Record Reviews

VESA-MATTI LOIRI ~ 4+20 PORTER 1512 (Barcode: 656605782027) ~ FINLAND ~ Jazz-Rock-World Fusion Recorded: 1971 Released: 2011 "4 + 20Find albums with this title", recorded during several sessions in March 1971, was the debut album released by Finnish flautist / singer / actor Vesa-Matti LoiriFind albums by this artist. Born January 4, 1945 Loiri was already a "familiar face" on the modern Finnish Jazz scene at the time. Of course it is hard to believe that any of the album´s participants, including Loiri himself, could have possibly imagined that 40 years later he would be considered as one of the central pillars of the Finnish Culture. A true Renaissance man, Loiri developed over the years a spectacular career, both as a musician and as an actor / comedian. He recorded dozens of albums, many of which were immensely popular in his native country. He even represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1980, singing a song dedicated to his beloved flute. He also starred in dozens of movies, many of which are considered absolute classics. Loiri´s musical career is quite diverse, but the most important aspect of it is dedicated to his performances of songs with the lyrics written by the great Finnish poet Eino LeinoFind albums by this artist (1878-1926), the great pioneer of Finnish poetry. Loiri recorded several albums dedicated to Leino´s poetry, all of which are quite extraordinary, both musically and lyrically. Although Loiri was never a Jazz musician per se, he always cooperated on his albums with many Finnish Jazz musicians and many of these albums can be considered as Jazz albums, in a broader sense. The Eino Leino albums, therefore, should be considered as part of the Jazz & Poetry movement, which was quite popular in Europe since the 1960s. The passionate love affair between Jazz music and Poetry originated during the Beat movement in the 1950s, when US writers and poets discovered that the freedom and improvisational character of modern Jazz could be also utilized in modern writing. The spiritual proximity between the various disciplines of Modern Art & Literature created many cross-media encounters, with Jazz musicians and poets often performing together. In the early 1960s Jazz & Poetry crossed over to Europe, first into UK and then spreading quickly all over the Continent. Jazz musicians and poets created passionate collaborations in France, Germany, Poland and the Scandinavian countries. But in a similar way as to what happened to American Jazz, when it was absorbed by the Europeans, who amalgamated it with their European musical heritage, Jazz & Poetry also changed, when music was being composed by the Europeans not only to accompany contemporary literary works, but also Classic literature and poetry, as far back as Shakespeare´s sonnets. European Jazz musicians / composers often created music to accompany literary works from their National heritage, similar in a way to the inspirations of the European Romantic Classical composers earlier on. In Finland the Jazz & Poetry movement produced some extraordinary achievements and many of the country´s most illustrious musicians were involved with it at least at some stage of their career. Vesa-Matti Loiri´s contributions to the movement are surely amongst the most important ones. On the gatefold cover of the "4 + 20" LP Vesa-Matti Loiri writes as follows: "This record was made spontaneously, without any great preparations. It is not meant to serve commercial purposes. This music has risen from friendship." This is in fact a concise and completely truthful description of this album. The album features Loiri the flute player. His vocal contributions here are mostly accidental and humorous (his comedian nature), except for one track, where he actually sings. For the recording he invited a group of friends, which in retrospect reads like the who´s who of Finnish Jazz at the time: saxophonist / flautist Esa PethmanFind albums by this artist (who plays piccolo flute here), saxophonist Eero KoivistoinenFind albums by this artist, organist Tuomo TanskaFind albums by this artist, guitarist Hasse WalliFind albums by this artist (who also helped Loiri with most of the arrangements), bassist Pekka SarmantoFind albums by this artist and drummer Esko RosnellFind albums by this artist. Several other players contribute percussion and vocal tidbits. The music is very versatile and ranges from Jazz via Folklore to Rock and even Classical. A couple of Herbie MannFind albums by this artist´s tunes – an obvious choice by a flautist, some folklore, both international and Finnish, some Rock and some "serious" music (see below), all arranged in a Jazzy fashion and performed joyously yet somewhat informally, as indicated by Loiri´s quote. Nevertheless there are plenty of great solos here and the overall level of performance is definitely outstanding. The album´s title is of course the Stephen StillsFind albums by this artist´ tune, first heard on the Crosby, Stills, Nash & YoungFind albums by this artist legendary "Déjà VuFind albums with this title" album. It is used here as a repeated "theme", appearing repeatedly between the tracks. The album´s most interesting track, which is the song "Itkevä Huilu", featuring Loiri´s vocals, is a clear precursor of his future Jazz & Poetry work. The song´s lyrics were written by the Finnish poet Larin KyöstiFind albums by this artist and the music by the great Finnish Classical composer Oskar MerikantoFind albums by this artist. Overall the music on this album is conserved, as in a time capsule, losing nothing of its joy and playfulness, good nature and musical friendship. Such qualities should definitely be preserved! Thanks to PorterFind albums on this label Records for making this musical treasure available again! Side Note The above are my liner notes included on this album's artwork. I am honored when asked by the Artists to write liner notes for their albums, always hoping that my words reflect the true spirit of the music. This is also a symbol of our mutual respect and friendship developed over the years. The same is also true when Record Labels ask me to write liner notes for their releases, mostly in the case of reissues of archival albums, which is a symbol of their appreciation of my knowledge and historical perspective and my recognition of their dedication to the preservation of the history of recorded music and the effort to keep human Culture and Aesthetics alive.

Updated: 19/09/2018Posted:

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