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Jazz Articles about Olavi Louhivuori
Alexi Tuomarila: Departing the Wasteland
by Geannine Reid
Finnish pianist and composer Alexi Tuomarila's fourth album on Edition Records marks a new blending of his long-standing trio with expansive orchestrations and subtle electronic textures with Departing the Wasteland. Anchored by his collaboration with bassist Mats Eilertsen and drummer Olavi Louhivuori, the album reflects the trio's dynamic chemistry after two decades of explorations, which now take on new creative horizons with the addition of Portuguese guitarist Andre Fernandes. The narrative of Departing the Wasteland is grounded in ...
Continue ReadingEmma Salokoski with Ilmiliekki: Joulu Joulu Jul
by Anthony Shaw
If you are looking for a novel way of approaching the December 2022 festive season, musically speaking, and are not deterred by a mixture of Nordic languages, then this album may appeal. The songs are sung in Swedish and Finnish, and without any accompanying lyric sheet an English speaker might do well to search for lyrics online. Keen observers of the Nordic jazz scene will know the band behind the album from its prominence in the mid 2000s, following victory ...
Continue ReadingIlmiliekki Quartet: Ilmiliekki Quartet
by Pat Youngspiel
When opener “Three Queens" kicks off seemingly mid-motion, Verneri Pohjola, Tuomo Prättälä, Antti Lötjönen and Olavi Louhivuori—a foursome going by the name of Ilmiliekki Quartet—sound as though they've already been at it for a while. They're all warmed up, in complete sync and have found a common groove at which they're smoothly tugging and pulling in a united front. There is a stumbling notion to how the piano keys fall from one chord into another, constructing cadences and voicings as ...
Continue ReadingYelena Eckemoff: Adventures of the Wildflower
by Mark Sullivan
The last time composer/pianist Yelena Eckemoff recorded in Finland she led a quintet on Blooming Tall Phlox (L&H Production, 2017). The program was devoted to smells, particularly the phlox flower and other scents remembered from childhood. Here she returns to Finland with a sextet (including several returning players, basically the entire rhythm section) and a related concept: the life cycle of a wildflower. The mood of the music is well captured in the smiling band photo on the back of ...
Continue ReadingYelena Eckemoff: Adventures of the Wildflower
by Dan McClenaghan
The seeds of pianist-composer Yelena Eckemoff's Adventures Of The Wildflower were planted in 2013, when she traveled to Hollola, Finland, to record Blooming Tall Phlox (L&H Productions, 2017) with a group of young Finnish musicians. Several Eckemoff albums came about after that recording, but the experience with her Finnish friends must have exerted a sort of gravitational pull, and in 2019 she made a return trip to the country to team with vibraphonist Panu Savolainen, bassist Antti Lotjonen and drummer ...
Continue ReadingSuperposition: Superposition
by Friedrich Kunzmann
This outing by Helsinki-based jazz group Superposition is as bold as debut records come. In place of catchy melodies, the reeds focus on odd lines composed of small intervals. Instead of comfortable swing and funky shuffles, bass-and snare-drum work up a choppy sweat to wild cymbal blows. Not to mention the unstoppable double-bass fingers, running up and down the frets like a bullet climbing a staircase. Over the span of eight original compositions, Superposition presents an unquenchable thirst for the ...
Continue ReadingYelena Eckemoff: Blooming Tall Phlox
by Tyran Grillo
For this quintet outing, pianist and composer Yelena Eckemoff is joined by Verneri Pohjola on trumpet and flugelhorn, Panu Savolainen on vibraphone, Antti Lotjonen on double bass, and Olavi Louhivuori on drums and percussion. Together they move through a sequence of 15 originals that feel less composed than remembered, as though the music were lifted from the air itself and gently given form. What emerges is a cabinet of scents, each one opened with care, each one releasing its own ...
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