Home » Jazz Articles » Olli Hirvonen
Jazz Articles about Olli Hirvonen
Elijah Shiffer: Star Jelly
by Richard J Salvucci
Sometimes very talented people write difficult music. The music is difficult because its intent is not immediately clear. Or it does not follow canonical criteria, at least as currently understood. Music history presents us with many examples: Charles Ives, Igor Stravinsky, Dmitri Shostakovich--these are only very famous “classical" composers whose work passed from controversial to acceptable to mainstream. In jazz, one thinks of Ornette Coleman or someone probably considerably less orthodox and perhaps much less well known.
read moreOlli Hirvonen: Displace
by Glenn Astarita
A recipient of numerous awards and honors, Finnish guitarist Olli Hirvonen relocated to New York in 2011 where he attended the prestigious Manhattan School of Music. And on his maiden album for this label, the artist craftily fuses punk jazz, modern jazz, jazz fusion and noise music into a well-rounded, and sometimes psyched out presentation, highlighting his compositional scope and tenacious penchant for generating lofty concentrations of excitement. Hirvonen is a marksman via his intense phrasings and distortion-laced ...
read moreOlli Hirvonen: New Helsinki
by Roger Farbey
Hailing from Finland but now resident in Brooklyn, New York, Olli Hirvonen won first prize in the 2016 Socar Montreux Jazz Electric Guitar Competition. Significantly, the jury was presided over by John McLaughlin. “Arps" opens with cascades of Robert Fripp-like quick-fire obligato notes, rapidly ascending and descending the fretboard and instantly hooking the listener. The tentative beginning to “Gravity" belies its complexity, first sounding the very essence of McLaughlin's 4th Dimension but by the guitar break Hirvonen's guitar ...
read more
Giveaway
Days remaining: 6
