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Johanna Grussner

Mrs Grüssner was born in The Åland Islands, Finland 1972. She was a scholarship student at Berklee College of music in Boston where she gratuated 1996 with a Bachelor’s degree in music education. She produced her first CD ”Johanna Grüssner Band” 1995. Mrs Grüssner moved straight to New York City where she continued her musical studies at Manhattan School of Music and graduated in 1998 with a Master’s degree in jazz performance. That same Spring she released her second album ”Live at Hubbard Hall” with her own 19-piece big band ”The Johanna Grüssner Manhattan Jazz Orchestra”. They toured Scandinavia the same summer where they performed at prestigous jazz festivals and clubs including shows with The American vocal group The New York Voices. The tour ended with concerts at the New York jazz clubs ”Birdland” and ”Kavehaz” such as Nalen, Mosebacke, Fasching and Glenn Miller. Mrs Grüssner continued to work in New York as a freelance vocalist and a recording artist. Besides her own groups she sang lead in the a cappella quartet ”Vox Bop” who won first price in the New York Sweepstakes Competition in 2001. She also recorded her third CD ”Hur man räddar kärleken & annat” with pianist and arranger Mika Pohjola. The album was produced by the Finnish Broadcasting company 2000.

Mrs Grüssner also worked as a vocal instructor and music teacher at Public School 86 in The Bronx where she developed a new program with instrumental classes, music theory and vocal instruction. In May 2001 she brought 24 fifth grade students across the Atlantic to visit her home country Finland and perform gospel concerts for the local people. The journey created a lot of a attention by media such as ABC, CBS and CNN. The New York Times printed three first page articles during the trip and a documentary film was made. Mrs Grüssner received awards by The Finlandia Foundation and Thanks To Scandinavia for the work she did with the children. In June 2004 the book ”Seven Days of Possibilities” is released by the book company PUBLIC AFFAIRS (www.perseusbooksgroup.com) in New York. The book tells about Grüssner’s musical work with the children during her years in the Bronx and the trip they made to her hometown in Åland, Finland in May 2001. Publicity tour is planned and lots of media attention expected.

In 2003 she recorded her last album ”Moomin Voices” with 6 part harmonies of jazzy vocal arrangements.

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Johanna Grussner: From Scandinavia to NYC... and back again

Read "Johanna Grussner: From Scandinavia to NYC... and back again" reviewed by Chris Mosey


Johanna Grüssner is a truly remarkable young woman. Aged 28, she has emerged as one of the best, most professional jazz singers in the Nordic Area after paying her dues in the toughest environment jazz has to offer; gigging around clubs in New York City, including Birdland, where she sang backed by a big band she put together herself. During eight years in the United States, she went on to teach music at PS86, a public school ...

195
Album Review

Johanna Grussner: Come Rain Or Come Shine

Read "Come Rain Or Come Shine" reviewed by Chris Mosey


Her clear-as-a-bell vocals, assured phrasing and near perfect grasp of English put Johanna Grüssner right at the top of the current crop of Scandinavian female jazz singers. Come Rain Or Come Shine is her third solo album and best yet: a gently swinging, highly enjoyable mix of straight jazz and Brazilian samba, performed with supreme professionalism. Grüssner, from the Finnish Åland islands, makes use of a broad musical palette. On previous albums she has sung both Swedish ...

521
Album Review

Johanna Grussner: No More Blues

Read "No More Blues" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


Honestly, I do not know what thrills me more, the fact that Johanna Grussner's No More Blues makes a great companion disc to Peter Cincotti's On the Moon or the fact that it is the first Naxos Jazz release in two years.Let's address the second fact first. Naxos Records began Naxos Jazz in the late 1990s with the hope of replicating the same phenomenal success that the label's classical side has experienced. The result was sixty plus releases ...

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The Real Swedish Essential Songs - Beyond Abba - Now Released

The Real Swedish Essential Songs - Beyond Abba - Now Released

Source: Mika Pohjola

A fruitful cooperation spanning twenty years, vocalist Johanna Grüssner and pianist-composer Mika Pohjola release their twenty-five best tracks on a celebration album, Swedish Songs: The Essential Collection. Grüssner and Pohjola have worked closely since the 1990s, when they were students at the renowned Berklee College of Music in Boston. They later performed and recorded on the New York jazz scene, before moving back to Stockholm, Sweden to do the same. So what is Swedish? Zlatan Ibrahimovic, IKEA and Volvo come ...

Recording

Swedish Children's Classics Revamped On "Nu Ska Vi Sjunga"

Swedish Children's Classics Revamped On "Nu Ska Vi Sjunga"

Source: Mika Pohjola

Swedish singing tradition is alive and well. In the latest of revamped versions of children's classics, vocalist Johanna Grüssner and arranger-composer Mika Pohjola interpret forty songs from the Nu ska vi sjunga (Now We Shall Sing) songbook. The album embraces the rich Swedish singing tradition and is in accordance with the Orff & Kodály method tuned to the natural keys of children. It is easy to sing along! Johanna Grüssner and Mika Pohjola have previously collaborated on several albums, such ...

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Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Come Rain Or Come...

Prophone Records
2010

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No More Blues

Naxos Records
2004

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