Listen: Lage Lund – “Swagger”

"The guitarist Lage Lund exudes a diffident and self-deprecating kind of cool," writes Nate Chinen in The New York Times. "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."Originally from Skein, Norway, Lage moved to the States to attend Berklee College of Music, and was the first guitarist to be enrolled in Juilliard's Institute of Jazz Studies. In 2005, he won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Guitar Competition. The decision was made by a panel featuring Pat Martino, John Pizzarelli, Earl Klugh, Bill Frisell, Stanley Jordan and Russell Malone, who explained, "Lage wasn’t flashy. He was just all music and soul – that’s what we all agreed upon."As a bandleader, Lage has released four albums. The fifth, Live At Smalls (Smalls Records), is a quartet effort that will be released in May. Since moving to New York in 2002, he has also been a first call sideperson, and has appeared on recordings and in concert with David Sanchez, Seamus Blake, Jaleel Shaw, Will Vinson, Jimmy Greene, Marcus Strickland, Carmen Lundy, and others.Lage has performed here as a leader dozens of times dating back to 2006. On Saturday, he will return in a quartet with the pianist Glenn Zaleski, the bassist Chris Smith, and the drummer Bill Stewart.Listen to "Swagger," from Unlikely Stories (Criss Cross), featuring Lage and Bill alongside the pianist Edward Simon and the bassist Ben Street.