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Yelena 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 ReadingVerneri Pohjola: Bullhorn
by Ian Patterson
Finnish trumpeter Verneri Pohjola has earned his stripes in collaborations with Quintessence, the Ilmiliekki Quartet, UMO--the country's leading big-band--and Black Motor, with whom he recorded the sizzling Rubidium (TUM Records, 2013). It's as a leader, however, with Aurora (ACT Music, 2009)--voted Finish jazz album of the year--and Ancient History (ACT Music, 2012) that he's begun to garner greater international renown. With those two albums, alongside pianist Aki Rissanen and bassist Antti Lötjönen, Pohjola formed the nucleus of his ...
Continue ReadingVerneri Pohjola: Bullhorn
by Roger Farbey
Trumpeter Verneri Pohjola's third album as leader manages to succeed on several different levels. The opener, “Another Day" captures the listener's attention with plangent piano chords and a soaring trumpet theme. “Girls Of Costa Rica" is a paean to Miles Davis' “Filles De Kilimanjaro," the first few bars echoing (but not entirely copying) the start of that most famous track, but then departing down a different road, underpinned by an obligato bass line and satisfyingly augmented by Jussi ...
Continue ReadingJazz Finland Festival / European Jazz Conference 2014
by Ian Patterson
Jazz Finland Festival/European Jazz Conference Hotel Crowne Plaza/Various Venues Helsinki, Finland September 18-21, 2014 When the steamship RMS Andania docked in the port of Helsinki in 1926 it unloaded more than just cargo. The American jazz group the Andania Yankees that disembarked stayed for two months and effectively kick-started jazz in the Finnish capital. Today, Finnish jazz is in rude health and it was the mission of the Finnish Jazz Federation to showcase a ...
Continue ReadingVerneri Pohjola Quartet: Ancient History
by AAJ Italy Staff
Al di là di una versione essenziale, minimalista di “Hyperballad" - brano firmato Bjork e diventato da qualche tempo una sorta di “Time After Time" del nuovo millennio - si può dire che l'intero Ancient History sia costruito intorno alla forma ballad. Declinata nelle sue varie configurazioni, affrontata da diversi punti angolari e da differenti prospettive ma sempre ballad. Come l'iniziale “Deism," una lunga cavalcata innodica, carica di spiritualità che accumula solennità passo dopo passo. O la title-track, languida e ...
Continue ReadingBlack Motor with Verneri Pohjola at the 2013 Flow Festival
by Anthony Shaw
Black Motor with Verneri PohjolaFlow Festival, The Balloon StageHelsinki, FinlandAugust 11, 2013On the last day of the summer holidays, and under what's typical seasonally unpredictable weather, a large crowd gathered in downtown Helsinki for Scandinavia's urban music event, Flow Festival. Black Motor Trio began its set with a tunes featuring its usual bravado and panache, ably abetted by Finland's decorated trumpeter, Verneri Pohjola. This was the same lineup as on its recent release Rubidium (TUM ...
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