Jan Johansson (jazz musician)

Jan Johansson (16 September 1931 – 9 November 1968) was a Swedish jazz pianist, composer and arranger whose work combined modern jazz, Scandinavian folk music and large-ensemble writing.

Active both as a performer, composer and arranger for recording, radio and television during the 1950s and 1960s, he was a member of Arne Domnérus’s orchestra and of Radiojazzgruppen, and collaborated with musicians including Stan Getz and Georg Riedel.

Johansson is widely associated with a series of recordings based on European folk music interpreted through jazz, among them Jazz på svenska (1964), which became the best-selling jazz album in Swedish history, with more than 400,000 copies sold, and has remained continuously in print since its release. He also composed music for film and television, including the theme for the television series Pippi Longstocking.

Johansson was the father of Anders Johansson, drummer in HammerFall, and Jens Johansson, keyboardist in Stratovarius. The brothers operate the record label Heptagon Records, which manages the continued availability of Johansson’s recordings.