Samhengi: Jazz, Latin rhythms and the sounds of Icelandic waters

Tómas R. Einarsson, bassist and composer, will address how he started composing jazz tunes in the 1980‘s when the few existing jazz musicians played only American standards. He will talk about the challenge of being a jazz musician in Iceland: In the early nineties I said to myself: You are Icelandic, living in Iceland. Where is Iceland in your music? Then I started to write music to poems. He will as well describe how he later on, heavily influenced by Cuban music, stripped his music of jazz chords and focused on rythms, and how he later on combined the search for his roots with Latin-inspired music and the sounds of Icelandic waters.

Tómas R. Einarsson has released more than twenty records with his own music; Latin jazz, straight-ahead jazz, Nordic ballads, Jazz & Poetry and collaborations with singers. His music has been arranged for big-band and choirs and also remixed. A documentary of his musical life, Latínbóndinn Tómas R./Latin Viking, was released in 2015  and his autobiography, Gangandi bassi, was published in 2023 (Mál og menning). His most recent records are Shade of Blue featuring Chet Baker and Bolero with saxophone player Óskar Guðjónsson.