Juhani Aaltonen (born December 12, 1935) is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

saxophonist and flautist. Juhani-Aaltonen DSC01396

Born in

Kouvola Kouvola () is a city and municipality in southeastern Finland. It is located along the Kymijoki River in the region of Kymenlaakso, kilometers east of Lahti, west of Lappeenranta and northeast of the capital, Helsinki. With Kotka, Kouvola is ...

, Finland, he studied at

Sibelius Academy The Sibelius Academy ( fi, Taideyliopiston Sibelius-Akatemia, sv, Sibelius-Akademin vid Konstuniversitetet) is part of the University of the Arts Helsinki and a university-level music school which operates in Helsinki and Kuopio, Finland. It al ...

and Berklee College of Music. He began playing professionally at the end of the 1950s. He played in a sextet led by Heikki Rosendahl during that time, and then studied flute performance at the

and in the U.S. at the Berklee College of Music. Moving back to Finland, he settled in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

and began working both as a session musician and with

fusion Fusion, or synthesis, is the process of combining two or more distinct entities into a new whole. Fusion may also refer to: Science and technology Physics *Nuclear fusion, multiple atomic nuclei combining to form one or more different atomic nucl ...

groups. Later in the 1960s he formed a duo with

Edward Vesala Edward Vesala (15 February 1945 – 4 December 1999), born Martti Vesala, was a Finnish avant-garde jazz drummer. Career Born in Mäntyharju, he began playing jazz and rock in the 1960s, in such bands as Blues Section and Apollo. In the 1970 ...

, as well as in the group Eero Koivistoinen for four years. He played with Tasavallan Presidentti in their earlier days, including for their first, eponymous, album. He recorded with

Thad Jones Thaddeus Joseph Jones (March 28, 1923 – August 20, 1986) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader who has been called "one of the all-time greatest jazz trumpet soloists". Biography Thad Jones was born in Pontiac, Michigan, U ...

and

Mel Lewis Melvin Sokoloff (May 10, 1929 – February 2, 1990), known professionally as Mel Lewis, was an American jazz drummer, session musician, professor, and author. He received fourteen Grammy Award nominations. Biography Early years Lewis was ...

and with

Heikki Sarmanto Heikki Veli Uolevi Sarmanto (born 22 June 1939) is a Finnish jazz pianist and composer. Sarmanto was born in Helsinki, Finland, and began to play jazz during the 1960s. He studied first at the Sibelius Academy and later at the Berklee College ...

in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and his first album as a soloist, ''Etiquette'', was released in 1974. In 1975, he became a member of the New Music Orchestra, and worked with the

Nordic All Stars Nordic most commonly refers to: * Nordic countries, written in plural as Nordics, the northwestern European countries, including Scandinavia, Fennoscandia and the North Atlantic * Scandinavia, a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in ...

Arild Andersen Arild Andersen (born 27 October 1945) is a Norwegian jazz musician bassist, known as the most famous Norwegian bass player in the international jazz scene. Career Andersen was born at Strømmen, Norway. He started his musical career as jazz g ...

, and

Peter Brötzmann Peter Brötzmann (born 6 March 1941) is a German saxophonist and clarinetist. Biography Early life Brötzmann was born in Remscheid, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. He studied painting in Wuppertal and was involved with the Fluxus movement ...

later in the 1970s. The 1980s saw him working with the UFO Big Band,

Jan Garbarek Jan Garbarek () (born 4 March 1947) is a Norwegian jazz saxophonist, who is also active in classical music and world music. Garbarek was born in Mysen, Østfold, southeastern Norway, the only child of a former Polish prisoner of war, Czesław ...

Charlie Mariano Carmine Ugo Mariano (November 12, 1923 – June 16, 2009) was an American jazz saxophonist who focused on the alto and soprano saxophone. He occasionally performed and recorded on flute and nadaswaram as well. Biography Mariano was born in ...

, and others. He was granted a 15-year state grant from Finland in the mid-1980s. In 1983 he rejoined Tasavallan Presidentti, and has recorded and toured with them since. He was featured in a profile on composer

Graham Collier James Graham Collier (21 February 1937 – 9 September 2011) was an English jazz bassist, bandleader and composer. Life and career Born in Tynemouth, Northumberland, England, on leaving school Collier joined the British Army as a musician, ...

in the 1985

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

documentary 'Hoarded Dreams' https://www.bright-thoughts.co.uk/hoarded-dreams.html Hoarded Dreams documentary website He led a touring quartet from 1990 to 1992 with

Olli Ahvenlahti Olli Ahvenlahti (born 6 August 1949, in Helsinki) is a Finnish pianist, composer and conductor. He is of Russian descent. Ahvenlahti succeeded Ossi Runne as the Finnish conductor at the Eurovision Song Contest for the 1990 Contest. In all, h ...

, Heikki Virtanen and

Reino Laine Reino is the Portuguese, Galician and Spanish word for ''kingdom'' and may refer to: * Reino, Campania, a town in the province of Benevento, Italy People Surname Reino is a Spanish surname. Notable people with this surname include: * Fernando Góm ...

. Aaltonen and

released a duo recording, ''Rise'', in 2001; in 2003 Aaltonen's trio album ''Mother Tongue'' won a Jazz-Emma in Finland. Aaltonen continues to teach at the annual

Nilsiä Nilsiä is a former small town and a municipality of Finland. It joined the city of Kuopio at the beginning of year 2013. It is located in the Northern Savonia region. The town has a population of (31 December 2012) and covers an area of of whic ...

Music Camp.

Discography

*''Etiquette'', 1974 *''Strings'', 1976, with

Henrik Otto Donner Henrik Otto Donner (16 November 1939 – 26 June 2013) was a Finnish composer, musician and all-round music personality. His musical styles varied from pop and rock music to jazz, electronic music and contemporary classical music. Donner's person ...

*''Springbird'', 1979 *''Prana. Live at Groovy'', 1982 *''Déjà Vu'', 2000, with Art Farmer,

, Pekka Sarmanto, Jukka-Pekka Uotila and Tapio Aaltonen *''Rise'', 2001, with

*''Mother Tongue'', 2003, with Ulf Krokfors with Tom Nekljudow *''Strings Revisited'', 2003, with

Reggie Workman Reginald "Reggie" Workman (born June 26, 1937 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American avant-garde jazz and hard bop double bassist, recognized for his work with both John Coltrane and Art Blakey. Career Early in his career, Workman wo ...

Andrew Cyrille Andrew Charles Cyrille (born November 10, 1939) is an American avant-garde jazz drummer. Throughout his career, he has performed both as a leader and a sideman in the bands of Walt Dickerson and Cecil Taylor, among others. AllMusic biographer ...

and the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra *''Suhka'', 2003, with Jone Takamäki, Tane Kannisto, Verneri Pohjola, Patrik Latvala, Seppo Kantonen, Jarmo Savolainen, Pekka Nylund, Antti Hytti, Ulf Krokfors, Tom Nekljudow, and Stefan Paavola *''Reflections'', 2004, with

and

*''Wonders Never Cease'', 2005, with Mikko Iivanainen and Klaus Suonsaari *''Illusion of a Ballad'', 2006, with Ulf Krokfors and Tom Nekljudow *''The Sky is Ruby'',2007, UMO Jazz Orchestra with

Raoul Björkenheim Raoul Melvin Björkenheim (born February 11, 1956) is an American jazz guitarist from Los Angeles. His mother is Finnish-American actress Taina Elg.''Finlands ridderskaps och adels kalender 1992'', pp. 92–93. Esbo 1991. In his teens he moved ...

and

Iro Haarla Iro Haarla (born 7 November 1956) is a Finnish jazz pianist and harpist, as well as composer and band leader. Career At the Sibelius Academy, in Helsinki, Haarla studied classical piano under Izumi Tateno, musical composition under Einar Englu ...

*''Conclusions'', 2009, with Iro Haarla, Ulf Krokfors, and Reino Laine

As sideman

With

*'' Shimri'' (ECM, 1976) *'' Green Shading into Blue'' (ECM, 1978) With

*'' Hoarded Dreams'' (Cuneiform, 1983 007 With

*''

Nan Madol Nan Madol is an archaeological site adjacent to the eastern shore of the island of Pohnpei, now part of the Madolenihmw district of Pohnpei state in the Federated States of Micronesia in the western Pacific Ocean. Nan Madol was the capital of t ...

'' (JAPO, 1974) *'' Satu'' (ECM, 1977)

References

External links

Official websiteJazz Finland
* Juhani Aaltonenat

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aaltonen, Juhani Finnish jazz musicians Jazz saxophonists Jazz flautists 1935 births Living people People from Kouvola Finnish jazz composers Berklee College of Music alumni Finnish flautists 21st-century saxophonists Finnish expatriates in the United States Sibelius Academy alumni 21st-century flautists