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Pauli Lyytinen Magnetia Orkesteri: Hypnosis
by Friedrich Kunzmann
It can be interpreted as quite the democratic statement when an album from a saxophonist is introduced with an almost two-minute long drum solo that solely focuses on the percussive qualities of the instrument. Which is exactly what drummer Mika Kallio does on the opening segment of the Finnish saxophonist Pauli Lyytinen's sophomore album with the Magnetia Orkesteri. It doesn't take a professional translator to figure out that this quartet's name has something to with magnetism and is referred to ...
read moreHot Heros: Folkjazz from Finland
by Anthony Shaw
From the tarnished keys of his favorite old tenor sax, through the scaberous tones of the same instrument to the tangle of his extensive rusty beard, Sami Sippola epitomizes the essence of a free jazz artist. So needless to say the most recent of the releases featuring this well established Finnish musician is another tour de force of urgency and angst, but with a local twist. Accompanied by two very well-respected musicians from his own home town, ...
read moreMax Zenger: Chapter 2
by Troy Dostert
Finnish saxophonist/bass clarinetist Max Zenger's quartet, the Maxxxtet, shows on its sophomore release that there's a lot of room in modern jazz for an approach that puts harmony, intricate concepts and subtle rhythmic nuances ahead of passionate intensity and technical brilliance. This is not to say that the group lacks chops or ambition--but that these traits find their outlet in a less demonstrative delivery. The result is seven well-constructed compositions that unfold through unhurried, careful development: it's music that doesn't ...
read moreMax Zenger: Chapter 2
by Sacha O'Grady
From its inception more than a century ago, jazz has taken a long, strange and twisted journey. From folk-art to more avant-garde adventures, jazz has never sat in the same place for too long, like a sort of free spirit in search of the infinite. Throughout that journey, at least since the 1940's, a time when Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Rollins and other be-boppers were having a major impact on a new generation of musicians, Europe has also played ...
read moreTeemu Viinikainen: Return of Robert Dickson
by Friedrich Kunzmann
Finnish guitarist and composer Teemu Viinikainen III has played a part in the jazz world for almost 20 years now, gaining much recognition and popularity in his home country for his achievements with, among others, Blue Note signed U-Street All Stars in the early 2000s. 2017 sees Teemu very active--having greatly contributed his singular guitar sound to recent Verneri Pohjola outing Pekka and now releasing his third Solo Record Return Of Robert Dickson. For Return Of Robert Dickson, ...
read moreEqually Stupid: Escape from The Unhappy Society
by Anthony Shaw
This second album by Equally Stupid sees the same transnational crew of three gents working in the same vein as their first Exploding Head, blending Rögnvaldsson's astringent guitar with saxophonist Pauli Lyytinen's this time more mellow tenor. David Meier is still holding things together with a strong physicality behind the drums, but from the cover onwards there's obviously a major change of style. I wonder if they have been listening to John Cale or Arvo Pert as ...
read moreSigudur Rögnvaldsson: Kisima
by Anthony Shaw
If this Icelandic guitarist's music was once described as frenetic and insistent (see http://www.allaboutjazz.com/exploding-head-equally-stupid-eclipse-music-review-by-anthony-shaw.php?width=1024) this latest recording does nothing to undermine that classification. If anything the new line-up, known as Dark Forest and featuring Johannes Sarjasto sparring opposite Rögnvaldsson on saxophone, is even more genre bending than the previous work, including pieces which are almost placid, and at least reflective. Alongside the bassist from Sarjasto's own quartet Eero Tikkanen, Rögnvaldsson has got himself a powerful, tight rhythm section with drummer ...
read moreEqually Stupid: Exploding Head
by Anthony Shaw
This first album released on Eclipse Music by 3 Nordic young male improvisers sees the fruit of time spent together in small practice rooms. It is tight, driving music, often with more than an occasional comic twist in the tail. With an eye, or probably more a highly tuned ear, to the dance-ability of their music they have produced an album that has more than an element of Klezmer as well as free-form jazz alongside contemporary rock in its insistent ...
read moreElifantree: Time Out
by Anthony Shaw
From the opening whoop from Elifantree's singer and principle songwriter, Anni Elif Egecioglu,Time Out presents itself as something mysterious. As the name of the trio elliptically suggests, Egecioglu is the principle focus, with saxophonist Pauli Lyytinen and drummer Tatu Rönkkö making up the “tree." In comparison with its well-received debut, Love and Trees (Eclipse, 2010), Time Out is something of a return to the fold of convention, but very much Elifantree's own type of experimental, pop-influenced mainstream. ...
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