Edward Vesala (15 February 1945 – 4 December 1999), born Martti Vesala, was a Finnish

avant-garde jazz Avant-garde jazz (also known as avant-jazz and experimental jazz) is a style of music and improvisation that combines avant-garde art music and composition with jazz. It originated in the early 1950s and developed through to the late 1960s. Orig ...

drummer.

Career

Born in

Mäntyharju Mäntyharju (, literally 'Pine Ridge') is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the Southern Savonia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The coastline is almost . The population densit ...

, he began playing jazz and rock in the 1960s, in such bands as Blues Section and Apollo. In the 1970s, he led his own jazz groups, a quartet with Polish trumpet player

Tomasz Stańko Tomasz Ludwik Stańko (11 July 1942 – 29 July 2018) was a Polish trumpeter and composer. Stańko was associated with free jazz and the avant-garde. In 1962, Tomasz Stańko formed his first band, the Jazz Darings, with saxophonist Janusz Muni ...

and sax player Tomasz Szukalski, played with

Toto Blanke Toto may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters Pets * Toto (''Oz''), a dog in the novel and film ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' * Toto, in Japanese '' The Cat Returns'' Characters of agency * a character in '' Le château à ...

's Electric Circus, and recorded with Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek. In the 1980s and 1990s, Vesala recorded several albums of his own compositions that combined

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 majo ...

, classical music,

tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries as the result of a combina ...

, and

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...

with his own group Sound & Fury, an ensemble of about ten players made up mostly of Vesala's students. Prominent players in Sound and Fury included saxophonists

Jorma Tapio Jorma can refer to: *Jorma (name), Finnish given name *Jorma (album), released by Kaukonen in 1979 *Jorma (wine), a Finnish wine *nowadays in Finnish language ''jorma'' is a very well-known slang word that means penis A penis (plural ''p ...

and Pepa Päivinen, guitarists Raoul Björkenheim and

Jimi Sumén Jimi may refer to: * Jimi language (Cameroon) * Jimi language (Nigeria) * Jimi languages * Jimi system, the administration system of ancient China * Jimi River, in Papua New Guinea * Jimi Valley, in Papua New Guinea * Jimi District, in Papua New Gui ...

, and harpist and keyboardist

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 Engl ...

, who was Vesala's wife. Vesala died from congestive heart failure in Yläne, Finland at the age of 54.

Discography

As leader

* '' Nan Madol'' (ECM, 1974) * ''

Satu Satu may refer to: Geography * Satu Mare, a town in northwest Romania * SATU, a people mover A people mover or automated people mover (APM) is a type of small scale automated guideway transit system. The term is generally used only to descr ...

'' (ECM, 1977) * ''Heavy Life'' (Leo, 1980) * '' Lumi'' (ECM, 1986) * '' Ode to the Death of Jazz'' (ECM, 1989) * '' Invisible Storm'' (ECM, 1991) * '' Nordic Gallery'' (ECM, 1994)

As sideman

With Jan Garbarek * ''

Triptykon Triptykon is a Swiss extreme metal band from Zürich, formed in 2008 by Thomas Gabriel Fischer, founding member of the pioneering heavy metal bands Hellhammer, Celtic Frost and Apollyon Sun. History Fischer announced his departure from Celti ...

'' (ECM, 1973) With

* ''TWET (Polish Jazz vol. 39)'' ( Polskie Nagrania Muza, 1974) * '' Balladyna'' (ECM, 1976) * ''Live at Remont'' (Helicon, 1976) * ''Almost Green'' (Leo, 1978) With Kenny Wheeler * ''

Around 6 ''Around 6'' is an album by trumpeter Kenny Wheeler recorded in 1979 and released on the ECM label.Allmusic Guide biography of Edward Vesala AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Musi ...

by Chris Kelsey
Eetu – 12 sessiota Edward Vesalan kanssa
Documentary film on Vesala and his work with Sound and Fury by Markus Viljanen (1994)
''Jazzhouse''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vesala, Edward 1945 births 1999 deaths People from Mäntyharju 20th-century conductors (music) 20th-century drummers 20th-century male musicians ECM Records artists Finnish conductors (music) Finnish jazz drummers Finnish jazz musicians Finnish male composers Male jazz musicians 20th-century Finnish composers