Oscar Peterson,Keith Jarrett,John Coltrane,Miles Davis,Wes Montgomery
Pat Metheny,Herbie Hancock,George Benson,Egberto Gismonti,Joe Pass,
Jim Hall,Pat Martino.
Sounds Like
Ulf Wakenius
Pat Metheny-Ulf Wakenius Duo at Jazz Baltica 2003
Pat Metheny & Ulf Wakenius Duo - Angel Eyes
Mike Brecker, Ulf Wakenius, Benny Green, Christian McBride and Alvin Queen
At Present
Ulf Wakenius is a contemporary jazz guitar star.An ACT recording artist
with many higly praised CD.s
At 2003 he performed in a highly successful duo concert with Pat Metheny at Jazz Baltica in Germany. The concert was also televised on German TV. His latest release was “Love Is Real" a homage to the late great Esbjörn Svensson, that tragically died this year.
The CD has recived raving reviews all over the world.
He has played and recorded with the who..s who of the jazz world a.o. Oscar Peterson, Pat Metheny, Herbie Hancock, Ray Brown, Michael Brecker, Joe Henderson, Phil Woods, Clark Terry, Johnny Griffin, Toots Thielemans, Jack DeJohnette, Max Roach, Jim Hall, Art Farmer, Benny Golson, James Moody, Hank Jones, Roy Hargrove and Michel Legrand.
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. He has also toured with his own groups featuring: Mike Brecker, Ray Brown and Joey Calderazzo.
The beginning
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. 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.
In the late '80s Ulf began playing with the late great Danish bass giant Niels-Henning ..rstedt-Pedersen. Their collaboration was very fruitful, resulting in concerts all over the globe, several recordings, playing for the then-President of the United States, Bill Clinton, and numerous international TV-shows.
In the beginning of the '90s Ulf started to work in different projects together with American and European top musicians. The group Grafitti was formed with the rhythm section from the John Scofield group, the members being the phantom drummer Dennis Chambers (now with Santana), bassist Gary Grainger, H..kon Graf ..boards and Ulf on guitar. They toured in the United States and Europe and recorded a CD which was very well received. He also started a collaboration with the bass icon Ray Brown. Ulf has 10 solo albums to his name and has recorded several albums as a sideman together with many jazz legends.
Hope U re doin fine. Really appreciate you. Im lookin for a jazz musician to perform in a reputed Star Hotel in the Middle East for three months contract. If you re interested pl do contact. regards
"seven days of falling" is simply a masterpiece. I love this tune. please come by and listen to my new tune recorded with Spyro Gyra "That's How It Goes". Please let me know what you think of it. Blessings to you! Tammi Brown
Hello Ulf, my dear friend! Hope everything is going alright. Just wanted to send you some good vibes. We have a new song: "I Love You So", sung by Marita. Sugarsweet souljazz! Feel free to write a comment. Best wishes and cheers, Paul
New sampler from the upcoming debut CD "Luna Nueva" added!
Featuring (among others): Aron Mellergårdh, Erik Linder, Jens Filipsson & Jonathan Fritzén + special guests: Jay Oliver, Jason Rebello, Eric Marienthal & Otmaro Ruiz.
Hey, just wishing you a great Wednesday night. Things are cool over on this end, just enjoying the night and writing some tunes. much love ~adrian adrianrhen. com
