Biography of Lalle Larsson

There will be a ton of great new music released in the future year. This year, a new live CD featuring excellent recordings from the "Power Of Two Tour" and other events is set to be released. There will be more announcements shortly.

The work of Swedish pianist and composer Lalle Larsson has been praised for being exquisite, virtuosic, and slightly depressing. He has blended elements of current classical composition, musical experimentation, passionate romanticism, and a timeless jazz feel with a fierce spirit that alludes to his love of heavy metal music as a teenager. Because of his distinct playing technique, several of his recordings have become global collectibles.

Numerous albums for Liquid Note Records, jazz-rock CDs Ominox, Richard Hallebeek Project with the late guitar great Shawn Lane, and Electrocution 250—electric cartoon music featuring Todd Duane and Peter Wildoer—are among Lalle Larsson's discography.

2000s

In 2001 Larsson received the Helsingborg culture award, a diploma from the city, plus 25.000 swedish kronor.

The following year he premiered the groundbreaking Seven Deadly Pieces at the Henry Dunker Culture Center in Helsingborg, Sweden. The music required a 200 page score written for chamber orchestra and thrash metal band, with no less than fifteen people on stage.

For the metal sections Lalle invited members from the highly acclaimed Swedish metal band Darkane to perform. The concert was a great success, receiving rave reviews. Never before had the Culture Center witnessed such a mixed but enthusiastic audience, young and old, classical and metal, culminating in the composer receiving a standing ovation. The concert was recorded and videoed and is released six years later on DVD together with a documentary about the composer.

As a composer and musician, Larsson had many appearances on Liquid Note Records CDs in 2004.

The American media refers to Lalle as a "Swedish sensation," and independent radio stations in Australia, the USA, Mexico, Japan, and Holland frequently play his songs.

The international press hailed Electrocution 250 as "a masterpiece of originality," and it peaked at number one on a chart published in Jazzwise, the most prestigious jazz magazine in the UK. It was reissued in Japan by Marquee/Avalon in September of that year, with fresh extra material and new artwork.

Lalle's recordings with his first band, Ominox, were also released by LNR. A collection of tapes made between 1993 and 1995.

The music on Ominox is "a statement of grand proportions that elevate this CD to the level of the very best in the history of progressive related fusion recordings," according to MJ Brady of Proggnosis.

Later that year, Larsson traveled Europe with Rob Palmen, Göran Edman (ex-Yngwie Malmsteen), Krister Jonsson, Zoltan Csörsz (Hellborg, Flower Kings), and bassist Jonas Reingold (Flower Kings) as part of the Karmakanic ensemble.

Together with drummer Sebastiaan Cornelissen (Isotope, RHP) and internationally renowned bassist Gary Willis (Tribal Tech, Wayne Shorter), Lalle co-wrote and recorded TimeLine in 2005 for Munich Records.

During their performance at the progressive RosFestival in Philadelphia, US, in April 2006, Karmakanic was met with an enthusiastic audience that gave them a spontaneous standing ovation midway through their set. Lalle recorded his keyboards for Karmakanic's third album, Who's The Boss In The Factory, following the tour.

2010s


2009 saw the creation of Lalle Larsson's Weaveworld project. Drums, bass, two guitars, and piano/keyboards make up the quintet for this group. With a strong piano motif, the music is moody, gothic, and has a vintage feel with elements from a wide range of genres, including heavy metal, jazz, and classical music. Reingold Records issued the first album in October 2009; it included Mikael "Walle" Wahlgren, Stefan Rosqvist, Richard Hallebeek, and Jonas Reingold.


Lalle Larsson has already started production on the second Weaveworld album, having returned this autumn after a fruitful US tour with Roine Stolt's Agents Of Mercy & Karmakanic.


Away from Sweden Lale Larson is a more popular name for Lalle. Gary Willis, Virgil Donati, Dave Weckl, Shawn Lane, Brett Garsed, Sebastiaan Cornelissen, Richard Hallebeek, Todd Duane, Peter Wildoer, Sir Millard Mulch, Phi Yaan Zek, Marco Minnemann, Frans Vollink, Randy Brecker, Göran Edman, and Jonas Reingold are just a few of the artists he has collaborated with on more than 20 CDs over the years.