John Taylor was a British jazz pianist, born in Manchester, England, who occasionally performed on the organ and the synthesizer. In his obituary, The Guardian described him as "one of the great jazz pianists and composers of his generation" and at a musical level comparable to Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, McCoy Tyner and Brad Meldhau.
Peter Clark Erskine is an American jazz drummer who was a member of the jazz fusion groups Weather Report and Steps Ahead.
Tony Oxley was an English free improvising drummer and electronic musician.
Nguyên Lê is a French jazz musician and composer of Vietnamese ancestry. His main instrument is guitar, and he also plays bass guitar and guitar synthesizer.
Michel Godard is a French avant-garde jazz and classical musician. He plays tuba and the predecessor of the tuba, a brass instrument known as the serpent.
Theodor Franz Jörgensmann is a German jazz clarinetist.
Jon Georg Balke is a Norwegian jazz pianist who leads the group Siwan. He is the younger brother of saxophonist Erik Balke.
Nils Paul "Palle" Danielsson was a Swedish jazz double bassist born in Stockholm, Sweden. From 1974 to 1979, he was a member of Keith Jarrett's quartet. He was the brother of pianist Monica Dominique. Danielsson died on 18 May 2024, at the age of 77.
The Beijing Jazz Festival is China's first and largest jazz festival. It was founded in 1993 by Udo Hoffmann, a German national living in China. The festival is hosted by the Beijing Midi School of Music and Beijing Midi Productions.
Daniel Humair is a Swiss drummer, composer, and painter.
Belonging is a studio album by American jazz pianist Keith Jarrett, recorded over two days in April 1974 and released on ECM later that year—the debut of Jarrett's "European Quartet", featuring saxophonist Jan Garbarek and rhythm section Palle Danielsson and Jon Christensen. Because Jarrett's contract with ABC/Impulse! prevented him from performing with the quartet under his own name, the group became known as the "Belonging" quartet.
Personal Mountains is a live album by American jazz pianist Keith Jarrett recorded in Tokyo during his April 1979 tour in Japan, and released by ECM ten years later, in 1989. The quartet—Jarrett's "European Quartet"—features saxophonist Jan Garbarek and rhythm section Palle Danielsson and Jon Christensen.
Vitold Rek is a double bassist, composer and music educator. He studied classical double bass at the Academy of Music in Kraków when Krzysztof Penderecki was rector there. His playing "unites jazz influences with classical and East European folk elements", with a focus on live performance and composition.
Fish Out of Water is an album by jazz saxophonist Charles Lloyd recorded in July 1989 and released on ECM the following year. The quartet features rhythm section Bobo Stenson, Palle Danielsson and Jon Christensen.
Knut Riisnæs was a Norwegian jazz musician, arranger, and composer, son of pianist Eline Nygaard Riisnæs and brother of classical pianist Anne Eline Riisnæs (1951–) and jazz saxophonist Odd Riisnæs (1953–). The brothers are both known from a variety of recordings in Norway and internationally.
ACT is a German record label founded in 1992 by Siegfried Loch. It is a division of ACT Music + Vision founded by Loch and Annette Humpe in 1988. ACT started as a pop music label but folded soon after it started. Loch turned it into a jazz label, at first reissuing music he had recorded for Liberty, Philips, and WEA before turning to new recordings.
Chris Jennings is a Canadian jazz double bassist, composer, arranger and educator.
Gregor Huebner is a violinist, pianist and composer. He performs solo and with several ensembles including El Violin Latino, Sirius Quartet, Berta Epple and Salsafuerte. From 1985 to 2012 he was a member of Tango Five. He is a professor of composition at the University for Music and Theater in Munich, Germany. In 2017 he received the Grand Prize for New York Philharmonic's New World Initiative Composition Challenge for his composition “New World, Nov 9. 2016.”
Ralf Rainer Hübner is a German jazz percussionist.
The following is a list of notable events and releases of the year 1981 in Norwegian music.
