Kalevi Louhivuori Quintet - Almost American Standards (2016)

Unbridled and in-the-zone Kalevi Louhivuori. The Finnish trumpeter, already in the spotlight with the outstanding Big Blue quartet, is releasing a new, fanciful and ironic project on CAM JAZZ. The concept here is to flirt with famous American standards, which would, so far, be rather conventional. But Louhivuori’s brainwave is not about reinterpreting them, more or less faithfully, but picking up on each of them to produce fresh compositions. That’s how a “Take 4”, clearly inspired by Paul Desmond’s world-famous “Take 5”, or a “6 Steps To Heaven”, just one step behind Miles Davis’, turned up on this CD. The eight tracks featuring “Almost American Standards” were recorded with the valuable contribution of an all-Finnish combo: Ville Vannemaa on sax, Mikael Myrskog on piano, Eero Seppä on double bass and Jaska Lukkarinen on drums. Fifty minutes of excellent music, in which the pleasure of listening is combined with that of searching for charm, reference and the refined art of flirting with sources and heading towards fresh, amazing sonic destinations. It’s up to the listener to find out which muse is behind each piece and try to trace the original, detecting similarities with and differences in Louhivuori’s writing.

Tracklist:
5:16 | 01. Jorma Kalevi Louhivuori - For Mr Evans
5:56 | 02. Jorma Kalevi Louhivuori - Crise
5:59 | 03. Jorma Kalevi Louhivuori - Praise
9:43 | 04. Jorma Kalevi Louhivuori - Yes And Now
5:49 | 05. Jorma Kalevi Louhivuori - Take 4
6:56 | 06. Jorma Kalevi Louhivuori - Six Steps To Heaven
7:51 | 07. Jorma Kalevi Louhivuori - Blues For Joshua
3:21 | 08. Jorma Kalevi Louhivuori - Alone Again