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Jazz Articles about Iro Haarla
Iro Haarla Ouranos Quartet, featuring Aija Puurtinen: Under the Firmament
by Dan McClenaghan
Finnish pianist Iro Haala has a gift for assembling superb jazz ensembles. Her on-record successes--including Kolibri (TUM Records, 2015) and Vespers (ECM Records, 2011)--are brought together, in part, by “considering the chosen musicians' Individualism and soloistic assurance." Duke Ellington did that. So did Charles Mingus. Forming a combination of different personalities, adept at music and possessing artistic souls, then channeling the collective into a quest for excellence gives the finished product the potential to breathe, to become a living and ...
Continue ReadingIro Haarla, Ulf Krokfors, Barry Altschul: Around Again: The Music Of Carla Bley
by Neri Pollastri
Sontuosa rilettura di dodici tra le più belle composizioni di Carla Bley, quest'album nasce da un'idea del contrabbassista Ulf Krokfors, condivisa con la pianista Iro Haarla--che frequenta la musica di Carla fin dai tempi del conservatorio e che ha da sempre Paul Bley come modello pianistico--e poi concretizzata assieme a Barry Altschul, batterista nel trio del pianista canadese che per registrò parte di questi brani, ben cinquantaquattro anni fa, negli album Touching e Closer. Il disco è notevole ...
Continue ReadingIro Haarla, Ulf Krokfors & Barry Altschul: Around Again: The Music Of Carla Bley
by Jerome Wilson
Although much of her music is imbued with subtle humor, Carla Bley's compositions are serious music. Finnish pianist Iro Haarla is a long-time admirer of the Bley, and on this CD she gives her music an appropriate gravity, while retaining its spirited nature. Haarla is accompanied by her musical partner, Ulf Krokfors, on bass and Barry Altschul on drums. They play Bley tunes that were mostly introduced on record by Paul Bley back in the 60s and 70s, ...
Continue ReadingIro Haarla: Around Again: The Music Of Carla Bley
by Troy Dostert
Longstanding piano-bass tandem Iro Haarla and Ulf Krokfors team up with drummer Barry Altschul for Around Again, a reverent and eminently rewarding tribute to Carla Bley. All three musicians possess a deep familiarity with Bley's work. Haarla's dates from her earliest conservatory studies at Finland's Sibelius Academy in the 1970s, while Altschul played on Paul Bley's magnificent Closer (ESP, 1965), itself a record built around Carla's compositions. Krokfors actually came up with the idea for Around Again as he was ...
Continue ReadingIro Haarla, Ulf Krokfors & Barry Altschul: Around Again: The Music Of Carla Bley
by Dan McClenaghan
At one time the Finnish pianist/harpist/composer Iro Haarla was best known as a collaborator of drummer Edward Vesala (1945-1999). Her own career blossomed in the new millennium, beginning with Penguin Beguine (TUM Records, 2005) followed by multiple releases on ECM and TUM Records, including Northbound (ECM, 2006), Vespers (ECM, 2011), Kirkastus (TUM, 2014), a daring duo outing with saxophonist Juhani Aaltonen, and a majestic orchestral outing, Ante Lucem (ECM, 2016), that didn't seem to get nearly the recognition it deserved. ...
Continue ReadingIro Haarla: Ante Lucem for Symphony Orchestra and Jazz Quintet
by Angelo Leonardi
Fino al suo debutto da leader per l'ECM con Northbound, più di un decennio fa, il nome della pianista e arpista finlandese era praticamente sconosciuto, anche tra il pubblico del suo Paese. Eppure ebbe un ruolo significativo all'ombra del marito Edward Vesala, suonando nei suoi gruppi per tutti gli anni ottanta e componendo splendidi temi per l'orchestra “Sound and Fury" nel decennio successivo. Non è un caso che solo a partire dal nuovo millennio, un paio d'anni dopo la morte ...
Continue ReadingIro Haarla: Ante Lucem for Symphony Orchestra and Jazz Quintet
by Mark Sullivan
Finnish pianist/harpist/composer Iro Haarla devoted the early part of her career to the music of her then-husband, the late drummer/composer Edward Vesala. On her own she has released two quintet albums on ECM: Northbound (2005) and Vespers (2010). That quintet (with a couple of personnel substitutions) is integrated into an extended composition with symphony orchestra on Ante Lucem. Trumpeter Hayden Powell (in place of Mathias Eick) and saxophonist Trygve Seim are on the front line, joined by double bassist Ulf ...
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