Haakon Graf

Haakon Graf (born 21 March 1955) is a Norwegian jazz musician, composer, arranger and producer.

Biography Graf was born in Oslo, Norway. He is the older brother of the bass guitarist of LAVA, Rolf Graf (1960–2013), and the jazz singer Randi Elisabeth Graf (born 1966).

Career Graf resides in Los Angeles, US, where he is working as a keyboard player, songwriter, and producer. He has been involved in numerous projects during the years, composing much of the music in addition to playing keyboards on the albums New Born Day (1973), Ranshart (1974) and Let Your Light Shine (1976) within the band Ruphus. They received great acclaim in Norway and in several European countries, including Germany. He also played in the band 'Moose Loose' including with Jon Eberson. Later they opened the band Blow Out together. He also initiated the band Hawk on Flight with Matz Nilsson, Niels Nordin, and Ulf Wakenius. Graf has played with Pål Thowsen on several of his albums and received Spellemannprisen for best jazz album in the alternative genre. The tune "Nearly in Rio" composed by Graf was highlighted during the citation. Graf was a judge on the 1988 Spellemann Committee for the jazz category.

Graf has also cooperated with Jan Garbarek and Jon Christensen, and the trio toured extensively in Norway. This was a collaboration that started in the late 1970s. He has also released several jazz albums with his band Graffiti, accompanied by tours including Scandinavia, Germany and the US. He has a long musical career behind him, and have cooperated with a series of famous musicians such as Roger Daltrey, Alan White, Jamie Moses, Natasha Bedingfield, Phil Collins, Mark Hudson and Simon Kirke. In Norway, he has also worked with Terje Rypdal, and arranged, composed and produced the music for Finn Kalvik.

Keyboard Player magazine reviews Graf as "a spirited and intelligent player. Rather than exhaust the audience with non-stop flash, he builds his solos carefully, keeping the listener interested from beginning to end. He has chops to spare, but never scoundrels them. I can't wait to hear more from him".

Haakon Graf Trio, including with Per Mathisen and Erik Smith 2010: License to Chill (Nordic) 2016: Sunrain (Losen)