Sven-Ake-Johansson_Mannheim_vor-Stadt-der-1000-Feuer_LWSX3362

Sven-Åke Johansson (1943 – 15 June 2025) was a Swedish composer, drummer, poet, author and visual artist associated with European

free jazz Free jazz, or free form in the early to mid-1970s, is a style of avant-garde jazz or an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventi ...

and

free improvisation Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any general rules, instead following the intuition of its performers. The term can refer to both a technique—employed by any musician in any genre—and as a recognizable genre of ...

. He was born in

Mariestad Mariestad () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Mariestad Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 16,611 inhabitants in 2019. Until 1997 it was the capital of the former Skaraborg County and an episcopal see in the ...

and lived in Berlin from 1968 onwards. Johansson was one of the first European free jazz drummers: he was part of the

Peter Brötzmann Peter Brötzmann (6 March 1941 – 22 June 2023) was a German jazz saxophonist and clarinetist regarded as a central and pioneering figure in European free jazz. Throughout his career, he released over fifty albums as a bandleader. Amongst his m ...

trio that recorded '' For Adolphe Sax'' (1967) and '' Machine Gun'' (1968), alongside bassist Peter Kowald. He experimented with sound, and played multiple instruments. Johansson briefly joined an early incarnation of

Tangerine Dream Tangerine Dream is a German electronic music band founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The group has seen many personnel changes over the years, with Froese the only constant member until his death in January 2015. The best-known lineup of the grou ...

in 1968, played in the

Globe Unity Orchestra The Globe Unity Orchestra is a free jazz ensemble. Globe Unity was formed in autumn 1966 with a commission received by Alexander von Schlippenbach from the Berlin Jazz Festival. It had its debut at the Berliner Philharmonie on 3 November combinin ...

and with German reedist

Alfred Harth Alfred Harth, now known as Alfred 23 Harth or A23H, is a German multimedia artist, band leader, multi-instrumentalist musician, and composer who creatively mixes genres. Career Harth founded a free improvisation band, Just Music (band), Just M ...

and Belgian pianist Nicole Van den Plas in E.M.T. In 1972, he recorded and released '' Schlingerland'', one of the first solo free jazz recordings by a drummer, later rereleased on CD. Johansson formed a long-running duo with pianist

Alexander von Schlippenbach Alexander von Schlippenbach (born 7 April 1938) is a German jazz pianist and composer. He came to prominence in the 1960s playing free jazz in a trio with saxophonist Evan Parker and drummer Paul Lovens, and as a member of the Globe Unity Orch ...

in 1976. Johansson contributed to numerous exhibitions, publications and hundreds of recordings. He also produced

radio plays Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatised, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...

for several German radio stations. He played with

Hans Reichel Hans Reichel (10 May 1949 – 22 November 2011) was a German improvisational guitarist, experimental luthier, inventor, and type designer. Career Reichel was born in Hagen, Germany. He began to teach himself violin at age seven, playing in the sc ...

Jeanne Lee Jeanne Lee (January 29, 1939 – October 25, 2000) was an American jazz singer, poet and composer. Best known for a wide range of vocal styles she mastered, Lee collaborated with numerous distinguished composers and performers who included Gunte ...

, Gunter Hampel,

Michel Waisvisz Michel Waisvisz ( ; 8 July 1949, Leiden – 18 June 2008, Amsterdam) was a Dutch composer, performer and inventor of experimental musical instrument, experimental electronic musical instruments. He was the artistic director of STEIM in Amsterdam f ...

Axel Dörner Axel Dörner (born 26 April 1964 in Cologne, Germany) is a German trumpeter, pianist, and composer. Biography Dörner studied piano in the Dutch town Arnhem (1988–89) and at the Cologne University of Music, Music Academy in Cologne (1989– ...

Albert Oehlen Albert Oehlen (born 17 September 1954) is a German painter, installation artist and musician. He lives and works in Bühler, Switzerland and Segovia, Spain.

, Rhodri Davis,

Ken Vandermark Ken Vandermark (born September 22, 1964) is an American composer, saxophonist, and clarinetist. A fixture on the Chicago-area music scene since the 1990s, Vandermark has earned wide critical praise for his playing and his multilayered composit ...

Otomo Yoshihide is a Japanese composer and multi-instrumentalist. He mainly plays guitar, turntables and electronics. He first came to international prominence in the 1990s as the leader of the experimental rock group Ground Zero, and has since worked in a ...

, Rüdiger Carl, Andrea Neumann, and many others. Beginning in 2010, he worked in collaboration with German vocalist and composer Oliver Augst. The duo created a concert program called ''Eisler im Sitzen'', as well as various radio plays, such as ''In St. Wendel am Schloßplatz'', which was broadcast on

Deutschlandfunk Deutschlandfunk (DLF, ''Broadcast Germany'') is a public-broadcasting radio station in Germany, concentrating on news and current affairs. It is one of the four national radio channels produced by Deutschlandradio. History Broadcasting in t ...

in 2017 and presented live at various locations. Johansson also collaborated with electronic musician

Jan Jelinek Jan Jelinek is a German electronic musician who also operates under the names Farben, Gramm and The Exposures. His music is usually categorized as minimal techno, glitch or microhouse, and is characterized by deep basslines, extensive use of sa ...

(on

modular synthesizer Modular synthesizers are synthesizers composed of separate modules for different functions. The modules can be connected together by the user to create a patch. The outputs from the modules may include audio signals, analog control voltages, ...

) since at least 2017. Johansson died on 15 June 2025.

References

External links

* with complete Discography * * 1943 births 2025 deaths People from Mariestad Musicians from Västra Götaland County Swedish jazz drummers Free jazz drummers Globe Unity Orchestra members Atavistic Records artists FMP/Free Music Production artists Intakt Records artists Musicians from Berlin {{Jazz-drummer-stub