Eero Koivistoinen (born 13 January 1946, in Helsinki) is a Finnish jazz musician and

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

player, who started his career in the mid-1960s. Koivistoinen has worked as a musician, composer, arranger, conductor, producer and educator. He first heard jazz from the records his sailor brother had brought in from his travels. As a youngster Koivistoinen studied classical violin, saxophone and also composition at the

Sibelius Academy The Sibelius Academy (, ) is part of the University of the Arts Helsinki and a university-level music school which operates in Helsinki and Kuopio, Finland. It also has an adult education centre in Järvenpää and a training centre in Seinäjoki ...

, and later jazz at

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. His first line-up featured the drummer

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 1970s ...

and bassist

Pekka Sarmanto Pekka Eerik Juhani Sarmanto (born February 15, 1945, in Helsinki) is a Finnish jazz bassist. Heikki Sarmanto is Pekka's brother. Pekka Sarmanto first studied classical violin at the Sibelius Academy from 1958 to 1964 before he switched to uprig ...

. Koivistoinen was also a member of the seminal Finnish rock band

Blues Section Blues Section are a Finnish rock music group. They started in 1967, formed around the vocalist Jim Pembroke, a British expatriate songwriter now living in Finland. The other members of the band were Eero Koivistoinen (saxophone), Ronnie Österb ...

in the years 1967 and 1968. In 1968 he released his first solo album, a "literary record" called ''Valtakunta'' which featured songs composed to the texts of such poets as

Pentti Saarikoski Pentti Saarikoski (Pitkyarantsky District, Impilahti, now in the Republic of Karelia September 2, 1937 – Joensuu August 24, 1983) was a Finnish poet. He is considered one of the most important poets in the literary scene of Finland during t ...

Jarkko Laine Jarkko Aarre Juhani Laine (17 March 1947 – 19 August 2006) was a Finland, Finnish poet and a writer of prose and plays. He also translated American literature to Finnish.''International Who's who in Poetry''. United Kingdom, International Biog ...

, Tuomas Anhava and

Hannu Mäkelä Hannu Mäkelä is the name of * Hannu Mäkelä (writer) (born 1943), Finnish writer * Hannu Mäkelä (athlete) (born 1949), Finnish sprinter {{hndis, Makela, Hannu ...

; interpreted by the vocalists

Vesa-Matti Loiri Vesa-Matti "Vesku" Loiri (4 January 1945 – 10 August 2022) was a Finnish actor, musician and comedian, best known for his role as Uuno Turhapuro, whom he portrayed in a total of 20 movies between the years 1973 and 2004. Loiri made a strong i ...

Eero Raittinen Eero Raittinen (born 6 October 1944, Helsinki) is a Finnish pop, rock and blues singer and drummer. Starting in 1960, Raittinen performed in various bands, initially alongside his older brother Jussi Raittinen, but has mostly had a solo career ...

and

Seija Simola Seija Saara Maria Simola (25 September 1944 Helsinki – 21 August 2017 Vantaa), married Franzén, was a Finnish singer. She began her career musical in the mid-1960s in the band Eero Seija & Kristian Trio, and her debut solo album was released ...

. Eero Koivistoinen's later solo albums such as ''Wahoo'' (1972) enjoy a considerable international reputation. His

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

-influenced 2006 album ''X-Ray'' features such people as the vocalists Charles Salter and Bina Nkwazi, DJ LBJ (also known as Jonas Verwijnen) and the rap artist

Redrama Lasse Mellberg (born 2 October 1977), better known by his stage name Redrama, is a Finnish rapper. He made a breakthrough in 2003. Redrama, who performs primarily in English, but also in Swedish and Finnish was part of a hip-hop group Alien Alli ...

(also known as Lasse Mellberg). Eero Koivistoinen was one of the founder members of the

UMO Jazz Orchestra file:Umo.jpg, 250px, UMO Jazz Orchestra UMO Jazz Orchestra is a Finnish big band. It was founded in 1975 by jazz musicians Heikki Sarmanto and Esko Linnavalli. UMO is an abbreviation of "Uuden Musiikin Orkesteri" (New Musical Orchestra). Since 198 ...

where he played from 1975 to 1990 and worked as its artistic director from 1996 to 1998. He has also composed music for radio and theatre. Koivistoinen has received the Yrjö prize of the Finnish Jazz Association in 1967, his quartet won the band competition at

Montreux Jazz Festival The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annu ...

in 1969, and Koivistoinen also won in 1981 the prize for the best arrangement with his piece "Ultima Thule" at the Nordring competition of European broadcasting companies, held in

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

Discography

* ''Blues Section'' (1967) * ''Valtakunta'' (1968) * ''Odysseus'' (1969) * ''For Children'' (1970) * ''Original Sin'' (1971) * ''Muusa ja Ruusa'' (1971) * ''Wahoo!'' (1972) * ''3rd Version'' (1973) * ''Front Is Breaking'' (1976) * ''Labyrinth'' (1977) * ''Live at Belmont Jazz Club'' (1977) * ''Ultima Thule'' (1983) * ''Picture in Three Colours'' (1983) * ''Sea Suite'' (1983) * ''UMO Plays the Music of Koivistoinen and Linkola'' (1985) * ''Kallista on ja halvalla menee'' (1988) * ''Pahan Kukkia'' (1990) * ''Altered Things'' (1992) * ''Dialog'' (1995) * ''Electrifying Miles'' (1997) * ''UMO Jazz Orchestra'' (1997) * ''Senegalese Drums'' (1998) * ''Helium'' (1999) * ''Some Time Ago'' (1999) * ''Zone'' (1999) * ''Mozambique Relief'' (2000) * ''UTU'' (2001) * ''Venancio Mbande Orchestra'' (2001) * ''Timbila'' (2002) * ''Suomalainen'' (2003) * ''Galaxy'' (2003) * ''The Five Corners Quintet'' (2005) * ''X-Ray'' (2006) With

Ted Curson Theodore Curson (June 3, 1935 – November 4, 2012) was an American jazz trumpeter. Life and career Curson was born in Philadelphia. He became interested in playing trumpet after watching a newspaper salesman play a silver trumpet. Curson's fath ...

*'' Ode to Booker Ervin'' (EMI Columbia, 1970)

External links

The official Eero Koivistoinen WebsiteEero Koivistoinen's ''Valtakunta'' @ pHinnWebHistorien om klubb Filips del 1. (The history of club Filips pt. 1)Historien om klubb Filips del 2. (The history of club Filips pt. 2)Jazz Finland

References

* Maarit Roiha, ''Ilman soittamista elämä olisi kurjaa'' (Eero Koivistoinen's 60th birthday article in ''Aamulehti'', 13 January 2006) * Harri Uusitorppa, ''Koivistoinen katsoo tulevaisuuteen'' (Koivistoinen's 60th birthday article in ''Helsingin Sanomat'', 12 January 2006) {{DEFAULTSORT:Koivistoinen, Eero 1946 births Living people Finnish male musicians

Discography

See also

External links

References