STOCKHOLM, Sweden: Arne Domnerus, one of Sweden's most influential jazz musicians, has died. He was 83.

The alto saxophonist and orchestra leader died Tuesday morning after a long period of illness, his son, Leif Domnerus, told The Associated Press.

He said Domnerus had heart surgery last year, after which he suffered pneumonia and a brain hemorrhage.

Born outside Stockholm in 1924, Domnerus started his first professional orchestra in the 1940's. He played with jazz greats such as Charlie Parker, Clark Terry and Quincy Jones and often performed at the Nalen jazz club in Stockholm, where he led his own orchestra for many years.

Among his most famous recordings was "Jazz at the Pawnshop," which has sold more than half a million copies.

Johannes Cornell, a jazz critic at Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter, called Domnerus a heavyweight on the nation's jazz scene.

"He administered the jazz tradition and dug deeper into it and he only got better and better. I heard him in later years and it sounded incredible," Cornell said.

Domnerus regularly toured the U.S., Japan and Europe and became an ambassador for Swedish jazz. He often performed in churches, where he found a new forum for his genre.

Domnerus is survived by his wife, Britta and his sons Leif and Tony.

Leif Domnerus said a private funeral was planned for family members. He said a memorial concert would be held at Nalen on Dec. 20, during the annual award ceremony for a jazz scholarship founded by Domnerus.