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David Stackenäs
Stackenäs works in the field of contemporary jazz and free improvised music. Over the years he has developed a unique way of playing guitar – both prepared with different materials as well as conventional technique and a growing armada of pedals. With a wide range of sounds and techniques he creates music with great imagination and poetry. As a soloist he mainly focuses on acoustic guitars, using a lot of the organic sound- possibillities and timbres the instrument has to offer.
Has toured as soloist and with many different groups in Europe, the US, Japan and the Middle East. In 2000 David released critics ́ acclaimed cd the guitar on swedish label Häpna and has since then released bow on Kning-Disk (2006), Separator on Found You Recordings (2009) and BRICKS on Clean Feed (2017). Also plays with LabField (w/ Ingar Zach), Kim Myhr You|Me, Ballrogg, CIRCADIA, Lina Nyberg Band, Emil Strandberg trio, Tatsuya Nakatani/David Stackenäs DUO and Holm/Stackenäs DUO and has participated as musician and made music for many different theatre- and dancepieces. Since 2000 he has participated on 40 albums.
Through the years he has played with, among many others: Evan Parker, Barry Guy, Lina Nyberg, Sofia Jernberg, Rhodri Davies, Paul Lovens, Axel Dörner, Sten Sandell, Thurston Moore, Mazen Kerbaj, Christine Abdelnour, Ken Vandermark, Paal Nilssen-Love, Cecilia Persson, Jim O’Rourke, Tatsuya Nakatani.
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Elsa Bergman: Playon Crayon
by John Eyles
Ever since 1967, when British composer Cornelius Cardew's 193-page graphic score Treatise was published, there has been controversy about the role graphic scores play in improvised music. Having worked on Treatise from 1963 to 1967, once it was published and discussed, Cardew wrote Treatise Handbook, published in 1971, which shed no light on how Treatise's complex graphics should be interpreted. The reason for the historical note is that with Playon Crayon Elsa Bergman may be following in Cardew's footprints. The ...
read moreLina Nyberg: Anniverse
by Mark Corroto
Vocalist Lina Nyberg takes us through a calendar year with her album Anniverse. Being Swedish, we're talking northern hemisphere when she sings of January and following footsteps in the snow with the sun only barely appearing on the horizon. Dark but not dispirited she intones rising hopes. This recording began with Nyberg's call to her long time collaborators pianist Cecilia Persson, guitarist David Stackenäs, bassist Josef Kallerdahl, and drummer Peter Danemo to send her ten words they associated with a ...
read moreMattias Risberg's Mining: Zauberberg
by Karl Ackermann
The Swedish pianist Mattias Risberg has teamed up with a range of well-known northern European born or based improvisers, including saxophonist Fredrik Ljungkvist and vocalist Jennie Abrahamson. He remains largely unknown in the U.S. but garnered well-deserved attention for And Now the Queen--A Tribute to Carla Bley (Lilalo records, 2016), a duo recording with Ljungkvist. Risberg lives between two musical worlds as a post-modern composer with an affinity for (relatively) old-world instruments. His inspirations are no less diverse: he cites ...
read moreLina Nyberg: The Clouds
by Troy Dostert
In a career spanning almost three decades--her first release, Close (Prophone), with Esbjörn Svensson, dates from 1993-- vocalist, composer and arranger Lina Nyberg has worked with many of the finest musicians in the Swedish jazz scene to create a truly formidable body of work. Nineteen albums later, her creativity shows no signs of abating. In fact, with The Clouds, a project featuring a tentet of first-rank colleagues, Nyberg is poised to reinforce her place at the vanguard of chance-taking European ...
read moreDavid Stackenäs: Bricks
by Glenn Astarita
Hailing from Sweden, David Stackenäs (Per Zanussi Ensemble, Lina Nyberg Band) may be one of the best lesser-known global guitarists out there. Active in jazz and experimental ensembles in Europe and beyond, the artist follows up his previous solo acoustic guitar outing Separator (2009, Found You) with a cunning and at times, mesmeric exposition. In the album notes, iconic guitarist Nels Cline extolls glowing praise via his detailed analysis of certain tracks and narratives concerning Stackenäs' striking technical gifts and ...
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“…Stackenäs, whose acoustic guitar solo…was a personal highlight of FOTC 2004. Sounding a bit like a detuned John Russell, Stackenäs evokes the strange lute and harp music of Ethiopia, Kenya or Mauritania, sustaining pace and inspiration throughout…” JMVS – Paris Transatlantic
“The large number of expressions he creates have in common that they seem true and well- reflected. Stackenäs is present in his material, either …. kindly with feedback tradition or creating sound and rythm that goes beyond common ground of the guitar…[Stackenäs] combines the playful and the sofisticated.” - Arild R Anderssen, Aftenposten, Norway
