Raoul Melvin Björkenheim (born February 11, 1956) is a Finnish-American jazz guitarist, who has lived in Helsinki, New York, and Los Angeles. His mother is Finnish-American actress Taina Elg.''Finlands ridderskaps och adels kalender 1992'', pp. 92–93. Esbo 1991. In his teens he moved to Finland. He attended the Helsinki Conservatory and the Berklee School of Music. His professional career began in the 1980s with Finnish jazz drummer Edward Vesala. After recording three albums with Vesala, he formed Krakatau. During the 1990s he reduced the band to a trio. He recorded an album with guitarist Nicky Skopelitis that was produced by

Bill Laswell William Otis Laswell (born February 12, 1955) is an American bass guitarist, record producer, and record label owner. He has been involved in thousands of recordings with many collaborators from all over the world. His music draws from funk, wo ...

. Björkenheim has composed for the

Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Finnish: ''Radion sinfoniaorkesteri'', Swedish: ''Radions symfoniorkester''; abbreviated as RSO) is a Finnish Radio orchestra, broadcast orchestra based in Helsinki, and the orchestra of the Finnish Broadcasti ...

, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, and the UMO Jazz Orchestra and worked as a soloist with the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra and Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra. He recorded three albums for

Rune Grammofon Rune Grammofon is a Norwegian record label founded in 1998 by Rune Kristoffersen. Rune Grammofon's reputation for lovingly issued experimental electronic music, jazz, and improvised music by Norwegian artists has grown over the years with its a ...

in the Scorch Trio with

Ingebrigt Håker Flaten Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (born 23 September 1971 in Oppdal Municipality, Norway) is a Norwegian double bass, bassist active in the jazz and free jazz genres. (in Norwegian) Store Norske Leksikon (in Norwegian) Career Flaten played electric ba ...

(bass) and Paal Nilssen-Love (drums). Other collaborators include Hamid Drake, William Parker, Kalle Kalima, and the band Kvalda.

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bjorkenheim, Raoul 1956 births Living people Guitarists from Los Angeles 20th-century American guitarists American jazz guitarists American people of Finnish descent Finnish jazz composers Finnish jazz guitarists Rune Grammofon artists Jazz musicians from California