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Thorleifur Gaukur Davidsson
Thorleifur Gaukur Davidsson is an Icelandic composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist. He’s always been drawn to the instruments that pull at the heartstrings, the harmonica and the pedal steel guitar at the forefront.
Growing up in Iceland he got to play with the top musicians around and learned his craft on the stage. In 2015 Thorleifur was awarded a full-scholarship to Berklee College of Music and is one of a handful of students that has graduated with an artist diploma in the history of the college. This diploma was specifically designed for artist with a well established career in music.
When not touring with Kaleo, Grammy-nominated rock band from Iceland, Thorleifur is creating and collaborating in Nashville, TN and Reykjavik, Iceland. Through the years he has played on countless records with artists like Kaleo, Tony Trischka, Mugison, Bríet, and Club D’elf. He has also performed with top tier musicians like Darryl Jones, Chuck Leavell and Victor Wooten and Peter Rowan.
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Davidsson: A Lifeline from the Land of Fire and Ice
by Dean Nardi
Icelandic artist Thorleifur Gaukur Davidsson grew up on a volcanic island called Heimaey, four miles off the coast of Iceland. He records by his Swedish patronymic surname, meaning “son of David." His debut album Lifelines (OPIA, 2024) is filled with memories and emotions culled from family and the natural beauty of his home island. Davidsson took up guitar and harmonica at age 15, playing blues and folk music then adding pedal steel to his tools. He joined the Icelandic blues ...
Continue ReadingClub d'Elf: You Never Know
by Chris M. Slawecki
You Never Know is the Club d'Elf studio album that captures the whirling, overlapping orbits of acoustic, electric and exotic sounds of the floating improvisational collective, which has recorded and performed together for more than two decades, with crisp studio clarity. But more importantly, You Never Know celebrates light born from darkness. Bassist and bandleader Mike Rivard, the sole constant in the collective's 24-year run, suffered a near-death experience from a pulmonary embolism which struck him while he ...
Continue ReadingClub D'Elf: You Never Know
by Chris May
Near-death experiences can reboot the mind, separating the important from the trivial. It seems to have worked like that for bassist and composer Mike Rivard, founder and leader of Boston's world-dub-jazz band Club D'Elf. A few years back, Rivard was nearly felled by a pulmonary embolism while seeking spiritual insight in the Amazonian rain forest. A long, dark period of depression followed, before Rivard emerged recharged into the light, having been sustained in large part by gnawa, the Moroccan trance ...
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Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson
