ppIANISSIMO JAZZ
Solo Piano recital by
Aki Rissanen (Finland)
(© Teemu Kuusimurto)
Pieces from his album
La Lumière Noire (2008, Aeon / Ilma Records) *
Pieces from his album
Sturm (2015, Ilma Records) *
Improvisations
…and more…
__________
* Bulgarian premiere
* * *
Finnish
pianist and composer Aki Rissanen
was born in 1980 in Kuopio. Although originally classically trained, he has
always had a heart for improvisation and jazz. His studies include classical
piano at the Kuopio Conservatory, jazz music and education at the Helsinki
Polytechnic School Stadia, jazz and improvised music at the Conservatoire
National Superieur de Musique in Paris, private lessons in New York and Cologne
as well as jazz piano and composition at the Sibelius Academy Jazz Department
in Finland, where he received his master’s degree. His teachers include Jarmo
Savolainen, Jukkis Uotila, Kirmo Lintinen, John Taylor, Jim Beard, Anders
Jormin, Hervé Sellin, Markku Hyvärinen, Jouni Kuronen, Seppo Kantonen, Frank
Carlberg, Pessi Levanto and Mikael Jakobsson.
Rissanen has
made several extended stays in Paris, Berlin and New York and is currently
based in Helsinki.
He has
released five albums under his own name in USA, France and Finland and has
recorded with such names as Dave Liebman, Rick Margitza, Tim Hagans, Magnus
Broo, Jim Beard, Robin Verheyen and Verneri Pohjola. He has shared the stage
with UMO Jazz Orchestra, Dave Liebman, Rick Margitza, Randy Brecker, Mats
Gustafsson, Sten Sandell, Ingrid Jensen, Michael Gibbs, Barry Guy, Daniel
Humair, Bill Watrous, Jukka Perko, Jukkis Uotila, Eero Koivistoinen and Ulf
Krokfors among others.
Rissanen is
the leader of Aki Rissanen Trio with Antti Lötjönen (bass) and Teppo Mäkynen
(drums) and a side project of this trio, entitled Amorandom featuring Petri Ruikka on visuals. He co-leads the trio Aleatoric with Robin Verheyen (sax) and
Markku Ounaskari (drums), the duo with Verheyen, the quartets featuring sax
greats Dave Liebman and Rick Margitza, the Frozen
Gainsbourg quintet with Mikko Innanen (sax), featuring Emil Strandberg
(trumpet), Per Zanussi (bass) and Stefan Pasborg (drums) from Sweden, Norway
and Denmark respectively.
With
trumpeter Verneri Pohjola, Rissanen has worked over 10 years and is a member of
his quartet, which has released two albums for the prestigious ACT Records in Germany. The duo with
Pohjola has seen many concerts too. Newer groups include Esa Pietilä’s Liberty Ship, Mikko Hassinen’s Electro GT, Jori Huhtala’s 5 and Pope Puolitaival’s United.
German-born
composer Sid Hille wrote a piano concerto Motion
for Rissanen in 2012 and the premiere was in the Laulumiehet Concert Hall in
Helsinki in October of the same year. Rissanen has participated in Jukka
Perko’s orchestral productions Bird
Lives! and Perko Plays Simon and
Garfunkel. He has also played in an orchestral work by Heikki Sarmanto.
Rissanen has
been distinguished with both national and international prizes, and has
performed in most European countries, the USA, China and North Africa. He has
taught jazz music in the Sibelius Academy, Helsinki, the Helsinki Polytechnic
School Stadia, in several summer camps and has given private lessons. He has
received one-year artist grants from the Finnish Cultural Foundation in 2009
and 2012 respectively.
(© Chris-Tomas Konieczny)