Jonas Hellborg | |
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Birth name | Jonas Hellborg |
Born | 7 June 1958 |
Origin | Sweden |
Genres | Jazz fusion, progressive rock, carnatic music, world fusion |
Occupation(s) | Musician, composer |
Instruments | Bass |
Associated acts | John McLaughlin, Bill Laswell, Shawn Lane |
Notable instruments | |
Warwick signature bass Aria signature bass |
Jonas Hellborg (born 7 June 1958) is a Swedish bass guitarist. He has collaborated with John McLaughlin, Ustad Sultan Khan, Fazal Qureshi, Bill Laswell, Shawn Lane, Jens Johansson, Anders Johansson, Michael Shrieve, V. Selvaganesh, Jeff Sipe, Mattias IA Eklundh, Public Image Ltd, and Buckethead.
Hellborg began his music career in 1976 in Sweden touring with local rock acts. He was spotted by percussionist Reebop Kwaku Baah in a small club in Stockholm 1979 and he moved to London for a year to work with Reebop on different projects. He played the Montreux Jazz festival in Switzerland in 1981 and met Michael Brecker who introduced him to John McLaughlin, Billy Cobham and other fusion stars. He was asked to join John McLaughlin's reformed Mahavishnu Orchestra in 1983 and he stayed with McLaughlin until 1988 touring and recording with Mahavishnu Orchestra and also doing several duet tours with McLaughlin during this time.
In 1986 and 1987 he toured with a project featuring Ginger Baker on drums and Bernie Worrell on keyboards.
In 1988 Hellborg moved to New York and started his own band which first included keyboardist Aydin Esen and drummer Kenwood Dennard, later the Johansson Brothers, Jens on keyboards and Anders on drums. At the same time he started a recording studio together with producer/bassist Bill Laswell called Greenpoint Studios. They recorded a multitude of records there until early 1993, including The Word together with Tony Williams, Octave of the Holy Innocents with Mike Shrieve and Buckethead, Material's Hallucination Engine, and E with the Johansson Brothers.