The Reykjavik Big Band

A Brief Guide To Icelandic Jazz

by Ingi Bjarni Skúlason
August 5, 2024

With contributions from Ingrid Örk Kjartansdóttir and Freysteinn Gislason. Iceland, a country of roughly 400,000 inhabitants in the North Atlantic Ocean, is known for its music, with notable artists such as Björk, Sigur Rós, and more recently, Laufey. You might wonder about the state of jazz in Iceland. In 2023 alone, 26 jazz or jazz-related albums were released. Isn't that quite an achievement for a country with so few inhabitants? What is going on there? In this article, ...