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Ulf Wakenius
Ulf Wakenius has since 1997 held what may be the most prestigious spot in jazz for a guitarist - membership in the Oscar Peterson Quartet. His predecessors have been such legends as Barney Kessel, Herb Ellis, and Joe Pass. He has performed at such classic jazz venues as Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, the Blue Note and played for large crowds around the world.He has also appeared on American television(CBS) and Tv Globo(Brazil) with Oscar Peterson. Last year he recorded "Trail of Dreams" with Oscar Peterson and Michel Legrand, for the Telarc label, and during recent years he has also played with such outstanding musicians as, Milt Jackson, Ray Brown, Joe Henderson, Herbie Hancock, Michael Brecker, Phil Woods, Clark Terry, Johnny Griffin, Toots Thielemans, Jack DeJohnette, Max Roach, Jim Hall, Art Farmer, Benny Golson, James Moody, Roy Hargrove, Randy Brecker. He has recorded two CDs, also for Telarc with the great Ray Brown: "Seven Steps To Heaven" which became number one in the U.S. jazz charts, and "Summertime" which was voted as one of the top ten albums of `98 in America.Lately he has lead a Stellar Quintet of his own featuring:Mike Brecker and Ray Brown.Last year he did a sold out U.S. tour with Oscar Peterson.The highlight of the tour was the Hollywood Bowl concert with 17 000 people in the audience.
Ulf Wakenius was born in Halmstad, Sweden on April 16, 1958. He began playing the guitar at the age of 11, inspired by other guitarists in the neighbourhood of his new hometown, Gothenburg.
After picking up the guitar Ulf never looked back. In the beginning he was inspired by virtuoso electric blues guitar players but soon moved to more jazz-orientated music. John McLaughlin became Ulf's new guitar hero. (John later wrote liner notes for one of Ulf's solo-albums).
At the age of 17 Ulf was already established as a jazz musician playing with different Swedish groups. During the following years he toured all over Europe. In the beginning of the '80s Ulf founded the duo "Guitars Unlimited" together with Peter Almqvist. They toured in many parts of the world and appeared frequently on Swedish Television. The highlight in their career was a performance in the 1985 Melody Grand Prix, a historic event which was seen by 600 million viewers, (probably the the largest audience a jazz-guitar duo has ever had).
In the mid-'80s Ulf also received the opportunity to record a solo album in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. He was fortunate to be able to gather together such fantastic musicians as Sivuca, Luizao, Paolo Braga (Elis Regina), Nico Assumpcao (Milton Nascimento) among others. The record became a hit in Sweden with considerable airplay, even making it to the Swedish Top - "Svensktoppen", a programme where one seldom hears any jazz. The "Brazil venture" was the beginning of a life-long love of the Brazilian culture. Later Ulf returned with Oscar Peterson and performed for 35, 000 people in Sao Paolo.
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Mette Juul: New York - Copenhagen
by Angelo Leonardi
Questo EP della cantante Mette Juul prosegue quanto espresso nel precedente Change, selezionando cinque intime ballad, quasi tutte entrate nel novero degli standard. Il titolo del disco fa riferimento alle due metropoli che hanno ospitato le session: tre brani sono stati incisi a New York in duo col chitarrista Mike Moreno mentre gli altri tre a Copenhagen (e in Svezia) in trio con Lars Danielsson al contrabbasso e i chitarristi Ulf Wakenius e Per Møllehøj che si alternano.
read moreLive From Old York: Ulf Wakenius, Martin Taylor & The Rheingans Sisters
by Martin Longley
Ulf Wakenius & Martin Taylor The National Centre For Early Music March 8, 2018 Martin Taylor and Ulf Wakenius are a prime pair of guitarists from their respective countries, England and Sweden. They've worked together regularly, but presumably touring mostly outside of the UK. This duo set, electric but toned down in volume, had a friendly vibe of playful competition, unavoidable when two artists are exchanging solos, besides delivering the main melody of a ...
read moreUlf Wakenius: Confessions of A Vagabond
by Ian Patterson
Happenstance may play a role in turning dreams into reality, but anyone who's ever realized a burning ambition will appreciate just how much hard work has paved the way. Two phone calls out of the blue almost twenty years apart opened doors to Swedish guitarist Ulf Wakenius, that in the first case he could only have dreamt about, and in the second, he could never have imagined. In 1997, in fairly dizzying circumstances, Wakenius suddenly found himself in ...
read moreUlf Wakenius: Momento Magico
by Ian Patterson
If guitarist Ulf Wakenius' Vagabond (ACT Music, 2012) was a highlight in a discography that stretches back thirty years to Urban Experience (Dragon, 1984) then Momento Magico--which possibly raises the bar still further-- serves as an anthology of his influences both old and new. Wakenius has toured the world extensively for decades, so it's perhaps unsurprising that the rhythms and melodies he's encountered have increasingly influenced his sound and broadened his vocabulary. On this sparkling solo effort Wakenius' six strings ...
read moreUlf Wakenius: Momento Magico
by Bruce Lindsay
Momento Magico is a solo outing from Swedish guitarist Ulf Wakenius, an exploration of three acoustic instruments--steel and nylon strung guitars and acoustic bass guitar. Wakenius undertakes this exploration across a mix of self-penned tunes and works by writers as varied as Erik Satie, Charles Trenet and Sixto Rodrigues. Wakenius is an impressively adaptable player, who's resumé includes work with Ray Brown, Youn Sun Nah and, most famously, Oscar Peterson (The OP in Notes For OP And Wes"). ...
read moreUlf Wakenius: Vagabond
by Ian Patterson
Swedish guitarist Ulf Wakenius is perhaps best known for his ten year stint in pianist Oscar Peterson's trio, following in the footsteps of guitarists Barney Kessel, Herb Ellis and Joe Pass. Wakenius clocked up enough road miles with Peterson to have traveled to the moon and back, and he also toured extensively and recorded with bassists Ray Brown and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen. These heavyweight associations have tended to overshadow his own projects as leader, which date back more than two ...
read moreUlf Wakenius: Signature Edition 2
by John Kelman
For the second in its Signature Edition compilations, dedicated to--and selected by--its vanguard artists, ACT profiles a guitarist who only became an exclusive artist in 2005, with the release of his homage to pianist Keith Jarrett--Notes From the Heart--but whose career truly demands retrospection and reevaluation. Unlike Signature Edition 1's fusion guitarist Nguyên Lê, who has released nearly a dozen labels for Siggi Loch's German label, Swedish six-stringer Ulf Wakenius has, in addition to a handful of ACT guest appearances, ...
read moreACT Music Releases IN US CDs By Guitarist Ulf Wakenius, Pianist Kevin Hays & Nils Landgren-Joe Sample
Source:
All About Jazz
Munich-based ACT Music+Vision released on February 21st in the US Notes From The Heart (ACT 9435), a tribute to Keith Jarrett by the Swedish guitarist Ulf Wakenius; Creole Love Call (ACT 9707), a soulful vocal project by Swedish trombonist Nils Landgren and keyboardist Joe Sample devoted to the classic pop songs associated with the American South; and Open Range(ACT 9752), a solo outing by American pianist Kevin Hays that is Volume III in ACT's Piano Works series. The award-winning German ...
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