Born in Hafnarfjörður near the capital of Iceland, Reykjavík in 1957 Stefan started playing music at an early age. At first, he banged on the drums with a fierce interest in Latin music as well as jazz. As a teenager, he started studies at Sigursveins Music School in Iceland on flute.
At about 17 he started playing the saxophone and has done that since. After various musical studies, amongst them studies with the legendary Icelandic tenor saxophonist Gunnar Ormslev, Stefan started writing music. His first albums were released with a band called Ljósin í bænum (City lights) a group of friends that Stefan got together to play his music. All in all Ljósin í bænum made two albums. The second one called Disco Frisco (a parody of the Disco era) became extremely popular as a funky disco single. The band was dissolved in 1979. After Ljósin í bænum Stefan did a stint with the very popular band Tivoli, which released the very popular song (still today) Fallinn by Stefán.
In 1980 Stefan went to Berklee College Of Music USA, to study jazz music. After graduating from Berklee in 1983 Stefan worked as a professional musician full-time in Reykjavík, playing, composing, arranging, teaching, and raising a family. One boy and two girls.
A spectrum of Stefan's work can be seen in the menus on this site. All the major compositions, major bands he worked with, and all the major projects. On these pages, you will find playable recordings, lyrics, comments, and anything that might be of interest.
Today Stefan is working with the Reykjavík Big Band, headmaster of Arbaer Music School, and playing with his jazz/folk band Vikivaki which plays jazz influenced by Icelandic folk songs. Stefan has collaborated with renowned artists with the Reykjavik Bigband such as Bob Mintzer, Frank Foster, Maria Schneider, and many others.
Stefan was selected composer of the year in the jazz and blues category at the Icelandic Music Awards in 2015.
His latest album: An Icelander at Alhambra Palace was voted the album of the year in the same category.
So dig in and explore the musical world of Stefán S. Stefánsson
