Record Reviews

ROYHKA / PYYSALO / MAARIT ~ TURMION SUURHERTTUA SVART 084 (Barcode: 6430050669867) ~ FINLAND ~ Jazz & Poetry Recorded: 2016 Released: 2017 This is a wonderful album by Finnish Rock vocalist / songwriter / author Kauko RoyhkaFind albums by this artist, recorded with Jazz vibraphonist / composer Severi PyysaloFind albums by this artist and a great band that comprises of drummer Jussi LehtonenFind albums by this artist, bassist Juho KivivuoriFind albums by this artist, guitarist Varre VartiainenFind albums by this artist, trumpeter Jukka EskolaFind albums by this artist, saxophonist Joonatan RautioFind albums by this artist and trombonist Heikki TuhkanenFind albums by this artist. The superb singer MaaritFind albums by this artist (a.k.a. Maarit HurmerintaFind albums by this artist) appears on selected tracks. The album presents ten original songs, all composed and arranged by Pyysalo with lyrics by Royhka. Royhka enjoys a highly successful career in Rock since early 1980s, with a long list of albums under his arm, and in parallel a career as author with several books over time. He is especially revered for his strong, often provocative lyrics, which can easily be categorized as sung poetry. The decision to record this album, which crosses boldly into the Jazz idiom, turns out to be extremely creative, and these ten songs are all masterpieces of composition and arrangement, and combined with Royhka´s idiosyncratic voice and theatric delivery, are absolutely brilliant. The music is spiced with some Jazz soloing, just enough to define the musical environment, but not dominating the proceedings. This album brings fond memories of many similar projects that dominated the Finnish Jazz scene in the late 1960s and 1970s, and were abandoned later on, as the Jazz scene (and music scene in general) changed into less adventurous turf. Overall this is a superb album, which offers brilliant music, masterly arranged and performed, which works perfectly even for people like myself, who do not speak Finnish. The delivery and the music are strong enough even without the textual layer. An absolute must for Jazz & Poetry lovers!

Updated: 22/08/2020Posted: 22/08/2020

CD 1 Digipak Recommend To A Friend

JUKKA TOLONEN BAND / HURMERINTA – SORVALI BIG BAND ~ POP LIISA VOL. 09 & VOL. 10 SVART 015 ~ FINLAND ~ Jazz-Rock Fusion Recorded: 1975 - 1977 Released: 2016 Following the breakdown of the pioneering Finnish group Tasavallan PresidenttiFind albums by this artist in 1974, guitarist / composer Jukka TolonenFind albums by this artist continued his successful solo career, releasing albums on a regular basis. By the time his band was captured playing on this live broadcast, his fourth solo album "HystericaFind albums with this title" was about to be released soon after. The band, which also included saxophonist Pekka PoyryFind albums by this artist, keyboardist Esa KotilainenFind albums by this artist, bassist Heikki VirtanenFind albums by this artist and drummer Esko RosnellFind albums by this artist, perform four instrumental pieces, all originating from the "Hysterica" album and all composed by Tolonen. These live versions of the pieces are quite different from the studio versions and therefore their inclusion here is a perfect companion to the original album. The music is almost completely Fusion oriented, with superb soloing by all the band members. Kotilainen´s keyboard performances are probably the only strong link present here to Progressive Rock, but the Fusion elements include also some Funk influences. Considering the fact that the bad collectively comprised of the "hottest" players on the Finnish scene, the fact that all the performances here are simply stellar. Guitarist Sami HurmerintaFind albums by this artist, his wife vocalist Maarit HurmerintaFind albums by this artist and drummer Upi SorvaliFind albums by this artist put together the Hurmerinta – Sorvali Big BandFind albums by this artist in 1977, combining forces with many musicians they performed and recorded with earlier on, such as British vocalist Frank RobsonFind albums by this artist (ex-Tasavallan Presidentti), trumpeter Esko HeikkinenFind albums by this artist, Romanian trombonist Mircea StanFind albums by this artist, saxophonists Pertti PaivinenFind albums by this artist and Pentti LahtiFind albums by this artist, keyboardist Kari KuusamoFind albums by this artist, bassist Harri MerilahtiFind albums by this artist, and second drummer Roope KoistinenFind albums by this artist. This eleven-piece Big Band was not a typical Jazz Big Band, but rather a Brass Rock ensemble with a double vocal front. The Big Band existed for about a year between 1977 and 1978 and never recorded a studio album, so this live broadcast is their only recorded legacy. The Big Band performs six songs, three of which were written by Jimi HendrixFind albums by this artist, two by Robson and one by Sami Hurmerinta. Hendrix was an obvious influence on these musicians and the legendary album by Gil EvansFind albums by this artist and his Orchestra "Plays The Music Of Jimi HendrixFind albums with this title" prompted them to form the Big Band in the first place. The music is of course typical of Brass Rock bands of the time, which combined Rock and Jazzy horns sound. Overall this is some of the most staggering music created in Europe in the early to mid 1970s that one is able to hear and for Fusion and Jazz oriented Prog-heads this is an absolute must have! Side Note The Finnish independent label SvartFind albums on this label Records released an unprecedented series of albums called Pop Liisa and Jazz Liisa, which present priceless historical recordings of Finnish Rock, Progressive Rock, Jazz-Rock Fusion and Jazz music, recorded live and broadcasted from the Liisankatu Studios in Helsinki under the "Popstudio" and "Jazzstudio" monikers between 1972 and 1977. The studios were owned by the YLE (Finnish Broadcasting Company), a public broadcasting service, which not only allowed the burgeoning Finnish music scene at the time to be exposed but also carefully archived the recordings for future generations. All this incredible music was previously unissued and collectively is probably the most important document of Finnish music from that period ever assembled. The music was released on 36 LPs (Pop Liisa Vol. 01 to Vol. 18 and Jazz Liisa Vol. 01 to Vol. 18) and on 18 CDs with every two consecutive volumes combined on one CD. The sound quality is absolutely superb, often better than the sound quality on the LPs released by these artists at the time. Many of the groups appearing on these albums never managed to record an album and these recordings are the only recorded legacy in existence of their activity. The released are accompanied by well researched and intelligent liner notes. This archival project is an outstanding example of how Cultural Legacy should be treated as well as of exemplary dedication to record producing professionalism.

Updated: 09/05/2020Posted: 08/05/2020

CD 1 Remastered Recommend To A Friend