Born and raised in Sweden, Bruno Råberg is a flexible acoustic bassist whose introspective, probing post-bop and mildly avant-garde jazz has often favored an ECM-like approach. Like other Nordic jazzmen, he sometimes incorporates elements of Scandinavian folk. Råberg was only 20 when, in 1974, he was hired as a sideman by Swedish trombonist Eje Thelin; subsequently, he moved to the U.S. and ended up spending much of his adult life in the Boston area. The bassist moved to Boston in 1981 when he was awarded a scholarship to the New England Conservatory. After graduating in 1984 with a B.A. in jazz studies, Råberg went on to become an associate professor at the prestigious Berklee College of Music. The Swede recorded three CDs as a leader in the 1990s: 1992's Pentimento on Boston Skyline, 1996's Orbis on Orbis Music, and 1999's Presence on Orbis Music. ~ Alex Henderson