Nils Lindberg had long envisaged putting together a CD with singer Margareta Bengtson, with whom he had been collaborating with since the original production of his ‘Requiem for Big Band, Chorus and Soloists’ in 1993 with her as the soprano.
Lindberg has gathered a host of other musicians for this new project: Jan Allan on trumpet, Anders Paulsson on soprano saxophone, Jan Adefelt on double bass and Bengt Stark on drums. They are joined by Nils’ group of saxophonists ‘Saxes Galore’.
The works performed on this new disc are all very dear to Nils Lindberg and he has hand picked his favourites for As You Are. Blues For Bill was written for his first LP ‘Sax Appeal’ in 1960. It was used as the signature for the first Swedish television series devoted to jazz (“Jazz i Studio A”). Remember is a setting of a poem by the English writer Christina Rossetti. As You Are, the title track,was written for a TV series entitled “Farlig kurs” [Dangerous option]. The score contained a theme that he later developed into a ballad. Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer’s Day is included in his Elizabethan suite “O Mistress Mine” based on Shakespeare’s sonnet of that name.
