Jacob Karlzon

Swedish jazz pianist and composer Jacob Karlzon has been compared to Sweden’s own legends Esbjörn Svensson and Jan Johansson. Karlzon’s playing style oozes technical brilliance, rhythmic and harmonic complexity with a perfect feeling for form. Karlzon describes what drives him: “We are a modern people with a long history, and it is precisely this which I want to reflect in my music. I am fascinated with the possibilities of new technologies but I also need warmth and a connection with the earth in order to feel happy.” For a piano virtuoso, he likes to add edge; metal and electro all have their place in his music as well as folk songs from his Swedish homeland. With such an open attitude, Karlzon balances depth and musical ideas to achieve vibrant pulsating soundscapes ranging from light to energetic, fragile to powerful, organic to electronic, sometimes all at once. He calls this approach 'technorganic', a kind of improvisation which bursts out of conventional musical borders. He has also manifested this aesthetic direction in his collaboration with d&b audiotechnik and their Immersive Sound-system Soundscape. Karlzon's music sits at the intersection of cool Scandinavian sensibilities (space, melancholy and sensitivity) and their emotional opposites (heat and passion). Karlzon’s powerful techniques and deep sensibility have made him a popular sideman working together with stars like Cæcilie Norby, Gino Vannelli, Till Brönner, Nils Landgren, and as well as being a sought after musical director for artists such as Viktoria Tolstoy . Whilst he has a great reputation as an ensemble performer, his personal projects have also received great recognition. In 2010 he was awarded the Swedish Django d'Or and voted Jazz Musician of the Year. In 2012 he was added to the Steinway Artist roster, an international recognition of excellence and in 2015 was acclaimed Jazz-group of the Year in the Swedish Radio’s audience poll. “I got into jazz because I loved improvisation. This kind of spontaneous play achieves ever new levels in the direct communication with the audience, in the exchange of energy and emotion. Performing live for an audience is for me the ‘original place of music’, an ecstatic experience on both sides.” Stylistically and musically, Jacob Karlzon is also well-travelled: He is a classically trained pianist but has shared a stage with big names such as Dominic Miller (with whom he also recorded the album “Vagabond” for ECM), Kenny Wheeler, Norma Winstone and Billy Cobham. He has forayed into the world of heavy metal with his albums “More” and “Now,” allowing electronic elements to set the pulse. No wonder he prefers to describe himself as an ‘alternative musician’ To date Karlzon has produced fourteen albums under his own name and the most recent one, “Winter Stories”, with Warner Music. As his artistic and musical profile has changed over the years, so have the members of the groups. Besides solo recordings and productions, he works primarily with his trio and his newly formed quartet “Questar” as creative units. Currently the settings and personnel within them are pretty open. Karlzon is back working with drummer Robert Mehmet Ikiz with whom he recorded “Shine” and “Now” (ACT) There is a deep, mutual understanding between them across all aspects of music which has created a strong interplay and a huge dynamic range involving everything from a deep, true groove to wide open soundscapes. Karlzon has put out three solo piano albums, “One”, “Four Elements” and "Winter Stories” and toured Europe which has also established him as a well-respected solo act. Karlzon creates music for “The Inner Film’ and loves it when others connect with these worlds. “I want to take you emotionally out to sea, where your interpretation of my music determines in what direction you swim.” “Like hardly any other jazz pianist, Karlzon masters the balancing act between simplicity and complexity.” WDR3 –Album of the week