Tomas Janzon is a Stockholm-born guitarist and composer based in New York. His background spans classical training and jazz. He came up through Sweden's conservatory system, performed chamber music early, and studied the guitar lineage of Django Reinhardt, Wes Montgomery, and Joe Pass. His tone stays consistent across single-note lines, chords, and octaves. Across more than three decades, he has built a body of work shaped by a steady writing practice alongside performance, with a career spanning Sweden, Los Angeles, and New York.

He has performed and recorded with musicians including Billy Higgins, Albert "Tootie" Heath, Bobo Stenson, Steve Nelson, and Chuck McPherson. His recordings have drawn attention in the jazz press. 130th & Lenox received a four-star review in DownBeat and was included in the magazine's roundup of top-rated albums of 2020, while Ken Dryden has described him as "an impressive guitarist, writer and composer," and Scott Yanow has pointed to the "subtle creativity" in his work. His releases have also been covered in outlets including JazzTimes, All About Jazz, and Vintage Guitar, and have reached national jazz radio through JazzWeek and CMJ airplay.

Janzon began playing recorder at seven. He moved to cello soon after and entered Collegium Musicum as a young player among adults, performing chamber repertoire including Bach. Around the same time, he became fixated on the guitar after seeing one in a shop window. "It was like a chessboard," he says. "All these possibilities."

He studied at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm while developing his approach through jazz and improvised music. He worked closely with recordings by Django Reinhardt and Wes Montgomery, transcribing and internalizing their approaches, and spent time with Afro-Cuban musicians, which expanded his sense of rhythm. Charlie Parker's solo on "Cool Blues" became a turning point and pushed him toward the United States.

He arrived in 1991 and settled in Los Angeles to study with Joe Diorio at Musicians Institute. Diorio focused on intervallic playing and ear training. During a lesson, Diorio stopped him mid-phrase and said, "now I hear you." Janzon recognized it as a shift in his playing. He was later named Outstanding Player of the Year and joined the faculty while continuing his own work, and completed a master's degree in classical guitar at the USC Thornton School of Music.

He also composed for film and television in Sweden, including projects for national broadcast, and his writing has appeared in publications including Guitar Player, DownBeat, and Orkesterjournalen.

In Los Angeles, Janzon worked with bassist Nedra Wheeler and drummer Sherman Ferguson, playing around Leimert Park and the World Stage, and held regular engagements at the Vine Street Bar & Grill, where Joe Pass had performed for years. His debut album, 2000's X-Changes, brought that circle into the studio, with Billy Higgins joining for a featured appearance. When Higgins arrived, the session shifted. "It was like meeting someone with a very special presence," Janzon says. "Peace and joy."

He returned to Sweden for Live in Stockholm, drawn from a 2002 Swedish radio broadcast at Fasching featuring pianist Bobo Stenson. The recording captures a group working in close response, leaving space and moving quickly between roles.

With 2007's Coast to Coast to Coast, he recorded across New York, Stockholm, and Los Angeles with musicians in each city, shaping the material through different ensembles and settings.

2010's Experiences, released as he relocated to New York, centered on drummer Albert "Tootie" Heath. Janzon had worked closely with Heath in Los Angeles and built the recording around his playing, alongside pianist Art Hillery.

After settling in New York, he spent several years playing in the city before returning to recording with 130th & Lenox, begun in Los Angeles and completed in New York. The album brought together Nedra Wheeler, vibraphonist Steve Nelson, and saxophonist Chuck McPherson. "That was a very good start here," Janzon says.

2023's Nomadic continued his work across New York and Los Angeles, refining his trio format while maintaining long-standing musical relationships.

He continues that line with Jazz Diary, a trio recording drawn from a long-standing practice of writing down musical ideas by hand, often in the early morning, and developing them on the instrument. The album features two ensembles anchored by Nedra Wheeler, reconnecting him with a collaborator central to his work since his Los Angeles years and carrying that relationship into a present-day New York setting.

"What your ears are doing… that's the main thing," he says.
"Listening to the other players. Then you come in."

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Here are some of the musicians Tomas Janzon has performed and/or recorded with:

Billy Higgins, Albert "Tootie" Heath, Sherman Ferguson, Donald Dean,
Ben Dixon, Greg Bandy, Frank Wilson, Chuck McPherson, Tony Austin, David F Gibson, Joel Taylor, Will Terrill, Petur "Island" Östlund, Jojo Djerid, Jesper Kviberg.

Jeff Littleton, Essiet Essiet, Nedra Wheeler, Ken Filiano, Hilliard Greene, ,
Juini Booth, Curtis Lundy, Tony Dumas, Gene Perla, Dave Carpenter, Harvie S,
Bob Cunningham, Rubem Farias, Lars Ekman, Jan Adefelt.

Art Hillery, William Henderson, Bobby Pierce, Donald Vega, Eddie Baccus Sr,
Bobo Stenson, Jamael Dean, Marcus Persiani.

Steve Nelson, Louis Van Taylor, Brandon Fields, Bob Sheppard, Mike Smith, Birger Thorelli.

Updated 2026

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