When talking about Nils Landgren on the occasion of his 70th birthday on February 15, 2026, it is difficult to emphasize just one characteristic - it takes an attempt at a list: one of the most successful European jazz musicians of recent decades. Trombonist, singer, festival director, mentor, promoter, bridge builder. Recipient of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Sir George Martin Music Award and the highest orders for art and culture of the Swedish royal family. Tireless worker with 150-200 concerts a year at peak times. And, perhaps most importantly, a convinced optimist, a man of the heart. Everything Nils Landgren does is somehow connected with love: for music, for his instrument, the red trombone, for the people on and in front of the stage. And to his wife, the actress Beatrice Järås, to whom he has been married for 48 years. And so there is no more fitting title for his new album than "Love of My Life". Recorded with a band of close friends, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and opulently arranged by seven-time Grammy winner Vince Mendoza, Nils Landgren's new album spans a wide range: From touching original compositions to songs by Cat Stevens, Leonard Bernstein, Kurt Weill, Herbie Hancock and companions such as Joe Sample and Ida Sand. The wide-ranging repertoire stands for the integrative power of the man and musician Nils Landgren. As is so often the case with Nils Landgren, "Love of My Life" is also a musical family affair: he is accompanied by Sweden's piano shooting star Joel Lyssarides, double bass master Lars Danielsson, drummer Robert Ikiz - also a permanent member of the Nils Landgren Funk Unit - and singer and long-time companion Ida Sand. This is a lifelong dream come true for Nils Landgren. In the liner notes to the album, he writes: "At heart, I'm still the boy from the small Swedish steelworkers' village of Degerfors. I still can't quite believe that I was invited to play music with a whole symphony orchestra and some of my best friends." If you know Nils Landgren, you know that this statement is not false modesty, but genuine modesty. Nils Landgren is exactly the same person on and off stage. After every concert, he takes the time to talk to every single visitor, hug each other, take photos, sign albums, sometimes for hours. He says: "My motivation is meeting the audience. It gives you an incredible amount of energy." That's why he doesn't have any hobbies. When he is at home, in the small southern Swedish village of Skillinge, right by the sea, he likes to spend time with his wife Bea, practicing his trombone in a specially built wooden house, which also houses his countless prizes, and swimming in the Baltic Sea, even when the temperature is below ten degrees.