Nordic folk-jazz chanteuse
Rebekka Bakken was the most successful exponent of a new generation of Scandinavian jazz singers that also included
Silje Nergaard,
Sidsel Endresen, and
Solveig Slettahjell. Born in Oslo in 1970,
Bakken studied violin and piano as a child, and in 1995 relocated to New York City to pursue a professional music career. There she paired with Austrian-born guitarist
Wolfgang Muthspiel, and together they toured the local nightclub circuit as a duo. In time
Bakken also befriended German pianist
Julia Hülsmann, with whom she recorded the 2003 album Scattering Poems, a collection of jazz performances inspired by the poems of e.e. cummings. Upon completing the project
Bakken returned to Europe, settling in Vienna and signing a solo deal with the Universum label. Her debut LP,
The Art of How to Fall, followed by year's end, and in 2005 she resurfaced with her commercial breakthrough,
Is That You? I Keep My Cool followed a year later. ~ Jason Ankeny