Sven-Ake Johansson
© Paul Gerhard Deker
In the vast history of improvised and experimental music Sven-Åke Johansson stands alone. Born in Mariestad, Sweden in 1943, where he developed a deep ardor for jazz, and permanently settled in Berlin in 1968, he has remained a crucial figure in multiple art practices—composer, percussionists, bandleader, poet, visual artists, and conceptualist. He was involved in some of Peter Brötzmann’s earliest and most important projects, including the 1968 free jazz classic Machine Gun, but he was an integral part of groups led by Manfred Schoof and Gunnar Lindquist before emerging as prolific collaborator and bandleader in his own right. Much of his conceptual work is spiked with a wry, absurdity while his playing has never fully released its strong connection to the swing rhythms he grew up absorbing. Johansson has never limited himself to any single artistic discipline and over more than six decades of work he’s remained open to fresh partnerships, feverishly engaging in creation as an essential lifeforce. As he told the Berlin newspaper Taz in 2022, “My work is not actually jazz, but rather the exploration of sounds. In that sense, my music defies some categorizations. Jazz is only a small part of what I do.”
Indeed, Johansson has created musical theater works, performed with farm tractors, developed compositions for fire extinguishers, performed with electronic artists like Jan Jelinek and art-rock legends Sonic Youth, collaborated with visual artists such as Albert Oehlen and Martin Kipperberger, and used bespoke drum kits built from cardboard, among countless other endeavors well outside the strictures of improvised music. He’s always been a relentless seeker, unbound by any genre, exploring new means of expression while pointing out the ridiculousness of human life while also passionately embracing the richness and vitality of humanity. It would be a fool’s errand and a serious error to reduce his work to any single tradition or practice.
Now in his 80s, Johansson has remained as prolific as ever, but he’s focused part of his energies in recent years on making sure his dynamic legacy is secure, with remarkable archival recordings surfacing on a variety of labels, introducing his work with the likes of Alexander von Schlippenbach, Rüdiger Carl, Per-Henrik Wallin, Peter Kowald, and Jeanne Lee to a new generation. For any proper assessment of his work, one must examine his output holistically. His huge body of work reflects a genuinely kaleidoscopic sensibility, locating and making unexpected connections between disciplines and conceptual underpinnings.
ALEXANDER VON SCHLIPPENBACH
Indeed, Johansson has created musical theater works, performed with farm tractors, developed compositions for fire extinguishers, performed with electronic artists like Jan Jelinek and art-rock legends Sonic Youth, collaborated with visual artists such as Albert Oehlen and Martin Kipperberger, and used bespoke drum kits built from cardboard, among countless other endeavors well outside the strictures of improvised music. He’s always been a relentless seeker, unbound by any genre, exploring new means of expression while pointing out the ridiculousness of human life while also passionately embracing the richness and vitality of humanity. It would be a fool’s errand and a serious error to reduce his work to any single tradition or practice.
Now in his 80s, Johansson has remained as prolific as ever, but he’s focused part of his energies in recent years on making sure his dynamic legacy is secure, with remarkable archival recordings surfacing on a variety of labels, introducing his work with the likes of Alexander von Schlippenbach, Rüdiger Carl, Per-Henrik Wallin, Peter Kowald, and Jeanne Lee to a new generation. For any proper assessment of his work, one must examine his output holistically. His huge body of work reflects a genuinely kaleidoscopic sensibility, locating and making unexpected connections between disciplines and conceptual underpinnings.
RELEASES
LINKS
http://www.sven-akejohansson.com/en/home/RELATED ARTISTS
PETER BRÖTZMANNALEXANDER VON SCHLIPPENBACH
