Ulf Wakenius
Ulf Wakenius ( born April 16, 1958 in Halmstad, Sweden) is a Swedish jazz guitarist and composer.
Life and work
Wakenius enthusiastic initially for blues and rock guitarists. His transition to the Jazz writes Wakenius in an interview listening to John McLaughlin in the Mahavishnu Orchestra to. In the 1980s he played with Peter Almqvist in Guitars Unlimited and took with him 1985 Sweden at the Melody Grand Prix. From a stay in Rio de Janeiro in 1987 was the album Let's Vamos ( Sonet ) with Brazilian accordionist Sivuca. Around this time the collaboration with Danish bassist Niels -Henning Ørsted Pedersen, with whom he published several plates at Verve ( This is all I ask, 1998, Those who were, 1996) began. In the early 1990s he took with his own Ulf Wakenius Group on ( inter alia with trumpeter Randy Brecker and drummer Jack DeJohnette ). Over time, he played with numerous jazz musicians such as Steve Coleman, Gary Thomas, Herbie Hancock, Roy Hargrove, Milt Jackson, Joe Henderson, Art Farmer, Toots Thielemans, Dennis Chambers. On the Jazz Baltica 2003 he played with Pat Metheny.
From 1997 he was a member of the Quartet of Oscar Peterson ( Summer Night in Munich, Telarc, 1999, Trail of Dreams, Telarc in 2000 with Michel Legrand ). With the trio of his former bassist Ray Brown, he made several albums on: Summertime ( 1998), Seven steps to heaven (1999) and Some of my best friends are guitar players ( Telarc, 2001, in addition Wakenius also Herb Ellis, John Pizzarelli, Russell Malone, Kenny Burrell, with Brown's Trio, he is also on a Duke Ellington tribute plate Duke Ellington Swings, Telarc 1999, to listen to Brown's Trio).
In 2005 he received the Swedish Jazz Award Django d'Or.
Discography (selection)
As a leader:
- Enchanted Moments (Dragon Records, 1997) with Lars Jansson, piano, Lars Danielsson, bass, Raymond Karlsson, drums
- Dig In ( Sittel, 1997) with Gösta Rundqvist, piano, Yasuhito Mori, bass, Jukkis Uotila, drums
- The Guitar Artistry of Ulf Wakenius (Dragon, 2002)
- Tokyo Blue (Spice of Life, 2003) ( with Carsten Dahl piano, Morten Lund drums, Yasuhito Mori bass)
- Forever You ( Stunt, 2003) ( acoustic guitar, with Carsten Dahl, Morten Lund, Lars Danielsson, the latter also cello)
- Checkin ' In ( Megaphone, 2004)
- Notes from the Heart - the Music of Keith Jarrett (ACT, 2005) ( acoustic guitar, with Morten Lund, Lars Danielsson, the latter also plays the piano )
- Vagabond (ACT, 2012) ( with Lars Danielsson and Vincent Peirani )