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On Internet since 1999 The Birka Jazz Archive Records we have bought and sold over the years - the rare and the beautiful! Please note! Birka Jazz record store is closed but Birka Jazz Archive is still available. Scroll down and use the links to browse this comprehensive archive of rare jazz album covers AMERICAN LABELS COLUMBIA RECORDS CLEF, NORGRAN, VERVE (1) CLEF, NORGRAN, VERVE (2) BLUE NOTE 10" LPs BLUE NOTE 1500 series BLUE NOTE 4000 series PRESTIGE RECORDS RIVERSIDE RECORDS PACIFIC JAZZ CONTEMPORARY SAVOY RECORDS DIAL RECORDS ATLANTIC RECORDS EMARCY RECORDS BETHLEHEM RECORDS DEBUT RECORDS CANDID RECORDS ESP-DISK IMPULSE RECORDS RCA VICTOR VARIOUS US labels (1) VARIOUS US labels (3) EUROPEAN LABELS SWEDEN (1) SWEDEN (2) SWEDEN (3) SWEDEN (4) DENMARK NORWAY FINLAND FRANCE ENGLAND
GERMANY ITALY HOLLAND POLAND OTHER COUNTRIES FINLANDPlenty of merged styles in Finnish jazzThe merge of jazz and rock in the 1970s was more obvious in Finland than in many other countries. The Finnish music scene was dominated by progressive rock and funk that could just as well be called jazz. Many jazz musicans became improvising soloists in rock groups. A driving force in this movement was a record company, Love Records, wich was led by jazz musicians who did not seem to make any difference between rock and jazz.This mixture of different musical styles was not a new thing in Finland. It had been heard before in Finnish jazz. In fact, there was not much jazz in Finland in the 1940s and 50s. Bebop or hardbop never really arrived. Small combos with featured vocalist dominated the scene and they played dance music or so called "jazz schlager". It was a combination of American jazz and popular muisic, East European and Russian music, Finnish traditional dance music, and Jewish klezmer. Real jazz in the 1960sHowever, the 1960s brought forth a new generation who created real jazz music. Talanted young musicians like Esa Pethman, Heikki Sarmanto, Eero Koivistoinen and Otto Donner started to compose original compositions, combining hard bop, modal and free jazz with Finnish folk music.Esa Pethman Esa Pethman´s album The Modern Sound of Finland in 1965 is an example of this new musical language. His music is influenced by both folk music and the Finnish romantic composers of the 1910´s. And the album For Friends and Relatives by Christian Schwindt Quintet (with Otto Donner and Heikki Sarmanto) shows Finnish hardbop at its best in the mid 1960s. Heikki Sarmanto Otto Donner Eero Koivistoinen In the last half of the 1960s the popularity of jazz in Finland diminished, but the way was opened. Eero Koivistoinen issued several LPs and groups led by Pethman, Pekka Pöyry and Edward Vesala succeeded abroad in contests and festivals. Other young talented Finnish jazz musicians were Juhani Aaltonen, Seppo Paakunainen and Pekka Sarmanto, Prog rock with improvised jazz solosIn the early 1970s many Finnish jazz musicians started to combine jazz, rock and funk. The music of bands like Tasavallen Presidentti and Wigwam is generally regarded as progressive rock, but in fact they played a music close to fusion jazz. In concerts they played a lot of improvised music and had soloists such as Jukka Tolonen and Pekka Pohjola.Eero Koivistoinen continued in the 1970s with albums like Wahoo and The Front Is Breaking, which gave him a name in the jazzfunk world. The biggest name in Finnish jazzfunk was pianist Olli Ahvenlahti. He managed to inhale the laidback attitude of the genre and exhale a groovy breath of air in his albums Bandstand and The Poet. Olli Ahvenlahti In 1975 the UMO jazz orchestra was founded. This professional big band gave an opportunity to many Finnish players to earn their living as a full-time jazz musicians. UMO has also invited many top international jazz names to conduct the orchestra and to educate its players and Finnish composers and arrangers. Own dialect of jazzAmong Finnish musicians who cultivating their own dialect of jazz was Edward Vesala. In collaborating with foreign musicians like Peter Brötzmann and Tomasz Stanko, he contributed in several fine entry points of the era such as Hot Lotta and Balladyna.Edward Vesala In the 1980s Finnish musicians were more and more playing with foreign jazz musicians. For instance bassist Teppo Hauta-Aho worked with musicians such as Cecil Taylor and Alex von Schlippenbach. Other Finnish musicians, such as Heikki Sarmanto and Jukka Linkola, composed works that combined elements of jazz and clasical musik. LOVE RECORDS was founded in 1966 by a Finland-Swedish trio, the jazzmusicians Christian Schwindt and Otto Donner and the journalist Atte Blom. The famous logo was designed by Harri Manner. The label was pionering in Finnish rock music but also issued jazz, political and ethnic music. Among the first LPs were the legendary Blues Section with Eero Koivistoinen, and the Swedish jazz pianist Lars Werner. In the 1970s, Love Records issued most of the important Finnish progressive rock and jazzfunk. Before the label went bankrupt in 1979 they had released almost 400 LPs and as many singles and EPs. Finnish Jazz & Pop Archive Finnish Jazz fimic.fi |
FINLAND
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