Born in Stockholm in 1974, Ekdahl attended the special music course at his high school in Stockholm, which led him to the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm and then to the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen. As a child he sang with the Royal Opera in Stockholm. He composes and arranges for the Rhythmic Music Conservatory Big Band, which gave him the scope to develop the compositional talent that in 1996 won him the Danish Broadcasting Corporation's International Thad Jones Competition for his composition "Dimma". The same year he headed and arranged for the 10-man ensemble Pobre Coracco, whose repertoire consisted mostly of Brazilian music. In 1997 he toured Denmark and Sweden with the soul-funk group Little Ghetto Boys, alongside a tour with the Danish pop act Drori-Hansen Furniture. He has appeared on national TV and radio with pop singer Søs Fenger. In 1998 he was an arranger for Hector Bingert's Latin Lover Big Band.