A Well Noted Jazz Company

The history of Bohuslän Big Band goes back to the early 1800s when they were one of many military orchestras in Sweden under the name of Bohus Battalion. From the mid-1950s, the band developed into one of Sweden’s only two fully professional big bands and consisting of sixteen full-time musicians.

From swing to avant-garde, Bohuslän Big Band covers the entire spectrum of jazz, as well as crossing over into other genres with top Swedish artists. Over the years, the big band has performed with international jazz giants such as Quincy Jones, Gregory Porter, Carla Bley, Joe Lovano, Maria Schneider, Avishai Cohen, Viktoria Tolstoy, Vince Mendoza, Sinne Eeg, and Nils Landgren, among others.

In 2001, Bohuslän Big Band became the first Swedish big band touring in Japan and China and subsequently returned to Japan in 2003, 2008 and 2018. In addition to this, the big band has been touring in England, Scotland, Denmark, Germany, Egypt, and performed at the House of Sweden and the Kennedy Center in Washington DC in the USA. The big band performs about 80-90 concerts each year and has participated in prestigious festivals such as the Copenhagen Jazz Festival, Jazz Baltica Salzau, Jerusalem Jazz Festival, Yamaha Jazz festival, Ystad Jazz Festival and Stockholm Jazz Festival.

Working with Bohuslän Big Band means working alongside Scandinavia’s top professional musicians and a highly dedicated team. The big band continually strives to push the envelope in contemporary music while still keeping the roots of jazz close at heart. The big band remains dedicated to the task of disseminating live music of the highest quality and discovering new exciting collaborations with musicians, composers, and arrangers through a broad spectrum of genres. Bohuslän Big Band preserves and moves forward the genre while giving the listener an overall experience with the best that a big band has to offer.

Bohuslän Big Band is a world-class jazz orchestra in the real sense of the word, and they stand out from the crowd and allow all cylinders to go at full speed, with a dynamic range and primordial force that leaves few untouched.

– Quincy Jones

Musicians

Lennart Grahn

Trumpet

Samuel Olsson

Trumpet

Jan Eliasson

Trumpet

Niclas Rydh

Trombone

Christer Olofsson

Trombone

Hanne Småvik

Trombone

Linus Lindblom

Saxophone

Joakim Rolandson

Saxophone

Martin Svanström

Saxophone

Mikael Karlsson

Saxophone

Alberto Pinton

Saxophone

Göran Kroon

Drums

Striking A Blow For Our Public Mission

In 2004, Bohuslän Big Band became an integral part of the organization at Vara Concert Hall, which enabled access to a home arena and several resources for further collaborations with both national and international artists and composers. Bohuslän Big Band is funded by Region Västra Götaland.