Seppo Kantonen Trio at the Loimaa Arts Center

Seppo Kantonen Trio
Loima Arts Center
Art in Autumn
Loimaa, Finland
September 17, 2024

When a two hour drive through the bucolic Nordic autumn countryside culminates in a location as tasteful as any artistic milieu of the city, the subsequent musical experience is almost certain to be positive. For keyboard maestro and composer Seppo Kantonen it was another stop on the journey of 40 years that has taken him around Finland and Europe, working as a professional keyboard player with the likes of Pekka Pohjola, Otto Donner and the Finnish big band, the UMO Jazz Orchestra.

But not just another stop, for at this gig he was accompanied by his own Trio, a mix of local musicians that reflected Kantonen's own skill level as well as breadth of experience. Having started as a jobbing keyboardist in 1981 alongside his studies at Sibelius High School in Helsinki, there can be few Finnish jazz musicians that he hasn't played with. Markku Ounaskari was one of his early accomplices, having worked together in the 1980s and playing drums on Kantonen's second solo album, Klang (Impala 1999). Bassist Antti Lotjonen is a newer recruit, familiar to followers of the Finnish jazz scene through work with Ilmiliekki, the Five Corners Quintet, and other projects often with Verneri Pohjola, and is known for his playing intensity and physicality.

As a trio they have only been working for just over a year, but this time has been intense, and it showed on stage. Actually, there was no stage in the upstairs 'hall' of the Loimaa Arts Centre, in a town two hours rustic drive from Helsinki. It was a room adorned with a broad selection of paintings by accredited Finnish artists hanging on all four walls, a few rows of wooden chairs and a small sized grand piano. Kantonen's breadth of performance experience, in addition to the 200-odd albums he has contributed to, meant that the intimacy of the room was just a bonus.

All 11 pieces this evening came from the burst of writing that Kantonen has enjoyed in the last few years. At last he has had the chance to leave behind the pressures of regular work and 'let the pen flow.' The selection of music was full of virtuosic variety, from minimalist breaths of sound to pounding rhythmic episodes. Kantonen's writing is often elegant, almost classical, but replete with shifting time signatures and sudden bursts of new direction—Keith Jarrett often came to mind. At times there were feet jinxing and waggling, at others the audience were listening to their own breath. Kantonen's Trio took on their task to stretch the audience beyond their comfort zones, but always brought them back to that quaint venue on the edge of a sleepy town in the very heartland of Southern Finland.