Johanna Grüssner
Johanna Grüssner
Genres: spotify, jazz
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Mika Pohjola
About Johanna Grüssner
Mrs Grüssner was born in The Åland Islands, Finland 1972. She was a scholarship student at Berklee College of music in Boston where she gratuated 1996 with a Bachelor’s degree in music education. She produced her first CD ”Johanna Grüssner Band” 1995. Mrs Grüssner moved straight to New York City where she continued her musical studies at Manhattan School of Music and graduated in 1998 with a Master’s degree in jazz performance. That same Spring she released her second album ”Live at Hubbard Hall” with her own 19-piece big band ”The Johanna Grüssner Manhattan Jazz Orchestra”. They toured Scandinavia the same summer where they performed at prestigous jazz festivals and clubs including shows with The American vocal group The New York Voices. The tour ended with concerts at the New York jazz clubs ”Birdland” and ”Kavehaz” such as Nalen, Mosebacke, Fasching and Glenn Miller. Mrs Grüssner continued to work in New York as a freelance vocalist and a recording artist. Besides her own groups she sang lead in the a cappella quartet ”Vox Bop” who won first price in the New York Sweepstakes Competition in 2001. She also recorded her third CD ”Hur man räddar kärleken & annat” with pianist and arranger Mika Pohjola. The album was produced by the Finnish Broadcasting company 2000. Mrs Grüssner also worked as a vocal instructor and music teacher at Public School 86 in The Bronx where she developed a new program with instrumental classes, music theory and vocal instruction. In May 2001 she brought 24 fifth grade students across the Atlantic to visit her home country Finland and perform gospel concerts for the local people. The journey created a lot of a attention by media such as ABC, CBS and CNN. The New York Times printed three first page articles during the trip and a documentary film was made. Mrs Grüssner received awards by The Finlandia Foundation and Thanks To Scandinavia for the work she did with the children. In June 2004 the book ”Seven Days of Possibilities” is released by the book company PUBLIC AFFAIRS (www.perseusbooksgroup.com) in New York. The book tells about Grüssner’s musical work with the children during her years in the Bronx and the trip they made to her hometown in Åland, Finland in May 2001. Publicity tour is planned and lots of media attention expected. In 2003 she recorded her last album ”Moomin Voices” with 6 part harmonies of jazzy vocal arrangements. In Spring of 2001 she made a recording at the well-known studio Acoustic Recordings with Michael Brorby. Her band was Antonio Sanchez, drums (plays for Pat Metheny & Michael Brecker), Miles Okazaki, guitar (played for Lena Horne and Stanley Turrentine) and Hans Glawischnig. This recording is now in process of produced for an album release around the book release in summer of 2004.Since the Fall of 2001 Mrs Grüssner lives and works in Stockholm, Sweden. Besides freelancing, she works for the city of Stockholm by giving jazz concerts and workshops in the Swedish schools. She also teaches at the Cultural school Kulturama as well as directs choirs around Stockholm. Grüssner has performed and/or recorded with The New York Voices, Jane Monheit, Darmon Meader, Peter Eldridge, Antonio Sanchez, Miles Okazaki, Anders Ber-glund, Putte Wickman, Svante Thuresson, Elise Einarsdotter, Jonas Knutsson, Palle Pesonen, Andy Fite, Karin Hammar, Roger Pontare, John Storgårds etc. Grüssner has performed and/or recorded with The New York Voices, Jane Monheit, Darmon Meader, Peter Eldridge, Antonio Sanchez, Miles Okazaki, Anders Berglund, Putte Wickman, Svante Thuresson, Elise Einarsdotter, Jonas Knutsson, Palle Pesonen, Andy Fite, Karin Hammar, Roger Pontare, John Storgårds etc.
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