Eero Koivistoinen

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Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
Hati hati (Eero Koivistoinen Quartet)
  FI 42 10/2015 (1 week)
Valtakunta
  FI 40 06/2016 (1 week)
Odysseus
  FI 44 14/2016 (1 week)

Eero Koivistoinen (born January 13, 1946 in Helsinki ) is a Finnish saxophonist (tenor, soprano and sopranino saxophone), composer, arranger and band leader of modern jazz .

Live and act

Koivistoinen, who grew up in Kotka , first played the violin as a child; at the age of 16 he switched to the saxophone and oriented himself towards jazz . He began his musical career in the Finnish jazz scene in the mid-1960s and played in Helsinki's jazz clubs. During this time he studied painting at the art college, then music at the Sibelius Academy , saxophone with Eero Linnala and composition with Aulis Sallinen .

Koivistoinen's compositions became known in the trio with Edward Vesala and Pekka Sarmanto , with whom he recorded the EP Jappa , which was released in 1967; the trio was one of the first avant-garde and free jazz bands in Finland. In 1967 Koivistoinen received a prize from the newly founded Finnish Jazz Federation and was named Musician of the Year.

In 1967 recordings were made with the band Blues Section , which played a blues rock influenced by Jimi Hendrix . In 1968 the psychedelic album Valtakunta was released . In 1969 he played with his own formation at the Montreux Jazz Festival , then at the Newport Jazz Festival . RCA released the albums Wahoo and Third Version, which were recorded one after the other every month.

In the early 1970s Koivistoinen became increasingly active as a composer, studying composition at the Berklee College of Music in Boston with Herb Pomeroy and Joe Viola . Since then he has also taught at the Sibelius Academy himself and has also worked with his quartet and recorded several albums. In the 1970s he worked in a quartet with Olli Ahvenlahti , Reino Laine and Pekka Pohjola , partly with Jukka Tolonen in a quintet, with whom he also appeared at festivals in Europe.

In 1981 Koivistoinen won the European Broadcasting Union Prize for Arrangement for his orchestral work Ultima Thule . Since it was founded in 1975, he has been a member of the UMO Jazz Orchestra . 1983 appeared his album Picture In Three Colors , with which he also became internationally known; he played with Jack DeJohnette , John Scofield , Tom Harrell , Jim McNeely and Ron McClure . In 1992 he worked again with DeJohnette, Scofield and McClure, and also with Randy Brecker , Conrad Herwig and David Kikoski to record the album Altered Things .

In the 1990s he concentrated more on composing and leading larger ensembles; At this time Koivistoinen was the artistic director of UMO and produced the UMO album Umo Jazz Orchestra for the Naxos Jazz label (the album Ville la Valle was released with this formation in 2013 ); he also directed the ensemble Electrifying Miles with Tim Hagans as guest soloist.

In the 2000s, he also increasingly occupied himself with African music. He recorded the album Eero Koivistoinen and Senegalese Drums and performed with African musicians at various jazz festivals in Finland and in 2003 at the Stockholm Jazz Festival. His album Utu (2001) contained arrangements of Finnish folk songs for jazz quartet; Suomalainen (2003) was created in collaboration with the singer Johanna Iivanainen with a repertoire of old and new Finnish songs.

Discographic notes

  • Valtakunta (1967)
  • Odysseus (1969)
  • The Original Sin (Scandia Rec. 1971)
  • Wahoo! (Warner, 1972)
  • 3rd version (1973, Porter)
  • The Front Is Breaking (Love Records, 1975)
  • Labyrinth (Love, 1977)
  • Picture in Three Colors (Core Records / Line, 1983)
  • Sometime Ago (A Records, 1994)
  • Dialogue (1995)
  • Zone: First Definition (1999)
  • Utu (2001)
  • Suomalainen (2003)

literature

swell

  1. ^ Chart discography Finland

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Koivistoinen, Eero
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Finnish jazz musician
DATE OF BIRTH January 13, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Helsinki