Influenced as a child by the open, organic music of Pink Floyd and early David Bowie, Wennås began his professional career at 12 as a classical guitarist, but soon joined a variety of rock bands. He didn't begin studying jazz until he was in college and therefore his eclectic original music as a professional jazz musician has always included rock and pop sensibilities. The music on Static still shows those influences, and the like-minded strengths of frequent collaborator Marsico's voice, but also more deeply investigates a variety of tone colors and creative improvisation.
The son and brother of accomplished pianists, Wennås studied musicology and anthropology at Sweden's Uppsala University, where he developed an interest in jazz and researched improvisation from an anthropological perspective. His transition to jazz led him to performing with various large and small ensembles at his country's most distinguished jazz clubs before leaving his native Sweden to accept a scholarship to Boston's Berklee College of Music in 1999, where he studied with Mick Goodrick, Hal Crook, Jon Damian, Ed Tomassi, Dave Santoro, Greg Hopkins and Tim Miller. Since then he has performed around Boston with his own groups and in collaboration with a variety of others. His debut CD as a leader, Early Summer Sketch (Beartones 001), was released in 2003.
Static will be distributed both physically and in digital form through The Orchard, and be available online at CDBaby.com and TowerRecords.com
Media Contact for Björn Wennås:
Scott Menhinick, Improvised Communications
(617) 489-6561
[email protected]
For more information contact All About Jazz.
