Line Up:
Ulf Wakenius / acoustic guitars, oud, chant
Vincent Peirani / accordion, accordina, voice
Lars Danielsson / bass, cello
Guests:
Eric Wakenius / acoustic steel string guitar
Michael Dahlvid / darbuka, cajon
Very special guests on “Message In A Bottle”:
Youn Sun Nah / vocals
Nguyên Lê / electric guitar
Jazz musicians could add ‘travellers’ to their job description - since being on tour is an indispensable part of a successful career, in a sense jazz musicians are descendents of vagabonds and wandering people.
These thoughts also crossed Ulf Wakenius‘ mind when he named his new album Vagabond. After all, he has travelled around the globe several times; in the early ‘80s he toured all over the world with Guitars Unlimited, a guitar duo with Peter Almqvist. In between he stayed in Brazil and played with some of the country’s most prominent local musicians. After that he continued performing in concert halls and jazz clubs around the world – for years Wakenius worked together with Ray Brown and the bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted-Pedersen, with whom he even played for the former US president Bill Clinton. He has performed in concert with stars like Herbie Hancock, Toots Thielemans, Hank Jones, Pat Metheny and Michel Legrand. Particularly worthy of mention is Wakenius’ 11-year membership in the legendary Oscar Peterson Quartet until its leader’s death in December 2007.
Furthermore, for a couple of years Wakenius has been the accompanist of his fellow ACT artist Youn Sun Nah. Since the Korean star singer lives in Paris, the metropolis on the Seine, with its many jazz clubs and extraordinary versatile music scene, has been a regular destination for him. Moreover, it also became the source of inspiration for Vagabond: in addition to guest appearances by Nguyên Lê and Youn Sun Nah, who performs a version of the Police classic “Message in a Bottle” with remarkable simplicity, it was Paris, where he met the accordionist Vincent Peirani, which shaped the album.
ACT
