Reykjavík drummer and composer Einar Scheving has been one of Iceland’s first-call drummers since he turned professional at fifteen, and has played on well over 100 albums across jazz, pop and classical music. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Miami, where he was Steve Rucker’s teaching assistant and taught part-time after finishing his master’s in 2002. Back home he has taught percussion at Tónlistarskóli FÍH, Iceland’s leading jazz and pop school, since 2006.
His own music has won three Icelandic Music Awards: Jazz Song of the Year for “Líf” (2006), then Album of the Year honors for his debut, Cycles (2007), and for Land míns föður (The Land of My Father, 2011). His quartet with pianist Eyþór Gunnarsson, saxophonist Óskar Guðjónsson and bassist Skúli Sverrisson followed with Intervals (2015, an Icelandic Music Awards nominee) and Mi Casa, Su Casa (2019), and played a showcase at jazzahead! in Bremen, Germany, in 2018. His latest release is the 2025 single “Hver stund með þér” with singer Ragnheiður Gröndal.
As a sideman Einar has recorded with Helgi Björns og Reiðmenn Vindanna, the Reykjavík Big Band (Stórsveit Reykjavíkur), Tómas R. Einarsson, Egill Ólafsson, singer Anna Gréta, the quintet Annes, and Norwegian guitarist Anders Lønne Grønseth’s Multiverse, with whom he has made four albums since 2018.
Einar Scheving is a drummer/composer from Iceland. He started playing professionally at the age of fifteen and soon became one of the country’s foremost drummers. Einar holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Miami. He has been gaining considerable attention for his compositional vision and has received the Icelandic Music Awards in the past two years in 2006 for Best Jazz Composition, and in 2007 for Jazz Album of the Year, Cycles.
Having played on over 100 albums as a session musician, Cycles is Einar’s first album as a leader.
