Biography
A top swing violinist beginning in the mid-'30s, it seems strange that Svend Asmussen was not better known in the United States. He started playing violin when he was seven and made his professional debut in 1933. Always based in Scandinavia (hence his obscurity in the U.S.), Asmussen made his first records as a leader in 1935 and was consistently popular in his homeland for decades thereafter. He played with the Mills Brothers and Fats Waller in the 1930s when they passed through Denmark, but when Benny Goodman tried to get him in the mid-'50s for his small group, strict immigration laws made it impossible for him to work in the U.S. Asmussen recorded with John Lewis (1962), Duke Ellington (as part of a 1963 violin summit), Toots Thielemans, Lionel Hampton (1978), and on a few occasions with Stéphane Grappelli, in addition to many dates with his own groups. He died in February 2017 at the age of 100. ~ Scott Yanow, Rovi



 
Top Tracks
Videos
Close
Sven Asmussen & Ulrik Neumann
Svend Asmussen - June night
Svend Asmussen Quartet - It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing
Svend Asmussen - Swedish TV, 1961 - The Hylands Hörna Show
Toots Thielemans and Svend Asmussen Jazz Concert 1991
Svend Asmussen
Svend Asmussen: Hallelujah! I'm a Bum
Download SoundHound
The only App that can give you results through singing and humming search!
You can sing any song from this artist to help SoundHound users find it!