Tommy Lakso (born 1958) is a Swedish jazz guitarist, composer, and educator. He is a retired Associate Professor from the School of Music in Piteå, Luleå University of Technology, where he for many years played an important role in jazz education in Sweden. In 2012, he received the prestigious award Jazz Educator of the Year in recognition of his dedication, leadership, and lasting influence on younger generations of jazz musicians.

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Now retired from his university position, Tommy Lakso remains an active musician and guest lecturer, continuing to perform, compose, and share his musical experience internationally.

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As a guitarist, he is known for his fast technique, rhythmically inventive solos, and an innovative approach to altered scales and harmonic structures. His playing draws from a broad stylistic palette, with strong influences from Jimmy Raney, John McLaughlin, and Jim Hall, while remaining firmly rooted in bebop and modern mainstream jazz.

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Tommy graduated from the Jazz Teacher Program at the Malmö Academy of Music in 1987. Since the early 1990s, he has been active internationally as a performer and lecturer, with concerts and educational work in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Poland, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Russia, the United States, South Africa, and Brazil.

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In 2025, Tommy Lakso released the album TORNEDALEN / TORNIONLAAKSO, a project rooted in traditional songs from the Finnish-speaking forest communities of Norrbotten, collected between 1677 and 1984. Drawing on material from Nurmen lintu (The Bird of the Meadow), Lakso has created original arrangements that expand the short, unharmonized melodies through harmonization, form, and improvisation—allowing tradition and contemporary expression to meet in a personal musical language.

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Earlier, in 2007, he released the album Arctic Red under his own name, featuring original compositions alongside modern reinterpretations of Swedish traditional music and jazz standards such as Get Out of Town and Alone Together. He has also appeared as a sideman on numerous recordings, including collaborations with Swedish jazz singer Kristina Enqvist.

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Throughout his career, Tommy Lakso has collaborated and performed with a wide range of prominent artists, including Tim Hagans, Thad Jones, Sofia Jannok, Ann-Kristin Hedmark, Hans de Ward, Arne Domnérus, Lars Jansson, Thomas Fonnesbæk, Jan Allan, Bernt Rosengren, and Cliff Korman, among many others.

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Beyond performance and teaching, Tommy has collaborated with British photographer Patricia Cowern, composing contemporary jazz inspired by her photographs of Arctic light and the landscapes of northern Sweden.

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Gypsy jazz played an important role in his early musical development, and in 2014 he performed at the International Django Reinhardt Festival in Samois-sur-Seine, France. While traces of Django Reinhardt can still be heard in his playing, Tommy Lakso is today primarily recognized as a guitarist firmly grounded in bebop and modern jazz.