Karin Krog

Karin Krog is a Norwegian jazz singer from Oslo who made her recording debut on Metropol Jazz in 1963 and released her first album, By Myself, the following year. Her discography spans standards, free improvisation, electronic voice treatments, and duo settings, with Dexter Gordon, Archie Shepp, Steve Kuhn, Red Mitchell, Bengt Hallberg, and John Surman among her principal collaborators. Krog has operated Meantime Records for much of her later career and released Tomorrow’s Yesterday on the label in 2026.

Background

Karin Krog was born May 15, 1937, in Oslo, Norway; the daughter of Inger Ragnhild Næss and interior architect Eilif Krog, who drummed in an Oslo Dixieland band as a young man. Inger favored classical music and sang with Karin at home. Karin’s maternal grandmother studied voice in Dresden; her great-grandfather Anders Heyerdahl worked as a violinist and composer.

Krog attended Vestheim Privatskole and Uranienborg skole in Oslo, where a teacher encouraged her as a singer. She later entered Nissen girls’ school for nutrition studies. Krog sang in school competitions and moonlit with a Dixieland band. As a teenager, she listened closely to Billie Holiday and Erroll Garner records and traveled with friends to Arvika, Sweden, for American jazz imports.

Pianist Kjell Karlsen hired Krog for KAHENA sextet after a 1955 Sunday jam at Penguin Club on Pilestredet in Oslo. She sang with the sextet through 1956 and made her on-air debut in March on Norwegian radio. Restaurant operator Åge Kjelstrup hired Krog in 1957 for Humlen in Oslo, where she sang nightly with saxophonist Mikkel Flagstad and pianist Einar Iversen. In 1957, Krog married jazz writer Johs Bergh, who wrote about records and worked for Norwegian radio. In 1959, Krog placed first in the annual musicians’ poll conducted by Verdensrevyen.

In 1961, Krog returned to Kjell Karlsen quartet at the first Molde International Jazz Festival in Molde. Krog formed a quartet in 1962 with pianist Egil Kapstad, bassist Kurt Lindgren, and drummer Jon Christensen. In 1962, actress Kari Simonsen recommended American soprano Anne Brown as a voice teacher. Brown created the role of Bess in the original Porgy and Bess production and taught Krog diction and singing technique. Krog paid for the private lessons with fees from Metropol Jazz Club engagements.

The Kapstad–Lindgren–Christensen quartet worked Oslo clubs as a regular unit. In 1963, Krog made her recording debut with two tracks on Metropol Jazz, the first Norwegian jazz LP. She also opened for Dexter Gordon across a two-week engagement at Neptun in Bergen. Krog entered Roger Arnhoff Studio in Oslo with Kapstad, Lindgren, and Christensen on July 15–16, 1964, to record By Myself for Philips.

Discography:

• By Myself (1964)
• Jazz Moments (1966)
• Joy (1968)
• Open Space: The Down Beat Poll Winners in Europe (1970 • Karin Krog, John Surman, Albert Mangelsdorff, Francy Boland, Niels H.O. Pedersen & Daniel Humair)
• Some Other Spring, Blues and Ballads (1970 • Karin Krog & Dexter Gordon)
• Gershwin With Karin Krog (1974)
• We Could Be Flying (1974)
• You Must Believe in Spring (Songs by Michel Legrand) (1974)
• Different Days, Different Ways (1975)
• Hi-Fly (1976 • Karin Krog & Archie Shepp)
• As You Are (1977 • Karin Krog & Nils Lindberg)
• Cloud Line Blue (1979 • Karin Krog & John Surman)
• With Malice Toward None (1980 • Karin Krog & Nils Lindberg)
• I Remember You (1981)
• Two of a Kind (1982 • Karin Krog & Bengt Hallberg)
• Freestyle (1986)
• Something Borrowed, Something New (1989)
• Det var en gang: Krog synger barnesanger (1994)
• Nordic Quartet (1995 • John Surman, Karin Krog, Terje Rypdal & Vigleik Storaas)