Jan Johansson

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Jan Johansson (September 16, 1931 – November 9, 1968) was a Swedish jazz pianist. He is little known outside Scandinavia, and his records are not widely available, yet his album Jazz på svenska (Jazz in Swedish), has sold more than a quarter of a million copies, and is the best selling jazz release ever in Sweden.

Johansson was born in 1931, and met saxophonist Stan Getz while at university. He abandoned his studies to play jazz fulltime, and worked with many American jazz greats, becoming the first European ever to be invited to join the Jazz at the Philharmonic package. The years 1961 to 1968 produced a string of classic albums. These included Jazz på svenska and Jazz på Ryska (Jazz in Russian) which are both available in an expanded form on CD. Jazz på Ungerska (Jazz in Hungarian) together with Danish Jazz violinist Svend Asmussen is the third album in that series. Jazz in Sweden comprises variations on sixteen Swedish folk songs with Georg Riedel playing acoustic bass. Also worth exploring is Musik genom Fyra Sekler (Music from the Past Centuries) which is another exploration of traditional Swedish melodies using larger forces. There were also two excellent trio sets, 8 Bittar and Innertrio, which have been issued as a single CD.

In November 1968 Jan Johansson was killed in a car crash on his way to a concert in a church in Jönköping, Sweden. He was just 37. His son, Anders Johansson, runs Heptagon Records which does an invaluable job of keeping his father's recordings available.