Edition Aki Rissanen - Art In Motion

2019


Aki Rissanen - pian
Antti Lotjonen - bas
Teppo Makynen - tobe

 

Art In Motion is the third album from Finnish pianist Aki Rissanen and his long standing trio with bassist Antti Lötjönen and drummer Teppo Mäkynen. And it’s sublime! An album that binds European Classical Music influence with an Electronic Dance music aesthetic, framed by their own approach to Noridc Jazz. The trio is the complete package! The music is whole, fully formed and diverse in its makeup yet focussed and to the point. They know what sound they want to create and wow do they pull it off! The trio’s collective sound grows stronger with each album; the repetitive, hypnotic hooks, the fusion of influences is unmistakable and undeniably ‘their’ sound, a sound they have cultivated and developed over the years of playing together.

As Aki Explains: “Definitely the trio has been growing together during the last years. We have been touring actively and that really has helped us to communicate on a profound level and find our own voice as a trio, album after album.”

Art In Motion, is a word play around the initials of Aki Rissanen Trio – A.R.T as well as the influence of art music from the repertoire of the European classical music (there is a composition by Italian Renaissance composer Carlo Gesualdo and one by contemporary Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara), whilst Aki’s compositions refer to Satie, Pergolesi, Bach, Ligeti and Stravinsky, to name a few. And the motion? “We are a rhythmically intense band focusing on our interplay, continuing the Nordic tradition as we see it. We, as jazz musicians, are in constant motion because our form of art doesn’t ever stand still.”

Aki continues: “We explore the roots of the current European jazz music from the outskirts of Europe, with our perspective as Finnish artists with Nordic, Slavic and Western European heritage”. It would be easy, and lazy, to attribute those intricate left-hand passages, blended with the warmth and rounded sound of Antti’s bass and subtle groove of Teppo, to the Esbjorn Svensson Trio; or the intricate phrasing and classical influences to Mehldau. But this is music that bares comparison with noone. The trio have created music that is their own, and they are fast becoming one of the great piano trios in their own right.

Both Classical and Electronic music strongly influenced Aki’s playing and writing from day one. He studied classical music repertoire for acoustic piano formally for 12 years, but always alongside his love for electronic music and gear. Tellingly his parents bought his first acoustic piano and synthesiser at the same time, and Aki has taken inspiration from these early days in his composing. “When I started to gather and compose the music for the new album i found myself noodling around tunes, moods and hooks I had been absorbing when I was young.”

Perhaps it’s this blending of influences, classical and electronic, and the juxtaposition of the refined, highly skilled work of the trio alongside the naivety and openness of youth that gives Art In Motion its warm, uplifting and totally infectious vibe. It’s a record that will continue to entrance after multiple listens.