HOT HEROS - Folk Jazz From Finland
Eclipse music: ECD201871
Sami Sippola: tenor saxophone; Ville Rauhala: double bass; Janne Tuomi: drums, percussion.
The primitive watercolour that adorns the sleeve, the peculiar image on the inner sleeve (of long-eared creatures sitting around a roaring camp-fire), and the title of this set might combine to give the impression that this an album of simple folk songs, perhaps burnished with a tinge of ‘jazz’. Noting that the sax is in the hands of the ever excellent Sami Sippola, you just know that this impression is false. The opening tune, called ‘Iltalaulu’, carries, in places, a suggestion of ‘I think it’s going to rain today’, as if the trio are improvising on a languid ballad. Yes, Sippola’s tone cracks in places but this just adds a melancholy air to the playing. They follow this with a tune that introduces something approaching a folksy air, but the drum and bass are quietly subverting the roots of the tune and, when the bass solos and invites Sippola to revisit the theme, then the piece shifts gear. From here on in, the set has a splendid rawness of the free jazz that Sippola has become such a specialist in. What is wonderful about this recording is that so much of the playing here, while free, sets up and works within the music’s own constraints, often set by the simple, folk-like theme of the piece. So, the band never completely cut loose; although the sax on, say, ‘Mettapiruja’, track 3, teeters brilliantly on the verge of anarchy, and his playing on ‘Ameriikan-Suomalainen Hambo’ ,track 5, completely skewers the tune) but the playing is always on the verge of moving from the music – and the trio always land back in place, on time and in unison.
The unity of the trio is partly from the familiarity of sax and bass (Rauhala played in Black Motor, an earlier trio of splendid ferocity). To some extent, extent this might be due to all musicians hailing from Tampere (which, coincidentally, is the first place where I tasted reindeer and Finnish vodka – but that is another story). I would hazard a guess that living in the land of the midnight sun can produce a different appreciation of time and that this finds its way into the production of music – so that the idea of conventional bars in a piece no longer apply, and the way that you draw sounds and phrases across the bar and the beat mean that your approach to jazz becomes new and intriguing. Even if this is not true, it helps me to explain and make sense of the compelling, ingenious music on this CD.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
Eclipse music: ECD201871
Sami Sippola: tenor saxophone; Ville Rauhala: double bass; Janne Tuomi: drums, percussion.
The primitive watercolour that adorns the sleeve, the peculiar image on the inner sleeve (of long-eared creatures sitting around a roaring camp-fire), and the title of this set might combine to give the impression that this an album of simple folk songs, perhaps burnished with a tinge of ‘jazz’. Noting that the sax is in the hands of the ever excellent Sami Sippola, you just know that this impression is false. The opening tune, called ‘Iltalaulu’, carries, in places, a suggestion of ‘I think it’s going to rain today’, as if the trio are improvising on a languid ballad. Yes, Sippola’s tone cracks in places but this just adds a melancholy air to the playing. They follow this with a tune that introduces something approaching a folksy air, but the drum and bass are quietly subverting the roots of the tune and, when the bass solos and invites Sippola to revisit the theme, then the piece shifts gear. From here on in, the set has a splendid rawness of the free jazz that Sippola has become such a specialist in. What is wonderful about this recording is that so much of the playing here, while free, sets up and works within the music’s own constraints, often set by the simple, folk-like theme of the piece. So, the band never completely cut loose; although the sax on, say, ‘Mettapiruja’, track 3, teeters brilliantly on the verge of anarchy, and his playing on ‘Ameriikan-Suomalainen Hambo’ ,track 5, completely skewers the tune) but the playing is always on the verge of moving from the music – and the trio always land back in place, on time and in unison.
The unity of the trio is partly from the familiarity of sax and bass (Rauhala played in Black Motor, an earlier trio of splendid ferocity). To some extent, extent this might be due to all musicians hailing from Tampere (which, coincidentally, is the first place where I tasted reindeer and Finnish vodka – but that is another story). I would hazard a guess that living in the land of the midnight sun can produce a different appreciation of time and that this finds its way into the production of music – so that the idea of conventional bars in a piece no longer apply, and the way that you draw sounds and phrases across the bar and the beat mean that your approach to jazz becomes new and intriguing. Even if this is not true, it helps me to explain and make sense of the compelling, ingenious music on this CD.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
