Lage Lund

Lage Lund (born 12 December 1978 in Skien, Norway) is a Norwegian jazz guitarist.

After discarding his dream of becoming a professional skateboarder, Lund diverted his attention to music and picked up the guitar at the age of 13. He soon founded his own trio playing gigs at local clubs, and at the age of 16 he was allowed to start playing regular. While Skien, Norway might not be the most central of jazz scenes, Lund was drawn to the music. This, along with a scholarship to Berklee College of Music, led him to relocate to Boston after graduating high school. There he found a great community of musicians through the schools and through a steady gig at famed Wally’s jazz café. In 2002 a grant from the Fulbright foundation offered him the opportunity to move to New York. In 2003 he entered The Juilliard School full scholarship jazz program as the first electric guitarist in the history of the school, with graduation in 2005.

Lund has been a fixture in the jazz clubs since he relocated to New York, frequently leading bands at Smalls, 55bar, The Jazz Gallery, as well as larger venues like Jazz at Lincoln Center, Blues Alley and the Kennedy Center. At the same time he is a busy sideman working with a variety of highly established musicians like Carmen Lundy, Ingrid Jensen, Wynton Marsalis, and the LCJO, Eric Revis, Seamus Blake and others.

Taking the first place at the 2005 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition made people outside of New York take notice of this guitarist, and with a couple of records in the works this trend will hopefully continue. Acclaimed as one of the finest guitarists in jazz, Lund has performed and recorded with artists like Ron Carter, Mulgrew Miller, Wynton Marsalis, and FLY & Maria Schneider.

Lund released his debut solo album Early Songs in 2008, and followed up with Unlikely Stories in 2010. Then in 2012 there was a live album Four - Live At Smalls before Foolhardy came in 2013. In 2015 he released the album Idlewild, all on the label Criss Cross Jazz.

The New York Times states about Lund: "... his playing and presence can both be casually magnetic. Like Jim Hall, one of the guitarists in his heroes' gallery, he channels reticence into a whisper-quiet mystique."

David Adler (TimeOut, JazzTimes) states: "... Lund opened huge aural expanses with voicings of just two or three notes, and burned down the house with one impossibly deft solo after another... I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone play the instrument that well."

• 2000: Recipient of the Jimi Hendrix Award
• 2005: Winner of the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Guitar Competition

• Mattison, Ben (2005-09-21). "Lage Lund Wins Thelonious Monk Guitar Competition". Playbill Arts. Retrieved 2015-05-12. 

Solo albums

• 2008: Early Songs (Criss Cross)
• 2010: Unlikely Stories (Criss Cross)
• 2011: Small Club, Big City
• 2012: Four – Live at Smalls (Criss Cross)
• 2013: Foolhardy (Criss Cross)
• 2015: Idlewild (Criss Cross)

With OWL trio, including Orlando le Fleming, Will Vinson

• 2013: OWL Trio (Losen)
• 2015: Arts and Letters (Losen)

Collaborations

With Jaleel Shaw

• 2005: Perspective (Criss Cross)
• 2008: Optimism (Criss Cross)

With Nickelsen Trio including Ari Hoenig

• 2007: Mise En Bouteille À New York (Calibrated)

With Seamus Blake Quintet

• 2007: Way Out Willy (Criss Cross)
• 2009: Bellwether (Criss Cross)
• 2010: Live at Smalls (Criss Cross)

With David Sánchez

• 2008: Cultural Survival (Criss Cross)

With Jimmy Greene

• 2009: Mission Statement (Criss Cross)

With Will Vinson

• 2010: Stockholm Syndrome (Criss Cross)
• 2013: Live at Smalls (Criss Cross)

With Kenny Shanker

• 2011: Steppin' Up (Criss Cross)

With Matt Brewer

• 2014: Mythology (Criss Cross)

With Zach Brock

• 2014: Purple Sounds (Criss Cross)

With Jochen Rueckert

• 2014: We Make the Rules (Criss Cross)