Jan Johansson (September 16, 1931 – November 9, 1968) was a Swedish jazz pianist. He is little known outside Scandinavia, and his records are not widely available, yet his album Jazz på svenska (Jazz in Swedish), has sold more than a quarter of a million copies, and is the best selling jazz release ever in Sweden.
Born in 1931, Johansson was a native of Söderhamn, in the Hälsingland province of Sweden. Studying classical piano as a child, he would also go on to master the guitar, organ and accordion, before turning on to swing and bebop as a teenager. He met saxophonist Stan Getz while at university. He abandoned his studies to play jazz fulltime, and worked with many American jazz greats, becoming the first European ever to be invited to join the Jazz at the Philharmonic package.
The years 1961 to 1968 produced a string of classic albums, which would help define his style of re-imagining traditional European folk tunes via jazz and the avant garde. These included Jazz på svenska and ...
Created by dipity
on Jan 24, 2008
Last updated: 11/18/09 at 11:30 AM
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