04/05/1928, Visby, Sweden - 17/05/1976, Vissefjärda, Sweden
Swedish jazz saxophonist. He was a child prodigy on the accordion. At age thirteen, he played clarinet in a military band and later learned the alto saxophone, but, after moving to Stockholm in 1947, became a professional musician as a pianist. He planned on a classical career, studying privately with classical pianist Sven Brandel. Although he actually filled the baritone chair in Seymour Österwall’s band in 1949 by chance, it was enough for him to decide that it was an instrument with possibilities, influenced too by hearing the American baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan for the first time on the Birth of the Cool recordings. Gullin’s career was blighted by his own narcotics problems,[3] and sometimes he survived on artists' grants from the Swedish government. Gullin died of a heart attack, brought on by his long-term addiction to methadone.
