Bobo Stenson

Swedish jazz pianist, born August 04, 1944 in Västerås, Sweden

His brother, who played drums, made him interested in jazz music in his early teens. Bobo Stenson started playing the piano at the age of seven. He received classical piano lessons.

In his hometown of Västerås, he played early in various groups with Lars Färnlöf, Sven Åke Johansson and Staffan Abeleen. Börje Fredriksson included him in his quartet which also included Palle Danielsson and Fredrik Norén. After graduating from high school, Stenson worked for a short time in Paris. However, he preferred to play at the Blue-Note club in Paris with, among others, Manfred Schoof and Gunter Hampel.

He began studies in musicology, which he interrupted to start his professional music career. He toured with Palle Danielsson and Rune Carlsson in Germany and played with guest soloists such as Benny Bailey and Dexter Gordon. During the 1970s, Stenson played in trio with Arild Andersen and Jon Christensen. Later, this formation was expanded with Jan Garbarek. In 1970, together with Bengt Berger and Palle Danielsson, he founded the group Rena Rama, which played music inspired by Africa, India and the Balkans. Lennart Åberg was also part of the group. This group existed for twenty years. Since 1988, Stenson has performed in Charles Lloyd's "European Quartet" and has also played with Stan Getz. He has also participated in Tomasz Stańko's groups and in Lars Danielsson's quartet. Bobo Stenson Trio has now been around for almost 40 years and in 2013 also includes Anders Jormin (bass) and Jon Fält (drums).

Stenson was elected a member of the Royal Academy of Music in 2005 and was awarded the Litteris et Artibus medal in 2006.