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Jazz Articles about Antti Lotjonen
Antti Lotjonen Quintet East: ALQE
by Friedrich Kunzmann
Bassist Antti Lötjönen is anything but a small name in the Finnish jazz cosmos. Holding down the deep frequency spectrum in some of the country's most renowned instrumental outfits, such as the electronica-infused jazz trio 3TM or the acoustic Ilmiliekki Quartet, Lötjönen has established a cunning reputation as a sideman leading up to this, his debut release as a leader with the so-called Quintet East. Accordingly high are the expectations of a musician of his caliber—expectations which are more than ...
Continue ReadingVerneri Pohjola: The Dead Don't Dream
by Ian Patterson
The photo on the front cover shows a levitating Verneri Pohjola. A rising star? That tag might have been appropriate at the time of Aurora (ACT Music, 2009), but the brilliant subsequent albums Bullhorn (2015) and Pekka (2017), both on Edition Records, confirmed the Finnish trumpeter's arrival at the top table of European jazz. Pohjola's distinctive tone--lyrical yet with a visceral edge--and his melodic improvisations and compositional flare are common to all his albums, though no two sound the same. ...
Continue ReadingYelena Eckemoff: Blooming Tall Phlox
by Mark Sullivan
You can look up the phlox flower online: there are 67 species, many of them fragrant. But none of the photographs or botanical classifications will tell you how it smells. For that we have pianist/composer Yelena Eckemoff's musical impressions here, along with a range of other smells recalled from her Russian childhood. When Eckemoff visited Finland and saw how much it reminded her of Russia she decided it was the best place to record an album about her Russian aroma ...
Continue ReadingYelena Eckemoff: Blooming Tall Phlox
by Dan Bilawsky
While the art of playing jazz qualifies as a multisensory experience, involving listening, touching, and seeing, it usually doesn't extend so far as to include the sense of smell. But that's not to say that a nose for scents has no place in musical and artistic spheres. If you need convincing, just look at Blooming Tall Phlox. For her tenth album in six years, pianist Yelena Eckemoff uses life and nature's bouquets as her muse. Her memory ...
Continue ReadingSun Trio: Time Is Now
by AAJ Italy Staff
Con la produzione di questo Sun Trio, la Cam Jazz conferma gli ottimi risultati del suo viaggio di scoperta di giovani talenti nazionali e internazionali attraverso la collana “Debut". Il trio fa parte della “nuova primavera" del jazz finlandese, avviata qualche anno fa dal trombettista Verneri Pohjola con Ilmiliekki e dal batterista Olavi Louhivuori con Odarrang. Il Sun Trio si propone al resto d'Europa mettendo in campo varietà ritmica e timbrica affiancate a sonorità algide e dilatate grazie all'assoluta novità ...
Continue ReadingThe Five Corners Quintet: Chasin' The Jazz Gone By
by Budd Kopman
Chasin' The Jazz Gone By is the product of producer Tuomas Kallio, who wanted to recreate, using both analog and digital equipment, the sound and the visceral coolness of jazz from the 1950s and 1960s, which means the Blue Note sound of hard bop. And make no mistake, this record is very, very cool, deeply enjoyable in an almost time-warp way. The Five Corners Quintet actually exists in two forms, live and recorded. The live group routinely ...
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