Klaus Konstantin of Medecins sans Frontieres, Swedish Ambassador Staffan Carlsson, Nils Landgren, Siggi Loch (ACT), promoter Karsten Jahnke . Photo credit:Isabel Schiffler

Two years after celebrating the 20th anniversary of the ACT Music label in 2012, a special concert at the almost-full 2,100 seat Laeiszhalle in Hamburg took place on Saturday October 11th 2014. The evening marked both a twenty-year association of the label with Swedish trombonist Nils Landgren, and 750,000 Landgren albums sold. Their first collaboration had been at Jazz Baltica in 1994.

Siggi Loch also handed over a cheque for €20.000, made over to Medecins sans Frontieres, which Landgren supports with his  “Funk for Life” project.

The concert featured two bands featuring Landgren. His Baltic Gang with Iiro Rantala (piano), Marius Neset (sax), Adam Bałdych (violin), Dieter Ilg (bass) and Robert Ikiz (drums), dedicated their first half to the memory of Landgren’s late compatriot, and much-missed ACT label-mate Esbjörn Svensson. The second half featured Landgren’s Funk Unit with singer Ida Sand.