Jonathan Fritzén(2)

The key attribute of any truly successful artist is the ability to consistently write music of the quality that can shape a career. This doesn’t always come easy but in the case of writer, producer and keyboard player Jonathan Fritzén he really has hit the ground running. His 2008 debut ‘Love Birds’ announced him as a performer of tremendous promise and every one of it’s eleven original compositions reached to the very core of what great smooth jazz should be. Nevertheless it seemed incredible when less than a year later he returned with the equally impressive ‘VIP’. But that is far from the whole story. Brand new for 2010, and with a street date of June 19 comes the highly anticipated and delightfully accessible ‘Diamonds’.
Fritzén’s musical evolution has been a learning experience and although with ‘Love Birds’ he handled the entire project himself, (including writing, producing and playing all eight instruments) by the time ‘VIP’ came along he had gained both the contacts and the confidence to include several guest artists. Not least in this respect was sax-man Michael Lington and, most notably, Jay Soto who added a typically tight guitar solo to the totally ‘in the pocket’ title cut. When released as a single this infectious tune hurried to a top-10 placing on the Billboard charts and in total the album spent 40 weeks on the SmoothJazz.com Top 50. Now, with ‘Diamonds’ Fritzén is continuing his exciting musical journe