Gunnar Olof "Hacke" Björksten (February 17, 1934 in Helsinki – December 17, 2020 in Stockholm) was a Finnish-Swedish jazz bandleader and saxophonist.

Hacke Björksten lived in Finland until 1945, when his parents moved to Sweden; he gained his first break as a teenager in 's band in Gothenburg. In 1954, he founded his own ensemble in Stockholm, which included trombonist Åke Persson, pianist , and vibraphonist Kurt Weil as sidemen; this band was active through the end of the decade. He played less frequently in the 1960s, but returned to recording in the 1970s and 1980s, including with Mel Lewis and Ulf Johansson.

Hacke Björksten

Discography

Please note this list is incomplete. 2004 — Hacke Björksten Quintet – Three Generations, Dragon (8) – DRCD 397 2014 — Hacke Björksten, Ulf Johansson Werre, Hans Backenroth – Top Three, Do Music Records – DMRCD 023

Hacke Björksten

References

Footnotes

General references

"Hacke Björksten". The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. 2nd edition, ed. Barry Kernfeld

Hacke Björksten

External links

1934 births

2020 deaths

Swedish jazz bandleaders

Swedish jazz saxophonists

Male saxophonists

Musicians from Helsinki

Swedish people of Finnish descent

21st-century saxophonists

21st-century Swedish male musicians

Male jazz musicians

20th-century saxophonists