Jakob Frímann Magnússon

Who is Jakob Frímann Magnússon?

Jakob Frímann Magnússon is an Icelandic composer, keyboard player, film director and producer. In Iceland he is best known as the keyboardist and one of the founders of the multiartistic band Stuðmenn. He has also directed, produced and starred in several films, and released several soloalbums with a number of famous jazz musicians from the United States. For a period of the 1990s he was the cultural attaché of the Icelandic embassy in London. Since 2002, aside from playing in Stuðmenn and recording new albums, Jakob Frímann is the co-owner and manager of the advertisement agency Bankastræti in Reykjavík.

Jakob studied music in California in the years '77-'80. During his time in the U.S. he startet his own band with Carlos Rios, Steve Anderson and David Logeman and released several albums with jazz influenced music. On these albums he also involved many talented musicians such as Bill Champlin, Vinnie Colaiuta, Neil Stubenhaus, Abe Laboriel, Ernie Watts, Tom Scott, all of them big names in Jazz and Fusion. He has also been a studio musician for a number of American and Icelandic artists, and is known for his distinctive and tasteful keyboard solos and brilliant treatment of the Rhodes piano and various synthesizers.