 He was one of the featured trumpet soloists on Last's 1975 album "In The Mood For Trumpets", along with Rick Kiefer and Ack van Rooyen; this was notable as Last's record company Polydor usually did not credit the individual personnel on Last's studio recordings.In 1979, Axelsson left the Last band and joined the NDR (Norddeutscher Rundfunk, or North German Radio) big band, where he eventually became the featured trumpet soloist.He retired from the NDR band in 2005.