offered a $6.000 scholarship to go to Berklee in Boston and I was in touch with record producer Mark Varney. But instead I decided to go back to Sweden and form my own band Ominox. From 1993-1995 we completeed a few gigs and recordings in Sweden. Around this time I was influenced by the electric jazz/fusion music of Chick Corea, Allan Holdsworth and Miles Davis.
After that band ended, I stayed home in Helsingborg, Sweden and freelanced as a pianist doing sessions and gigs - everything from Putte Wickman to Owe Thörnqvist. I spent most of my time composing and teaching private students at home.
For five years I had a steady gig as the pianist for a local gospel choir and during this time I wrote an educational book on harmony and theory. At the same time I put most of my energy into practicing and working on developing my own style, trying to get my own voice together.
During that time I also had a rendezvous with avant garde and experimental music. Influences included composers Conlon Nancarrow, Edgar Varese, György Ligeti, Frank Zappa and Pierre Boulez among others. This resulted in free improv sessions with guitarist Bo Eriksson (Hard Lunch) and performances of my notated percussion pieces.
Around this time I wrote and performed several pieces of music, the biggest one being “The Seven Deadly Pieces” a concert for piano, chamber orchestra and electric guitars. This was premiered at the Henry Dunker Culture Center with members of the thrash metal band Darkane playing the metal parts. I also performed some duo gigs with marimba soloist Thomas Widlund playing my own compositions. All this lead to me receiving the Helsingborg Culture Award of 25.000 swedish kronor and a diploma from the city (This concert will be released on DVD this year 2006)
After playing a lot of notated music I felt like going back to jazz and improvising over chords.
In 2002 I released my first solo piano album “State Of Mind”.
Around this time I got in touch with young Dutch drummer, Sebastaan Cornelissen who really lit a spark in me with his personality and high energy drumming. His creative drumming really forces you to play in a certain way.Our collaboration has so far resulted in several CD’s, our latest being a trio recording with Gary Willis from Tribal Tech.
This time the music explored more “swing based” modern jazz concepts. I also experimented with some new scales and chord clusters on that album. For a long time I have been a huge fan of John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy’s expression - these are some of the sounds I heard for this album. I really don’t like to play electric keyboards; I do it on recordings only because it’s too expensive to rent a Steinway piano, and most venues don’t have great pianos. On this CD I play the Rhodes and various synth sounds, even though it can sound sterile at times. I still think, for the most part, that we managed to get a pretty vintage live jazzy sound on this recording.
Working in Holland has lead me to working with other great people and musicians like Richard Hallebeek, Udo Pannekeet, and Frans Vollink.
In 2004 I visited the world of progressive rock again when I did a short European tour with Jonas Reingold’s (Flower Kings) band Karmakanic. I found myself singing harmonies with the great Göran Edman (ex. Yngwie Malmsteen) and trading solos with Krister Jonsson and Zoltan Csörzs. I have just finished recording piano and keyboards for their third CD and we played the Rite Of Spring Festival, Philadelphia, USA in April 2006.
As a session musician I have also appeared on albums with Milan Polak, Alessandro Benvenuti, Joel Rivard, Bas Cornelissen, Gary Willis, Frans Vollink, Randy Brecker, Sir Millard Mulch, Virgil Donati, Phi Yaan Zek, Marco Minnemann, Richard Hallebeek, Shawn Lane, Brett Garsed to name but a few.
After all these side projects and collaborations I feel it’s time again to do a solo album exploring my own original voice. I don’t really think that I have ever managed to capture they way I really sound (the closest is probably “Seven Deadly Pieces” live).
This time I have so much material composed so that I don’t know where to start. At the moment I am working on material for improvised piano over strings as well as a piano trio + vibes percussion and flute concept with original material. It’s just a matter of finding the right musicians for this.
For a while I’ve been into the music of Alexander Scriabin, John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, Frederic Chopin, Franz Liszt, Ennio Morricone, Keith Jarrett and Paco De Lucia. My life have been moving in all kinds of directions lately so those feelings will probably be reflected in my music. Exciting times are ahead.
LL