Just like many aspects of our personality, years of listening, travelling, playing, practicing and living go into making up the sound of any given musician.
And yet, for many fans, those specifics are not immediately evident.
To give you an insight into how to hear this more deeply—as well as gain some super new listening tips—I caught up with Swedish pianist and composer Mathias Landæus who, over the last three decades has forged a career typified by original compositions and interesting collaborations.
Here, he explains the early days of discovering music—which might sound familiar to many fans…
Childhood Influences
I grew up hearing a lot of jazz at home. Actually all sorts of music, but I think my earliest influence or the thing I got really infatuated with as a five or six-year-old was some Brazilian music from the early 70s.
My father went to Brazil for work. He was a music lover, and he came back with all these cassette tapes and vinyl records. I especially fell in love with this songwriter duo from Salvador who were quite popular at the time, called Antonio Carlos y Jocáfi.
I would listen to these cassette tapes every day for five years. This music—it was like pop music—had all the elements: batucada, Salvador rhythms, strings, flutes, horns, and the richness of jazz harmony, along with sweet, catchy tunes.
I was really into that music. It made me see images. I think that’s been my angle with music ever since—what does it do to you, what does it make you see and feel, what possibilities does it inspire?
I’ve kind of avoided playing Brazilian music my whole career because I respect it so much. Maybe there will be a time, because I did really grow up on it.
Teenage Listening
In my teens, I got heavily into Weather Report and Miles Davis. I listened a lot to Bill Evans from the age of 11 or 12 onward. I did see Miles in the 80s. He came to my hometown a couple of times, and I saw him in Nice, France.
It was the Decoy and You’re Under Arrest era, with Daryl Jones, Mike Stern, and Bob Berg.
I actually spotted Daryl Jones when I was 17 or something in Lund, where I grew up. My girlfriend and I went up to him. He was really happy to be recognised; he was really young himself then.
Like everyone, I went on to check out all the jazz pianists and horn players. And drummers. Some of my early piano influences were Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly, Monk, Bud Powell, Paul Bley. But I also listened to European pianists like Franco D’Andrea, Michel Petrucciani and Jan Johansson. They spoke to me in a different way.
But I also listened to my uncles, and played with my grandmother, who was a pianist. We always had jam sessions at family reunions.
How ‘Accidental’ Music Built a Sound
I grew up at a time when what you got to hear was a bit accidental.
Records were expensive. Live music was whatever was available. If there was a concert, you went, no matter what it was.
Some people listened a lot to a certain band that I’d never heard of. I listened to all the Weather Report records; someone else didn’t.
You had to seek things out. You had to get on a bus to go to someone’s house to hear a record or borrow it.
That has changed. A couple of generations ago, even. Education is more streamlined. Trends are more universal.
It took me a long time to develop my own style. I listened for it. I cultivated my own musical universe from the beginning. I started writing tunes when I started playing. I collected ideas and wrote them down all along. I never followed someone else’s book. I used my own taste and interests. I’ve been a bad student in the sense that it’s not been easy for me to just do what someone else tells me to.
A Few Records to Start With
[In a discography of more than 20 records, picking out a few threads to get a newcomer started is not easy, but I asked Mathias to highlight a tune or two that reflects his musical personality—at least as he sees it today]
I would have to pick my two latest albums, “Dissolving Patterns” and “Resilience”. Both are piano trio albums, but the first one is totally improvised, with quite long forms – and the other one has my working trio playing my tunes in a more condensed way. Actually, I want to add a third recent album, MÜÆM – for the synthpunk-freejazz aspect…haha. Occasionally experimenting with sounds and electronics has been part of my musical universe for decades as well.
Mathias Landæus, Nina De Heney, Kresten Osgood: The Gift (from Dissolving Patterns)
Dissolving Patterns by Mathias Landæus / Nina de Heney / Kresten OsgoodLandæus Trio: Simple Math (from Resilience)
Resilience by Landæus TrioMartin Küchen/Mathias Landæus: MÜÆM (from MÜÆM)
MÜÆM by Martin Küchen & Mathias LandæusMusicians Who Contributed to the Sound
Kresten Osgood stands out.
I’ve played with him for almost 15 years. I’ve gotten a lot of inspiration from him, from how he relates to being a musician. I recognised something in his approach to playing, meeting each situation as new. I learned a lot from playing and observing him. We’re very different personalities, but I learned a lot.
Palle Danielsson was also a great mentor. I also learned from the drummer Jon Fält, who was in my trio with Palle 2009–2012.
I started playing with Jon in Lina Nyberg’s band in the early 2000s. She’s an amazing singer, composer and bandleader that has kind of become an institution in Sweden – and I have learned a lot from her as well. Anyway, Jon’s way of playing the drums was kind of about challenging you to not repeat yourself. It was a great opportunity for me. I realised I couldn’t get comfortable. I had to reinvent my playing on every gig with him. But those are just a few examples. I have learned from so many people I have had the fortune to make music with over the years.
And What About Places? How does that impact a sound?
I spent some time in New York in the 90s. It did have an impact, but it wore off. New York is the creative hub. It’s where you go when you want to reach the next level.
There’s a culture of pushing the envelope. But there’s also a certain energy that comes from the city itself—an urgency.
You don’t hear the music of the fjords in New York, if you know what I mean.
That high-energy thing becomes an aesthetic in itself. People outside New York are influenced by it too. I think it also has to do with age—there’s a time for that in your life.
You can be anywhere in the world and feel like you belong to a certain camp or style or want to pursue different aesthetics. You don’t learn by watching TikToks, and you don’t learn only by practicing. It’s really about playing with people. That’s a separate skill. And to do that, you have to be there and do it a lot.
Free vs Straightahead?
[One common thread with Mathias’ music—at least to my ear—is how it weaves strong influences from the jazz tradition with freer elements. For fans looking to dissect this often-black-and-white label of ‘free’ versus ‘straightahead’ I was curious for his thoughts on that lineage]
Some inspirations in that realm? Craig Taborn comes to mind. Also Jason Moran. I’m thinking of contemporary pianists who bridge free and tradition.
For those in the free improv camp, Ornette Coleman is 100% jazz. It’s not some other category.
In the late 60s and the 70s, a lot was happening that was under the radar. There’s the whole Chicago thing—Art Ensemble of Chicago for example. There was Cecil Taylor, who came out of Ellington and took it somewhere different. There’s a clear lineage.
A Swedish pianist, Per-Henrik Wallin influenced me a lot. He had this Ellington-Monk-Bud Powell base and took it way out.
The Dutch had Misha Mengelberg. The Germans had Alexander von Schlippenbach, still have.
The Chicago AACM was one movement. There was also a movement in St. Louis in the 60s and 70s with Oliver Lake and Hamiet Bluiett. In LA, there was UGMAA with John Carter, Horace Tapscott. The loft scene in New York, Sam Rivers and so on.
All these local movements weren’t in the mainstream, but they were powerful. I think after Coltrane in the 60s, there was a sense that improvising freely from the heart opened up a lot of possibilities—not just musical, but social and political too. Some of the US jazz musicians I heard touring in Sweden in the 80s came out of that movement. So for me jazz and free improvisation aren’t two completely separate things.
Suggested Listening
Mathias Landæus
Resilience by Landæus TrioAntonio Carlos y Jocáfi – Cada Segundo
Thelonious Monk – With John Coltrane
Bud Powell – The Amazing Bud Powell
Paul Bley – Turning Point
Franco D’Andrea – My One and Only Love
Kresten Osgood – Live at H15
LIVE AT H15 STUDIO by Kresten Osgood QuintetPalle Danielsson – Keith Jarrett: Belonging
Jon Fält – Bobo Stenson: Contra la indecisión
Craig Taborn – Avenging Angel
Jason Moran – Charles Lloyd: Rabo de Nube
Ornette Coleman – Virgin Beauty
Per Henrik Wallin – One Knife is Enough
Horace Tapscott – The Dark Tree
Lina Nyberg – Tellus
Tellus by Lina Nyberg