Hacke Björksten

Hacke Björksten 2001

Hacke Gunnar Björksten (born February 17, 1934, Helsinki) is a Finnish-Swedish jazz bandleader and saxophonist.

Hacke Björksten lived in Finland until 1945, when his parents moved to Sweden; he got his first major break as a teenager in Kenneth Fagerlund's band in Gothenburg. In 1954 he founded his own ensemble in Stockholm, which included Ake Persson, Rune Öfwerman, and Kurt Weil as sidemen; this band was active through the end of the decade. He played less in the 1960s, but returned to recording in the 1970s and 1980s, including with Mel Lewis and Ulf Johansson.

References

• "Hacke Björksten". The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. 2nd edition, ed. Barry Kernfeld.