Sten Sandell
Biography Sten Sandell
Sten Sandell
From 1976 to 1986 Sten Sandell undertook wide-ranging studies: on piano with Mats Persson and Carl-Axel Dominique; in improvisation/compositio with Sven-David Sandstrom; and with Par Lindgren into electro-acoustic music. Attended the Academy of Music in Stockholm during the period 1981 to 1986. Influences are broad and include free improvisation, contemporary music (John Cage, Morton Feldman, I. Xenakis etc.), and ethnic music (classical music from India, Japan, Iran etc. folk music from Sweden, Norway, North Africa). From 1976 to the present day, has been involved in group work, solo projects and in dance, drama, and film. The two long-standing groups are Sa Vidare, 1979-89 with guitarist Peter Soderberg and saxophonist Johan Petri, who played 'structurally organised improvisations', and Gush (from 1988 and ongoing) with saxophonist Mats Gustafsson and percussionist Raymond Strid, well known for their free improvised music. Instrumentation for solo projects has included piano, synthesizer, sampler, percussion, and voice and is represented on a number of records, for example, Frames, on the Bauta label.
Cooperation with musicians/composers including Emil Strandberg, Paal Nilssen-Love, Sverrir Gudjonsson, Johan Berthling, Evan Parker, Sven-Åke Johansson, Chris Cutler, Mats Persson, Sofia Jernberg, Carl-Axel Dominique, Mats Gustafsson, Nina de Heney and Raymond Strid. Music Inside the Language was winner of Contemporary Sound in 2011 of the Journal Contemporary Music. Music and visual arts, including Bo Samuelsson, Katarina Eismann, Inger Arvidsson. Music and dance, including Jukka Korpi, Ingrid Olterman, Bo Arenander, Anne Külper. Music and Drama including Fredrik Nyberg, Magnus Florin, Magnus Jacobsson, Willy Kyrklund, Karl Dunér, Rolf Skoglund, Peter Oskarson, Stina Ekblad and Jörgen Gassilewski.
Sten Sandell was awarded the Royal Academy of Music’s Jazz Award in 2012 with the motivation: "The pianist Sten Sandell is one of Swedish improvised music’s most brilliant, captivating and independent voices. His musical activities are characterized by a strong artistic integrity, and he has with great consistency developed a characteristic aesthetic attitude that inspires countless musicians."
