Founded in 2001, ASTRO CAN CARAVAN is a Finnish collective using large line-ups on their gigs and albums. Their personal instrumental music could be described as psychedelic, ethnically coloured, occasionally avant-garde oriented Big Band Fusion. I'd like to cite the respected Finnish music journalist Pekka Laine from his review on some ACC album, freely translated: "The caravan that wildly operates in an area loosely bordered by funk, imaginary ethnicity, astral noise and free sound waves succeeds to create an unbelievable bazaar atmosphere. Sometimes with an intensity of a snake charmer, sometimes speaking strange things from a mystic's mouth, and every now and then heading into complete lunacy."

It is possible -- I admit I'm not so deeply into this band -- that this new album is easier to absorb than the earlier ones, rather easy to like if you're into both brass-heaviness and psychedelia. At least the frenziest freak-out moments are kept at bay. Let's have a look at the five pieces here.

The tight 5-minute opener 'Astral Projection' was composed by trumpetist Eero Savela, and it has a strong sense of vintage psychedelic jazz-rock. Saxophonist Pauli Lyytinen's 'Solifer 72' (8:38) has a bit calmer tempo and a hypnotic rhythm pattern evoking images of a camel caravan wandering across a desert. I like the way the reeds are soloing in turns, especially Otto Eskelinen's flute.

Eskelinen's composition 'Se kohiseva koski' (6:57) starts slowly and carefully with a bunch of wind instruments gradually growing bigger, bass playing peacefully on the background, until on the third minute the band gets wilder with a Klezmer/Balkan spirit. Balkan ingredients have always been hard for me to digest, but amidst the repetitive and brassy riff-orientation one can also spot interesting participations of various instruments.

Another Eskelinen tune 'Mustavuoren kuiskaus' is the album's most elegant track. Again there's a steady, groovy rhythm pattern and the players take their moments at front. During the album Emil Luukkonen's keyboards tend to be slightly buried under the multitude of wind instruments, but here the electric piano is crucial in creating a 70's-like jazz-rock atmosphere.

The 12-minute, more epic piece 'Amen Ra' (the third one composed by Otto Eskelinen) proceeds with a "where do we go from here?" kind of free-form jamming where only Janne Mathlin's metallic, sharp percussion keeps repeating its steady pattern til the end. if the track's first half has rather a confused atmosphere, the ensemble playing becomes more unified as the piece progresses in a hypnotic manner. The several wind solos are nicely woven into the overall sound where Arttu Hasu's bass sticks out deliciously (almost like in The Police's 'Demolition Man'). The 1974-78 era JADE WARRIOR comes to my mind for the hypnotic feel. Yeah, this tune is my fave, and the grand finale reminiscent of the one in Ravel's 'Bolero' is a fascinating way to finish it.

Apart from the third track's Balkan ingredients I can enjoy this album pretty well, in the right mood.

Junassa (=In a train) is the second album of Emmi Uimonen, relatively young Finnish jazz pianist and composer. Her debut My Bird (2019) was a quintet work for piano, violin, alto sax, bass and drums, I haven't listened to it. This time she also sings and is accompanied by double bassist Juuso Rinta and drummer Ville Luukkonen. Tenor saxophonist Adele Sauros guests on two tracks.

In addition to her seven own compositions Emmi has written new lyrics to the moody Finnish traditional melody (known as 'On suuri sun rantasi autius'), that's the 2nd track here. The opening title track is a fine example of Emmi's songwriting. The airy jazz groove meets a slightly Joni Mitchell reminding melodic song substance. The trio plays so well together that the music would function instrumentally, too. That said, I do like her voice, it feels natural and effortless and also bends into wordless, scat-like expression.

'Kysyt miksi' (=You ask why) has a lot of poignant questioning about the uncertain future of mankind, including the environmental worries. Her lyrics in general are thoughtful, but the music never feels like a mere background for vocals. Piano stays fairly equal in the trio, not leaving the excellent rhythm section in its shadow. Luukkonen uses his sticks in a colourful way.

Several pieces have instrumental sections but the compositional structures don't wander into highly surprising directions. The sax on tracks 6 and 8 naturally adds some sonic variety. Nevertheless, despite all my praises above, in the end this solid album doesn't manage to really impress me in the emotional level, and a slight feeling of evenness sets in. This may however change with repeated listenings as the songs become more distinctive from each other.

My first acquaintance with the Finnish jazz guitarist and composer Kari Antila (b. 1966) was circa 2016 when I attended his gig (as a duo with a pianist, I believe it was), in a Helsinki restaurant. I liked it enough to buy right there his first album The North Wind (2013), but have to admit I've seldom listened to it. It featured Manuel Dunkel's saxophone. This latest Antila album is a quartet work, featuring pianist Alexi Tuomarila and the rhythm section of double bassist Kaisa Mäensivu -- also known as a band leader of her own -- and drummer Tuomas Timonen. All seven pieces were composed by Antila.

Right from the opening track 'For Toninho' I came to think of PAT METHENY, his easy-going and light-hearted output, to be more precise. This association is helped by the Lyle Mays style pianism and, above all, Antila's use of his voice as an additional instrument in the similar manner as on several Metheny albums. 'Moving Clouds' is slightly moody in its peaceful tempo and features Kaisa's double bass solo.

'Wild Rooster' is naturally among the livelier stuff here, nevertheless it maintains the sonic smoothness. Throughout the album the music is sophisticated, melodic, fairly gentle and easy on the ears and mind. Happy moods and a more introspective delicacy are in a harmonic balance. Not even 'Waltz for the Swan of Tuonela' gets notably dark, nor it (or Antila's music in general) sounds particularly Finnish, despite the title's reference to Kalevala/ Jean Sibelius.

The voice as an instrument returns on the final piece 'On my Way to Nairobi'. All in all this excellently played and produced album is very easy to enjoy, and especially fans of Pat Metheny will feel at home here. What it perhaps lacks is a wider variety in (guitar) sounds and truly memorable highlights. Four stars, therefore.

I remember borrowing this CD from a library, most likely in the early nineties, when I had run across the name of the American musician and composer MARK ISHAM (b. 1951). The connection wasn't jazz or even film music in which Isham has been productive, instead I was charmed by a romantically peaceful track 'My Wife With Champagne Shoulders' on some instrumental, mainly electronic music compilation on the Innovative Communication label, I think. Isham's calm, sensitive and introspective music -- he plays mainly trumpet and keyboards -- is indeed recommendable to the listeners of Ambient and alike.

For the most part, this unusual set of film music makes no exception. I don't remember if the CD leaflet had any further information on the three movies that still are unfamiliar to me. Instead of containing short tracks typical for soundtrack albums, this CD contains three extended pieces, one for each film.

"Mrs. Soffel" (1984) is a drama starring Diane Keaton and Mel Gibson. The roughly 14-minute track here is very melancholic and serene for the most part as it progresses through various sections -- that actually sound like they were separate pieces. One could ask the necessity of programming it as a single track. Nevertheless, the music calls for dedicated listening free of distractions and rewards it the way the so called New Age Music does at its best. Other involved musicians include Pat Metheny's sideman Lyle Mays on piano and Peter Maunu on violin. Isham plays plenty of penny whistle on this track.

"The Times of Harvey Milk" (1984) is an Oscar-winning documentary of the gay politician. Again, the 8½ minute track has various sections, some of them bright-toned, some moodier. The synths are central making the music at times comparable to the likes of Vangelis and Roger Eno, but one clearly senses this is film music aimed to underline emotions.

"Never Cry Wolf" (1983) is a drama about a government biologist sent into the wilderness to study the caribou population whose decline is believed to be caused by wolves. The music has a wide, epic approach depicting the grandiosity and chillingness of the wildlife nature. The arrangement is bigger, featuring e.g. bassoon, bamboo flutes, harp, percussion and human voices. Very likely a soundtrack album with separate tracks instead of the nearly 25-minute piece would function better for the listener.

The melancholically oriented Soffel piece is my favourite here. I don't know if this album is among the most recommendable in Isham's large catalogue. At least if you wish for a trumpet oriented album, this may not be what you're looking for. Often it's very atmospheric, but it's also a bit patchy (and occasionally difficult to get hold on) within its heavily extended tracks.

American vocalist, pianist and composer PATRICIA BARBER (b. November 8, 1955) is an individual artist difficult to categorize. According to All Music Guide, "her playing and singing are almost iconoclastically inventive, inhabiting a terrain inside and outside a musical slipstream that exists between post-bop, pop, classical music, cabaret song, and avant-garde, while being performed with a smoky, dreamy, yet imposing, mercurial presence". She literally grew up to be a musician, and she already was an educated and experienced performer when she started her discography in 1989.

For her very first JMA review I chose this album based on Ovid's Metamorphoses from the year 8 BCE. The Roman poet's epic work on metamorphic-themed mythologies is said to be one of the most influential works in Western culture. [Two quick examples: Genesis's 'The Fountain of Salmacis', and the Narcissus reference in 'Supper's Ready'. I bet anyone can think of several cultural things from the mere track titles here.] In 2003 Patricia Barber won a Guggenheim fellowship -- unusual for a songwriter in the popular field! -- to devote time for the Ovid project. The result is a strong album. The listener doesn't need to be strictly jazz oriented to be impressed by this 11-song cycle, and on the other hand friends of traditional Vocal Jazz may find it somewhat cold and detached. The fellow musicians in Barber's quartet are guitarist Neal Alger, bassist Michael Arnopol and drummer Eric Montzka, and there are guest appearances on e.g. saxophone and vocals.

A word about Patricia Barber as a vocalist. Her voice is rather smoky and yet very clear, and her expression subtle, approaching talking in a low, meaningful voice. Two artist that come to my mind are LAURIE ANDERSON and k. d. lang, even though I cannot say Barber actually sounds like either of them.

'The Moon' progresses from a rather atonal intro, through the vocal oriented serene section, into a vivid instrumental half with a hectic drumming and a tenor sax solo. 'Morpheus' stays more in the nocturnal atmosphere, and the mellow, slow-tempo 'Pygmalion' probably pleases even the old-fashioned jazz listeners. 'Hunger' is less jazz than angular art-rock. 'Icarus' makes me think of JONI MITCHELL's Hejira period. A great song with an exciting guitar sound.

The art-rock guitar is central on the gloomy 'Orpheus/Sonnet'. Gorgeous 'Persephone' focuses on voice and piano until the rhythm section and guitar join them. Several guest vocalists add to the song's atmospheric charm, as they do on 'Phaeton' which -- against my taste -- even turns into rap. The final song 'The Hours' contains both the minimalistic calmness à la SIDSEL ENDRESEN and the bluesy rock edge highlighting guitar, and a choir on top of it all.

This is an ambitious, fascinating, many-sided and extremely deep album that doesn't reveal all its magic on first listenings. Recommended if you like artists mentioned above, and the likes of ROBERT WYATT, DAVID SYLVIAN, TIM BOWNESS...