Home » Jazz Musicians » Ari Lahdekorpi Discography
Moments We Have
Ari Lahdekorpi
Label: Self Produced
Released: 2026
Duration: 35:51
Views: 22
Tracks
Base Vase; Cactus Dust; Cigarettes and tie clips; Clam March; Curiosity; Don't step in it; In search of post history; Manufacturing Malice; One drop in a tub; Uptight Upright All night.
Personnel
Ari Lahdekorpi
guitarPaul Hessey
drumsAlbum Description
After decades of musical collaboration spanning provinces, bands, and evolving technologies, Canadian musicians Paul Hessey and Ari Lahdekorpi are releasing their latest project, Moments We Have — a deeply personal and improvisational jazz fusion album rooted in friendship, authenticity, and a lifelong love of modern jazz.
The two musicians share a long history together in the Thunder Bay music scene, where they performed in a number of memorable groups, including The Blues Shadows alongside the late Murray McCullough. Since the early 1990s, Hessey and Lahdekorpi have continued to record and perform together, including appearances at one of Canada’s premier jazz clubs — a performance later featured in a TVO television special.
Although geography changed their working relationship after Lahdekorpi relocated to the Vancouver area more than twenty years ago, the musical partnership never disappeared. Through modern recording technology, the pair continued writing and recording together remotely, including contributions to Hessey’s acclaimed solo project, Build Your Wings.
Now, Moments We Have captures the duo at perhaps their most honest and unfiltered. The album leans heavily into guitar and drum improvisation, embracing spontaneity, mood, and musical conversation over commercial expectations.
“This album is an honest and raw reflection of our collective heart,” says Ari Lahdekorpi. “It really is the music we love to play and is probably the truest reflection of who we are as musicians. We aren't concerned with trying to reflect any changing fashions in music, or in commerce. What we were looking to accomplish was to have a record of our music at this place and time. Let’s face it, we are older guys now, and we are who we are.”
Rather than pursuing a traditional release strategy, the duo has chosen to unveil the album track-by-track through Lahdekorpi’s YouTube channel, allowing listeners to discover the music organically.
“In today’s marketplace it’s tough to decide on what platform to use in releasing a project like this,” Paul Hessey explains. “So we decided to just put it out there and see if it attracts any listeners to our own brand of jazz fusion. Although we have both played traditional jazz, our hearts really lie in the modern jazz of the seventies and eighties. Our favourite players have always been the guys who were idiosyncratic.”
Moments We Have is less about nostalgia than it is about artistic continuity — a document of two musicians still searching, still listening, and still creating music on their own terms.
Album uploaded by Ari Lahdekorpi
