Jussi Reijonen: Sayr: Salt | Thirst

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 the late 1940s, before he turned over the guitar duties to Hubert Sumlin.

But Reijonen's music is not the blues. The backstory reveals that the Reijonen was born above the Arctic Circle in Finland and spent his youth in Tanzania, Oman, Jordan, and Lebanon before relocating to the United States. He brings these multiple influences into his artistry. He draws from the music of all of the sources of a nomadic youth, recording solo in his home studio, playing with a pure, introspective improvisational depth, exploring the moods of distant memories.

The guitar of choice here is a Gibson LG-2 steel-string acoustic guitar gifted to him by a former student. The Gibson company was just moving away from the austerity resulting from WWII at the time. Better materials were available, resulting in the late '40s version of the Gibson that boasted woody warmth, a clarity of tone, with sharp, clean articulation. Reijonen has, on Sayr: Salt | Thirst, an intimate and affectionate connection with the old Gibson. The guitar, perhaps, has the same thing with him.

Memories? Do we feel heat rising from the savanna, a lone wildebeest standing in the gentle shimmer, turning his head in the direction of the sound? Or does the image of a woman, her hair and face covered, toting jugs of water across a dusty street in a flowing black garment come to mind; or are we transfixed by the wavering, translucent aurora in the northern sky in the early afternoon, or a bluesman in the wee hours searching for the perfect riff for his next song?

Reijonen looks back to draw inspiration, while gazing forward with the sound of a beautiful, near-ancient guitar, to make a compelling and inward-looking sound.

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