Studying classical piano as a child, he would also go on to master the guitar, organ and accordion, before turning on to swing and bebop as a teenager.

The years 1961 to 1968, produced a string of classic albums, which would help define his style of re-imagining traditional European folk tunes via jazz and the avant garde.

Jazz på svenska comprises variations on sixteen Swedish folk songs with Georg Riedel playing double bass.

The Grammy award winning albums Musik genom fyra sekler (Music from the past four centuries) builds on traditional Swedish melodies, but this time uses larger groups of musicians.

With lyrics by character/series creator Astrid Lindgren and sung by the series' young star Inger Nilsson, it would also be one of Johansson's last works.