Jazz Articles about Juhani Aaltonen

Juhani Aaltonen: To Future Memories – The Music of Antti Hytti

by Dave Wayne
May 7, 2014

Can anyone just decide, on a whim, to take up an instrument and simply become a working musician anymore? That's precisely what Juhani Aaltonen did as an eighteen year-old living in the town of Inkeroinen, in central Finland back in the early 1950s. Apart from a year of study at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, and a semester at Berklee (where he worked with Herb Pomeroy), Aaltonen is that rarest of all birds: a self-taught master musician who learned directly ...

Juhani Aaltonen: To Future Memories

by Glenn Astarita
March 28, 2014

Preeminent Finnish saxophonist Juhani Aaltonen is approaching his 80th birthday and continues to meld his technical artistry with fresh concepts. This album features compositions by composer and bassist Antti Hytti, who penned many of these works for movies and short films, featuring the saxophonist performing on the originals. Aaltonen alternates between tenor sax and flutes. With his noteworthy associates, including the dual bass attack of Ulf Krokfors (right channel) and Ville Herrala (left channel), the music takes on ...

Juhani Aaltonen: To Future Memories

by Dan McClenaghan
March 5, 2014

Helsinki-based TUM Records, launched in 2003, “promotes more experienced musicians whose work is not favored by commercial trends of our time." The label is especially supportive of the freer end of jazz's spectrum, offering up albums like Kolibri by Finish pianist/harpist Iro Haarla, violinist Billy Bang's Da Bang, and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith's Occupy the World, to name just a few of the label's adventurous 2013 offerings. Finnish saxophonist/flutist Juhani Aaltonen (b. 1935) , who cites saxophonist John ...

Juhani Aaltonen / Heikki Sarmanto: Conversations

by Raul d'Gama Rose
March 20, 2012

The splendid music on Conversations is as close to the celebration of Impressionism in modern music as possible. It is true that saxophonist Juhani Aaltonen and pianist Heikki Sarmanto create epic narratives here, and also true that both act as characters in those narratives. Of greater significance, however, is the extraordinary emotion of these musical stories, facilitated by sublime technique and use of dynamics by both musicians. Aaltonen crowns his playing with broad glissandi in longlegato passages marked by staggeringly ...

Juhani Aaltonen - Heikki Sarmanto: Conversations

by AAJ Italy Staff
February 14, 2012

È recente le ristampa da parte dell'ECM di alcune incisioni del periodo 1975-1978 del contrabbassista Arild Andersen in cui l'allora giovane sassofonista finlandese Juhani Aaltonen metteva in evidenza tutto il suo valore. Una carriera la sua che si æ per lo più svolta in patria o in Scandinavia, fra orchestre e combo, ovunque ci fosse un palco o uno studio o uno studio di registrazione. La stessa cosa si può dire di Heikki Sarmanto, pianista e arrangiatore suo connazionale, ultimamente ...

Juhani Aaltonen: Conclusions

by AAJ Italy Staff
July 16, 2010

Al pubblico del jazz in Italia il sassofonista e flautista Juhani Aaltonen è quasi sconosciuto. Eppure è uno dei grandi nomi del jazz scandinavo, ha raggiunto la considerevole età di 75 anni ed evidenzia in questo lavoro tutte le sue doti. Come altri tenoristi della sua generazione il sassofonista finlandese è stato profondamente segnato dall'ascolto di John Coltrane (incontrato a Helsinki nei primi anni sessanta) da cui ha assimilato in particolare il magistero timbrico e la dimensione cantabile. Due aspetti ...

Juhani Aaltonen: Reflections

by Brian P. Lonergan
September 29, 2005

If Reflections is any indication, Finland's emerging TUM Records should have a long and happy life ahead. Fans of free improvisation, which is the label's focus, should take note.

Before you even get to the music, TUM's presentation is impressive. In an age when digital music and personal playlists are ever gaining new acolytes, TUM's production values are a reminder of the satisfaction that a well-packaged album can deliver. There's an attractive modern art cover (from Finnish Constructivist ...