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Mika Kallio
Pauli Lyytinen Magnetia Orkesteri: Hypnosis
by Friedrich Kunzmann
It can be interpreted as quite the democratic statement when an album from a saxophonist is introduced with an almost two-minute long drum solo that solely focuses on the percussive qualities of the instrument. Which is exactly what drummer Mika Kallio does on the opening segment of the Finnish saxophonist Pauli Lyytinen's sophomore album with the Magnetia Orkesteri. It doesn't take a professional translator to figure out that this quartet's name has something to with magnetism and is referred to ...
Continue Reading...Verneri 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. ...
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