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Jussi Reijonen

Born in Rovaniemi, a small town on the Arctic Circle in Finnish Lapland, having grown up in Finland, Jordan, Tanzania, Oman and Lebanon, and spending much of his adulthood in the United States, Jussi Reijonen has lived a life soaking up sounds, sights, scents and shades of Nordic, Arabic, East African and North American aesthetics and expression, all of which are reflected in his creative work as composer, improviser and performer.

Jussi’s debut album un | ان [unmusic 2013] was released to great critical acclaim, with Guitar Player magazine referring to it as “extraordinary music” and Lucid Culture calling it a “still, spacious, slowly unwinding masterpiece”. The album was nominated for an Independent Music Award in 2014.

Following a period of self-reflection and reassessment while refining his craft for 13 years living in Boston and New York, in 2022, he introduced his transcultural nonet with Jason Palmer (USA), Bulut Gülen (Türkiye), Layth Sidiq (Jordan/Iraq), Naseem Alatrash (Palestine), Utar Artun (Türkiye), Kyle Miles (USA), Keita Ogawa (Japan) and Vancil Cooper (USA) with the release of Three Seconds | Kolme Toista [Challenge Records International 2022], a career-turning album that was nothing short of an artistic triumph. Described as “unlike anything in memory… creates a new, genre-less, form… spellbinding from beginning to end, and full of virtuoso performances… one of the best recordings of 2022” by AllAboutJazz and “a stunner… a unified, diverse, overwhelming statement” by JazzTimes, the album has been a major international critical success, receiving 5-star reviews and being selected as Best Creative Albums of 2022 by AllAboutJazz and Best Jazz Albums of 2022 by Glide Magazine.

His Three Seconds | Kolme Toista nonet was chosen as a Jazzahead! 2023 official showcase artist.

His latest project sayr is a series of completely improvised solo recordings exploring the small, simple and sparse, the rugged earthy, the gnarly unpretty; and most of all, bare feet in soil; roots and branches; and paths less – or differently – predetermined. The series was launched with a double release of two albums, sayr: salt | thirst and sayr: kaiho – live in Helsinki on October 24th, 2025 via his own label unmusic.

Alongside his work as leader, Jussi has collaborated with a diverse array of world-renowned artists, including Jack DeJohnette, Robin Eubanks, Pepe de Lucía, Simon Shaheen, Bassam Saba, Arto Tunçboyacıyan, Hüsnu Şenlendirici, The New York Gypsy All-Stars, Javier Limón, Dave Weckl and David Fiuczynski among others, and has been a member of the New York Arabic Orchestra (NYAO).

He has performed extensively at prestigious festivals and venues throughout the United States like Lincoln Center and the Library of Congress, as well as in Finland, Sweden, Latvia, Switzerland, Austria, The Netherlands, Germany, France, Canada, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates.

Jussi Reijonen: Sayr: Kaiho--Live In Helsinki

Read "Sayr: Kaiho--Live In Helsinki" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
January 17, 2026

Finnish-born guitarist Jussi Reijonen says, “For there to be motion, there needs to be stillness as its counterpoint and vice versa, since through their dance, each defines the other." Music unfolds over time. Reijonen has released a pair of albums in 2025: Sayr: Salt | Thirst (Unmusic)--a studio solo set employing a late--1940s Gibson LG-2--and now Sayr: Kaiho: Live In Helsinki, with the Arabic oud trading places for the guitar at times. Both sets are deep immersions into ...

Album Review

Jussi Reijonen: Sayr: Salt | Thirst

Read "Sayr: Salt | Thirst" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
November 13, 2025

Listening to Finish guitarist/oudist Jussi Reijonen's Sayr: Salt | Thirst without delving into his rich backstory is a journey into two extended solo guitar pieces that play out as ruminative dream states. Concentrating on just the sound, images of Lightnin' Hopkins might come to mind: the bluesman huddled down in a small, dim hotel room after a show, improvising outside of time. Or maybe it is Howlin' Wolf sitting on the rumpled bed with the guitar on his lap, in ...

Radio & Podcasts

Jussi Reijonen, Ryan Keberle, Andrea Ciceri, Matthias Schriefl & Eddie Daniels

by Ludovico Granvassu
September 20, 2025

Here is a set that explores projects that reflect their authors' fascination with music from far beyond their own birthplaces. Happy listening! Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 Ryan Keberle's Collectiv do Brasil “Quintessence" Choro das Aguas (Alternate Side) 0:16 Host talks 4:55 Eddie Daniels “For Milton" To Milton with Love (Resonance) 6:29 Host talks 11:56 Matthias Schriefl, Frankfurt Radio Big Band “Muttekopfhütten -Blues" Allgäu Meets India (Jazzwerkstatt) ...

Live Review

Jussi Reijonen At Espoo Cultural Center

by Anthony Shaw
March 16, 2023

Jussi Reijonen Espoo Cultural Center Espoo, FinlandFebruary 24, 2023 Sometimes the best of things come unexpectedly, but considering the one-year anniversary on this date that is certainly not always true. However this gig in the Finnish capital region's Espoo public arts center, including the local library, music school auditorium and cosy basement stage, was an unintended blessing, accompanying a friend and with zero knowledge of this New York-based Finnish artist. Truth to ...

Album Review

Jussi Reijonen: Three Seconds | Kolme Toista

Read "Three Seconds | Kolme Toista" reviewed by Neri Pollastri

by Neri Pollastri
January 9, 2023

Disco tanto sorprendente, quanto interessante, questo Three Seconds | Kolme Toista è la narrazione musicale di un vero e proprio viaggio interiore fatto dal suo autore, il chitarrista Jussi Reijonen. Nato a Rovaniemi, nel nord della Finlandia, Reijonen è però cresciuto prima ad Amman (Giordania), poi a Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), Muscat (Oman) e Beirut (Libano), per approdare da adulto negli Stati Uniti, a Boston e infine a New York, dove nel 2011 ha pubblicato il suo primo, ...

Album Review

Jussi Reijonen: Three Seconds | Kolme Toista

Read "Three Seconds | Kolme Toista" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
October 22, 2022

East/West jazz fusion has a long presence on the U.S. jazz scene and that foothold has been growing in the 2000s. Composer/guitarist/oud player Jussi Reijonen is uniquely qualified to bridge musical cultures. Nordic by birth, he has lived in the Middle East, Africa, and the U.S., absorbing native music at each stop. Reijonen's solo debut, Un (Self Produced, 2012), paved the way for Three Seconds | Kolme Toista. The acclaimed debut album incorporated global influences but in a melodic haze. ...

Interview

Jussi Reijonen: Playground of Sound and Texture

by Eyal Hareuveni
June 18, 2013

Jussi Reijonen is an exceptional musician. On his debut recording as a leader, Un (Self Produced, 2012), the Finnish guitarist/oudist has succeeded in crystallizing a spectrum of influences, sounds and textures into a highly personal, sensual mosaic that blurs the distinction between jazz, Middle Eastern traditional music, West African music, and even Finnish folk elements. Since his childhood, Reijonen has been a citizen of the world. He was born in a small town above the Arctic Circle ...

sayr: salt | thirst and sayr: kaiho – live in helsinki (2025)

"Jussi Reijonen has an almost mystical connection to his instruments... Between resonances, overtones, and pauses, a music emerges that tells of human experiences – of inner movement, of the flow of thoughts, of the search for harmony. ’sayr: salt | thirst’ is an album of rare poetic power."
JAZZ-FUN.DE

"Our learned tendency to categorize and compartmentalize music — in order to understand, appreciate and enjoy it —is useless here. Nothing about this music is typical... His music asked me to rid myself of preconceptions, to become a more acute listener."
JAZZTIMES