“Mattias makes sure to get the music swinging when needed. No unnecessary notes, a great springiness to his touch, a personal and very appealing melodic taste.”
Jan Olsson, Skånska Dagbladet
“What a musician, he owns such a great sense for the mystique of the black and white keys.”
Tomas Pranell, SydÖstran
”He played with powerful authority during constant, spontaneous applauses induced by the flow of ideas coming completely from his fingers.”
Christer Nilsson, Orkester Journalen
The dynamic young Swedish pianist, Mattias Nilsson captures his audience through his ability to swing and his appealing melodic approach. ”No unnecessary notes, a great springiness to his touch, a personal and very appealing melodic taste.” (Jan Olsson, Skånska Dagbladet). Nilsson sprang from the jazz piano tradition, inspired by musicians such as Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, Teddy Wilson but also Brad Mehldau and the Swedish pianists Lars Jansson, Jan Johansson and Bengt Hallberg to name a few. He has received a lot of prasie by the writers and journalists in different jazz magazines and magazines. In 2008 he was awarded with Lomma Culture Prize and voted Jazz musician of the year in Skåne for the second time (also voted in 2007) by Jan Olsson, Skånska Dagbladet.
In the fall of 2009 he played with a quartet consisting of the great bass player Lasse Lundström, Danish tenor giant Jesper Thilo and the legendary big band drummer Butch Miles (Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis a.o.) at the Malmoe Concert Hall in Malmoe, Sweden.
Mattias has always followed his own path and that is why, when he was offered a place at the Musical Academy in Malmo 2004, he turned it down. He wanted to learn things that you can only learn by playing in public. Playing in public led to Mattias becoming extremely active on the Malmo jazz scene. He created new opportunities for playing jazz, thus creating meeting places for the musicians and for the public. Places such as ”Stompin´ at the Savoy – Mattias Nilsson with guests” (2006-2008) and his own jazz club ”The Way WE Play” (2007-2008) are outstanding examples of his contributions to the Malmo live jazz scene. He has organized all of his projects without any financial support.
The music of Nilsson sprang from the jazz tradition where swinging and beautiful melodies play a significant part, but Nilsson also cherishes his Swedish legacy consisting of songs, psalms, folk songs and Swedish composers such as Wilhelm Peterson-Berger. He likes to work in the classic piano trio format with piano, bass and drums. Lasse Lundström, René Sandoval, Jonas Castell, Roger Berg, Pelle ”Trazan” Jonasson, Jonas Holgersson are some of the people who have played with his trio.
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