Skuli Sverrisson

Born in Reykjavik, Iceland 1966, Sverrisson studied bass and composition with Jon Sigurdsson and made his first recording with his group Pax Vobis in 1984. He later appeared on over 30 recordings with various Icelandic artists.

In 1987 Sverrisson attended Berklee College of Music in Boston where he received his B.M. degree. During that time he quickly became a first-call bassist in the music scene performing with several notable artists such as Bob Moses, Danilo Perez, Wolfgang Muthspiel and Mino Cinelu and started his ongoing collaboration with multi-instrumentalist Carsten Tiedemann.

In 1989, he Formed MO BOMA with Carsten Tiedemann, a group that later included Jamshied Sharifi. MO BOMA have recorded four albums for EXTREME, “Jijimuge” and the acclaimed trilogy, “Myths of the Near Future 1-3”.

In 1989 he also joined Sony recording artists FULL CIRCLE and recorded with them the critically acclaimed album “Secret Stories”, voted best jazz album at the Boston Music Awards. Sverrisson toured with them in both Europe and U.S.A.

Through his interest in the music, film and writers of the Avant Garde, he became aware of the importance of improvisation as means of creating new music. Working with composer/trumpeter Leo Smith also inspired new ideas in improvisation. Sverrisson has improvised with Derek Bailey, Peter Brotzmann, Tim Berne, John Lurie, Nana Vasconselos and numerous other notable musicians.

Sverrisson joined The Allan Holdsworth Band in 1991 and toured the world with the group. He performed on the 1994 recording, “Hard Hat Area”. He has also collaborated with Arto Lindsay, Towa Tei, Blonde Redhead and Peter Scherer.

Although working in many different genres his principal focus is tape compositions. Sverrisson describes the process as taking audio snapshots of the interior architecture of sound. In his solo work, his interest in electronics and extended techniques of his instrument meet.

Sverrisson is currently reconstructing improvisations with Anthony Burr and Chris Speed and performing with Pachora, Erik Friedlander and Gregg Bendian.

Current and upcoming releases include:

Seremonie – Extreme

Pachora – Knitting Factory Works

Chris Speed – Songlines

Gemini (with Theo Bleckmann and Ben Monder) – Songlines.