Origami Jaska Lukkarinen Trio

• 1 Flow On 10:03
• 2 Origami 05:13
• 3 Komeda 07:35
• 4 Pengerkadulla 07:27
• 5 Beauty Passing By 09:08
• Total Runtime 39:26

Info for Origami

Jaska Lukkarinen Trio is one of the most creative working groups in the vibrant Finnish jazz scene. Consisting of drummer Jaska Lukkarinen, tenor sax man Jussi Kannaste, and bassist Antti Lötjönen, the members of this long-standing group have experience in celebrated ensembles such as The Five Corners Quintet, Dalindèo, and Verneri Pohjola Quartet, and it's only fitting that they're taking a new look at the music of their close collaborator, composer Valtteri Laurell Pöyhönen (of Dalindèo and Ricky-Tick Big Band) here. The 4-track set was recorded at Helsinki's We Jazz Festival where the group performed at the packed club space Dubrovnik (owned by the famed Finnish film auteur Aki Kaurismäki).

Jaska Lukkarinen Trio rely on their strong group dynamic to move through varios different moods during the course of the album. They deliver a scorching take on Flow On, a track originally recorded by Dalindèo as a serene mood piece. Origami is a new composition heard here for the first time, and it truly captures the feeling of the premiere live on stage. Komeda, Pöyhönen's tribute to the great Polish composer is refreshed as a majestic pyramid of a song, and Pengerkadulla draws from the streets of Helsinki, laying out a relaxed yet intense street scene from the underbelly of the new it part of town, Kallio.

Lovingly captured on analogue tape by the go-to guy in the local live recording scene, Abdissa Assefa, and cut to vinyl at the Timmion Cutting Lab, Origami is simultaneously a love letter to all that's great about jazz music, and a suggestion on how to take the music forward. That is, you'll get hummable tunes and the deep search for the shape of jazz to come in the same package. LP comes with an article about the project on the printed inner sleeve and a free digital download with the bonus track, Beauty Passing By.

Jussi Kannaste, tenor saxophone
Antti Lötjönen, bass
Jaska Lukkarinen, drums

Recorded at We Jazz 2015 in Helsinki, Dubrovnik Lounge & Lobby 11 December 2015
Recorded by Abdissa Assefa
Mastered by Jaakko Viitalähde, Sami Kantelinen
Produced by Jaska Lukkarinen, Matti Nives

Jaska Lukkarinen Trio
has been playing together since 2005 and released two albums. Trane Ear (Rockadillo Records) in 2008 that received fabulous reviews and was nominated for the Finnish Emma Jazz Award (local Grammy). The latest album, Neutral Terrain, was released in September 2011.

The Jaska Lukkarinen Trio also includes Jussi Kannaste on tenor sax and Antti Lötjönen on bass. Both of these prospective young players have already secured their place at the centre of the vivid Helsinki scene by playing in many deservedly noted ensembles.

The idea of starting a sax trio – a trio without a harmonic instrument – comes from the Dave Holland Trio album Triplicate. This is also one of the key records that got Lukkarinen interested in jazz. Although the origins of the trio are in the Sibelius Academy Jazz Department in Helsinki, Finland, the basics and the music for the trio was born 2006-2007 in Harlem, New York, while Lukkarinen was studying at the Manhattan School Of Music under John Riley. The life in a small room in the corner of 147th street and 8 avenue gave the inspiration for the new music.

Jaska Lukkarinen Trio combines American and European jazz traditions. Lukkarinenʼs swing and way of combining the drum kit and percussion, Jussi Kannasteʼs sound and melodic playing and Antti Lötjönen’s harmonic intelligence and strong timeplaying create an intresting mixture of American and European sounds. The freeness and compositional possibilities, but also the awareness of not having a normal harmonic instrument, make this line-up intresting.

Despite his leading role, Jaska emphasises the importance of the group as an ensemble: ”I’m sure that the audience can feel our chemistry on gigs. We’re good friends on and off stage and I believe this is an important factor in getting our message across to the listeners.”

This album contains no booklet.