JERE HAAKANA VARJOSTO — Jere Haakana Varjosto (review)

JERE HAAKANA VARJOSTO — Jere Haakana Varjosto album cover Album · 2019 · Jazz Related Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
Matti P
Finnish guitarist Jere Haakana (b. 1983) has shown boundary-free thinking in his musical career: he's played in the live band of rap artist Redrama, modern jazz group Nuance, art music oriented act Unio Ensemble and in the tango group Nueva Quinteto Otra Vez. Jere Haakana Varjosto is an instrumental jazz-rock/fusion quartet playing Haakana's own compositions. Haakana is accompanied by a keyboard player and a rhythm section. This eponymous album from 2019 is the only one this far. To freely cite a net page introducing the band, the orientation towards compositions, cinematic soundscapes, the electric guitar based rock approach and rhythmic energy make the music appealing also to those listeners who aren't into the traditional acoustic jazz sound.

The 46½-minute album has seven tracks mostly between five and nine minutes. In the opening piece 'DC' the rhythm is mostly kept rather simple for the electric guitar to lead the composition from cinematic dreaminess to more rocking nuances, keyboards adding colour in the middle. Nice and suitably accessible, in the vein of Jeff Beck. On 'Manwell's Search' the groovy and playful drumwork pushes upfront and the electric piano is sonically almost as essential as the slightly distorted electric guitar. Makes me think of the title track of Pekka Pohjola's Kätkävaaran lohikäärme (1980), not that it would imitate it anyhow. The guitar solo is fiery.

The lively 'Dash' continues with the similar overall guitar sound while the piano is acoustic. In the middle there's an aggressive guitar burst, followed by an angular and avant-ish piano solo. A bit too restless piece for my taste. 'Sermon' is slower but instead of staying in a meditative introspection it has a lot of fire in the playing. The guitar sound is reminiscent of Terje Rypdal. Gracefully 'Ritual' has a relatively spacey sound, although it gets pretty lively towards the end. The electric piano is again well heard. Lengthy 'Stadion Indie' combines fluently the playful jazziness and the Jeff Beck reminding rock instrumentalism, and the final piece 'I'll Walk You Home' is the needed tender ballad on the spicy album.

This is a strong debut album of electric guitar centred jazz-rock with excellent and nuanced musicianship from the whole quartet. In the end the compositions could be a bit more memorable and emotional, and also the guitar sound could have had more variety during the album. These are fairly minor complaints, however. Four stars, helped by the beautiful cover art.
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