Toggi Jonsson

Þorgrímur “Toggi” Jónsson, bassplayer has been a major part of the Icelandic jazz seen for the last 20 years. Has played with with some of the best-known musicians in Iceland an also some of the many foreign musicians that have visited Iceland in recent years.

2016 Toggi released his own CD including 10 original compositions performed by his own band including some of the finest musicians in Iceland. His music is under influences from the Balkans, pop music as well as European jazz. Thoughtful and melodic compositions are at the forfront showcasing the strenghts of his quintet.

Amongst other various projects Toggi has been member of the Sunna Gunnlaugs trio since 2009, the trio has released three CD’s, Long Pair Bond 2011 that got nominated for the Icelandic music awards as the best jazz album of the year. Distilled was released in 2013 and for that CD they got four nominations for the Icelandic music awards, among those, one of Toggi’s compositions was nominated as the best jazz tune. And in 2015 they released Cielito Lindo that won in the Icelandic music awards as the best best jazz band. The Sunna Gunnlaugs trio has gotten raring review’s for their music in newspapers in Austria, Germany, USA and Japan. They have done tours in Germany, Austria and USA as well as been invited to perform at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, they performed at the Oslo Jazz festival, Jazz Ahead in Bremen as well at the Reykjavik Jazz festival

Byzantine Silhouette is a band that plays music originated in the Balkans. They have been working together since 2008 and have released two CD, New Road 2011 and New Road in 2014. Those CD’s include musicians from Bulgaria, Turkey and Sweden.

Awards

2017 - Jazz album of the year (for 2016) at the Icelandic music awards for the album Constant Movement 2017 - Jazz composer of the year (for 2016) at the Icelandic music award for the compositions on the album Constant Movement.

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