Rolf Fredriksson Bio
Childhood
Rolf Fredriksson, born in 1959, grew up in Örebro, Sweden, where he started to play classical guitar at eight, and later blues guitar in Johnny Shines style. He also started playing drums at eleven. A few years later he met the argentinian percussionist Luis Agudo and Sjunne Ferger, a swedish multi-talented profile in Örebro.
First studies
Inspirated by Agudo and Ferger he decided to pursue musical studies, and began a 2 year long musical education in 1978 in the south of Sweden. In Malmö he played drums in jazz groups like Big Fun and Quintessence, with which he also made a record.
Further studies
In 1980 he entered the Royal Music Academy of Stockholm and studied there for the islandic drummer/pedagogue Petur Östlund for 4 years, playing with a lot of bands during that time. Jazz groups like New Event (with tenorist Anders Ekholm), Mr Walker (with guitarist Thomas Janzon) and Scotty Preston's soulgroup Union to name a few.
African influences
Wile studying at the academy he also got an increasing interest for african music and played with africa-inpired groups like Nävgröt (ganda-style) and Jedidjah (Congo-hilife). In the middle of his education in 1982 he took a 3 month trip to east Africa to study african music and culture.
Working with dancers
From 1985 to 1991 he worked as a drummer at jazz-ballet classes at the Swedish Opera Ballet and the Dance Academy in Stockholm. There he met and worked with drummer/percussionist Rupert Clemendore and dancers like Vanoye Aikens, Jane Darling and Thomas Bergren amongst others. He accompanied Aikens, the former member of the New York based Catherine Dunham Dance Company, on a 2 hour documentary film about jazz-dance history from Mr Bojangles to Michael Jackson.
Changes
Family matters led to a break in the music career, but in Malmö 1994 he found a place playing african folklore on djembe and doun-doun in the traditional Guinean cultural group Afro Tiambo (Conacry).
Working with blues
Back in Stockholm 2008 he picked up the drum kit again and found a weekly work as a house drummer at a jazz & blues club i the Old Town. There he connected back to the Johnny Shines/Robert Johnson blues style again, but now on drums. The work as a house drummer resulted in a trip to China in 2017 where he worked with a blues band at the famous House of Blues and Jazz in Shanghai.
Moving into jazz
After playing african folklore and earning a living as a blues drummer for a decade he decided that is was time to develop and focus more on jazz drumming again. He had met the english drummer Dave Wickens and briefly studied for him before he sadly passed away. He built the Vikingshill Studio at his home in eastern Stockholm where he now rehearses and records with several jazz groups. Some of them are Ekholm Sounds, Selander Quartet, Bengt Ernryd Sextett, Orange Jazz Quartet and Ingoma, led by the South African jazz pianist/producer Mzwakhe Hlatschwayo.
