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Aki Rissanen: Imaginary Mountains
by Neil Duggan
Finnish pianist Aki Rissanen has built an impressive discography through collaborations with artists including Rick Margitza, Dave Liebman and Randy Brecker, contributing to 18 albums as either leader or co-leader. Yet he is perhaps best known for the part he plays in leading one of European jazz's most distinctive piano trios, the Aki Rissanen Trio. The album Imaginary Mountains, the title of which is a nod to the influence of Keith Jarrett's Personal Mountains (ECM, 1989), features jazz ...
Continue ReadingNew Music From Aki Rissanen, Greg Spero, Jeremy Green And Athana
by Len Davis
New music from Finland: Aki Rissanen; from the US: Greg Spero; from Germany: Marriage Material; and from Canada: Jeremy Green. Plus, Athana with Alf Terje Hanna, Simon Phillips Protocol 2, 3 Crows with Chris Buck and Brett Garsed. Wayne Krantz, Japanese bassist Tetsuo Sakurai and Scott Henderson from Vibe Station. Playlist Aki Rissanen “Breezy" from Hyperreal (Edition) 00:00 Greg Spero “Reckoning" from Reckoning (Tiny Records) 05:39 Marriage Material “Calibraten" from Enchantment Under The Sea (Delta) 11:20 Jeremy Green ...
Continue Reading5x3: Piano Trios: September 2019
by Geno Thackara
Well, some months are packed too full of these goodies to cover in batches of three. We can only hang on and try to keep up. Aki Rissanen Art in Motion Edition Records 2019 Past, present and future don't collide but smash together in one happy jumble through this trio's splendid third outing. The stately refinement of European classical and folk music, the mantric minimalism of Nik Bärtsch and the modern ...
Continue ReadingAki Rissanen: Another North
by Roger Farbey
Following on from 2016's Amorandom, Finnish pianist Aki Rissanen has produced yet another satisfying album. Born in 1980 he has already released nine albums as leader or co-leader. Rissanen studied classical piano at Finland's Kuopio Conservatory from 1990-2000 and then jazz music at Helsinki Polytechnic School and in 2009 gained a Master's degree in jazz piano and composition from the Sibelius Academy Jazz Department, also in Helsinki. He also studied improvised music at Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique in Paris. ...
Continue ReadingThe Aki Rissanen Trio plays April Jazz, Espoo, Finland
by Anthony Shaw
The Aki Rissanen Trio Louhi Club April Jazz Espoo, Finland April 4, 2016 Espoo in southern Finland is nominally a city, having its own emblem, transportation system and council though for most people in the vicinity of Helsinki it's merely a close suburb of the metropolis. However every spring it comes into its own hosting the April Jazz festival mainly in the Tapiola Gardens area, heralding the start of the yearly Finnish festival music ...
Continue ReadingAki Rissanen: Amorandom
by Roger Farbey
In a world of piano trios, a point of difference is simply essential. This particular trio, hailing from Finland and led by pianist Aki Rissanen, makes that difference clear from the outset. The key to this, and in addition to each of the musicians' individual talents, is the group's ability to change mood subtly and kaleidoscopically. It's also hardly surprising that this is a successful album considering the fact that this same trio comprised the rhythm section on Verneri Pohjola's ...
Continue ReadingAleatoric and Imperial Quartet in Helsinki
by Anthony Shaw
Aleatoric and Imperial Quartet Kanneltalo Helsinki, Finland March 12, 2015 For anyone who has come to jazz, as I, via the cross-national recombinations that pop up regularly throughout the European continent this combined gathering of Finnish, French and Belgian musicians on the same bill in Helsinki was nothing less than a glorious rout. Thanks to the mix of benefactors, involving both foreign embassies and the Finnish Jazz Federation, the bill featured two very different groups ...
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