With the release “A Letter to Eje Thelin,” the Göteborg Jazz Orchestra (GJO) has recreated the brilliant Swedish trombonist Eje Thelin’s (1938–1990) final suite, “Raggruppamento,” as it was intended – with the trombone in focus. Nils Landgren is the present-day executor.

Landgren, who is now one of Sweden’s foremost trombonists, participated as a young musician in the trombone section during the Radiojazzgruppen’s (RJG) premiere performance of the suite in 1989. He had even taken trombone lessons from Eje Thelin and fondly remembers Eje, who was present at the premiere but marked by illness and thus unable to play himself. Eje’s part was played at the premiere by guitarist Göran Klinghagen.