Ulf Wakenius is a Swedish jazz guitarist.[1]
Wakenius was a member of the Oscar Peterson quartet from 1997.
He was also a member of the Ray Brown trio. Ulf Wakenius also
plays with his own band, and has recorded many albums.
In the 80s he played with Peter Almqvist in Guitars Unlimited
playing,[2] among other things, during the intermission for
600 million viewers of the Swedish International Finale of the
Eurovision Song Contest in 1986. A stop in Rio de Janeiro resulted
in three records with Sivuca Let's Vamos, Aquarela Do Brazil
and Rendez-Vouz in Rio (Sonet 1987). The cooperation with Niels-Henning
Ørsted Pedersen also started this decade, and they also
recorded This Is All I Ask (Verve, 1998) and Those Who Were
(Verve, 1996).
His own U.W. Group released Venture (1991) with Jack DeJohnette
on drums, Bill Evans and Bob Berg on saxes, Randy Brecker on
trumpet, Niels Lan Doky on piano, Chris Minh Doky and Lars Danielsson
on bass. The work with American musicians continued in New York
Meeting with Niels Lan Doky piano, Ira Coleman bass, and Billy
Hart drums.
His Enchanted Moments (Dragon, 1997) was recorded with Lars
Jansson piano, Lars Danielsson, bass and Raymond Karlsson drums.
On Dig In (Sittel, 1997) he plays with Gösta Rundqvist
piano, Yasuhito Mori bass and Jukkis Uotila drums. Live (Dragon),
The Guitar Artistry of U.W. (Dragon, 2002). After that came
Tokyo Blue (2003) with Carsten Dahl piano, Morten Lund drums
and Yasuhito Mori bass; Forever you (Stunt, 2003), with Carsten
Dahl, piano, Morten Lund drums and Lars Danielsson bass; and
Checkin' In (Megaphon, 2004) His latest release, Notes from
the Heart (ACT, 2005) is a tribute to Keith Jarrett, with Lund
and Johansson.
Wakenius had together with Haakon Graf piano, in the early
nineties the group Graffiti with members from the John Scofield
group, Dennis Chambers drums, Gary Grainger bass. He appeared
on Duke Ellington Swings (Telarc, 1998); with Oscar Peterson
he released Summernight in Munich (Telarc, 1999) and Trail of
Dreams with Oscar Peterson and Michel Legrand (Telarc, 2000).
With Ray Brown he played on Summertime (1998) and Seven Steps
to Heaven (1999), as well as Some of My Best Friends Are Guitar
Players (Telarc, 2001).
With Pat Metheny he played Jazz Baltica 2003. In Norway he
has played with Hot Club de Norvège and Vertavo-quartet
(Hot Club Records, 2005), and also participated on the record
Guitaresque on Hot Club Records with Jon Larsen, Stian Mevik,
Jimmy Rosenberg and others. Other contributions has been on
Lisa Nilssons Små rum (2001), Cæcilie Norbys First
Conversations (2002), as well as recordings by Viktoria Tolstoy
and Esbjörn Svensson. 2006 he toured with his show In the
Spirit of Oscar with Kjell Öhman on piano, Hans Backenroth
on bass and Jocke Ekberg on drums.
