Jukka Perko, Iiro Rantala – It Takes Two to Tango (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 48:11 minutes | 873 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ACT Music
With only five and a half million inhabitants in an area as big as Germany, Finland is one of the most sparsely populated countries in Europe. At the same time, the Finns are at the forefront of many fields – be it education, design or technology – and a good number of their European neighbours regard the North with some envy. The signs are pointing to a bright future for Finnish jazz as well: alongside pianist Iiro Rantala, Jukka Perko is considered to be one of the most important ambassadors of Finnish jazz. Born in 1968, he was hired to the “Dizzy Gillespie 70th anniversary big band” at the tender age of 20, with which he toured intensively through Europe and the USA before collaborating with legends of Bebop and Hardbop such as Red Rodney and McCoy Tyner and Scandinavian icons like Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen.
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Jukka Perko – Invisible Man (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 51:08 minutes | 944 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ACT Music
Out of the Ordinary: The first thing one notices about Jukka Perko’s instrumental trio Avara is its unusual set-up: saxophone, acoustic guitar and electric guitar. While that might seem an outlandish combination, the harmonic inventiveness and the lyricism on the album “Invisible Man” are often so completely jaw-dropping, one has to ask why it hasn’t been tried more often. The sound of the group is surprisingly dense for just three players, with each of the constituent voices supporting and complementing the others. Elegiac soundscapes reach out into the distance, evocatively shot through with sudden momentary flashes. The prevailing mood might be Finnish-melancholic; but there is always a glimmer of hope. Rather than needing to be loud to establish its presence, this music defines itself with a quiet strength which is all its own.
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Virpi Räisänen, Jukka Perko, Lapland Chamber Orchestra & John Storgårds – Outi Tarkiainen: The Earth, Spring’s Daughter & Saxophone Concerto “Saivo” (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:11:01 minutes | 1,18 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Ondine
This new album by Lapland Chamber Orchestra conducted by John Storgårds is dedicated to works by one of the most exciting Finnish composers of her generation, Outi Tarkiainen (b. 1985). This album, first of its kind with Tarkiainen s orchestral works, includes two works with mezzo- soprano Virpi Räisänen and saxophonist Jukka Perko as soloists. Tarkiainen has quickly risen to Finland s contemporary music scene and her works have already been performed by the BBC Philharmonic (an orchestral work by her was premiered at the BBC Proms in 2019) and by several North American and Nordic symphony orchestras, including the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Iceland Symphony Orchestra and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Tarkiainen has written several works that are strongly connected to the Northern landscape of Lapland and the culture of its Sámi habitants. The song cycle The Earth, Spring s Daughter is based on texts by Sámi writers and also her saxophone concerto Saivo, is based on Sámi mythology.
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