Spring is here. (Juha H.) 

Who's Next

Listened to the Who album - Who's Next. Woahh!! I'm quite surprised how fantastically and musically the band played on the LP-record. The music itself is still VERY MUCH relevant and alive. I'm delighted, definately. In those bygone days it was quite necessary to play and sing everything rigth in the studio. There were not many ways to 'fix pretty much and almost anything in the mix'... You had to play and sing all and everything very well. There weren't so many ways to patch and fix things in the mix. - Technical things aside... Who's Next is a wonderful album. All those CSI-fans should find and listen the original music of a bygone fantastic band.

J-V sent a txt-message from Kazan, Russia. Atakhama's First gig in Russia is over. All is well - with one exception - it's illegal (!?) to play Heavy Metal in Russia... And yet according to J-V the audience was ravenous. I really hope that the boys will come alive and well back home to Finland.

Juha H.

Campfire of the day. (Juha H.) 

Weather Report

I listened to Weather Report - their album Sweenighter. So easy it was to listen. Joe Zawinul's and Wayne Shorter's musical conception is so close to some things I like and relate to quite naturally. Sweetnighter feels so much a jamsession recording. Some parts of it were definately composed or at least thought, preconcieved in advance. But much of it must have been born just around jamsessions... Improvisages is at least a bit 'in debt' with Weather Report.

J-V sent a text-message from Moscow telling that they could not visit the Mausoleum of V.I. Lenin. Maybe the old man has left for a vacation.

Juha H.

Atakhama

Atakhama began today their Russian Tour - by train from Lahti, Finland. Tomorrow morning the band will arrive in Moscow, Russia. Two weeks they'll travel and gig around Western parts of Russia - Kazan, Tula, Bryansk, Moscow... I wish them safe travelling and good gigging.

Fine, fine Spring day.

Juha H.

Ice melting in the bright sunshine. (Juha H.) 

Kukkiva maa

I listened the recording of Kukkiva maa (=Blossoming Fields) that we, Maija Piitulainen and I , did earlier this year. And it still sounded quite ok. Actually the whole - the combination of poems and music - felt very good and meaningful. Edith Sodergran and Katri Vala were great poets. It seems that the recording is going to be released for real...

Nice and warm Spring day. The snow has mostly melted away. But the ice cover of the Lake Keitele still holds its might.

Juha H.

Erik Bergman

Great Finish composer Erik Bergman died today. He was born in 1911 - so he was not any youngster anymore. But until resent years his mind was definately very "youngish". He was constantly seeking for something new, something different and original ways to express himself. In this sense he can be considered more modern and avantgarde than many younger composers. And maybe this search for unknown paths made his music not so easy to listen. Right at the moment the PA-system in my living room is playing his composition Birds in the Morning for Flute and Orchestra, Op 89 (1979). Mikael Helasvuo plays the flute part quite superbly.


Juha H.

While trekking today - Lake Sirkkalampi is still covered with thick ice. (Juha H.) 

While trekking today - a swan. (Juha H.) 

Hieno keli

Fine Spring weather is finally here. Lots of trekking. And of course I had my camera with me.

Alvin visited. Lots of funny stories from all around Europe. Good laugh every now and then is quite important for your health.

Juha H.

... and after the concert the feelings were very joyous. (Photo: Sini) 

The stage is set - before the concert in Suolahtisali. (Juha H.) 

Improvisages matkalla huomiseen

Now I've packed all equipment for tomorrow. Well, almost all - flute and Stratocaster still wait... Improvisages is going to have a gig in Suolahtisali, Finland. Lots of things to remember. Up to this day every Imrovisages concert has been unique . So every gig has got its own particular amount of paraphernalia. And Jori brings his own instruments - keyboards and microphones. At the venue there is a very good Steinway grand piano.

Juha H.

Bockhill Special - an old band I used to play with. And actually later in time Jori played with them, too ...(Juha H. Photo - Ipi Paananen)

An old painting. (Juha H.) 

Improvisages...

Improvisages had a long rehearsal - music, paintings and all together. Over 40 minutes of new music - both composed and improvised - and more than 400 Ari's paintings. Though pictures were all in digitized form. The whole is quite big...

Wagtails are finally here. The Spring is near.

Juha H.

Flower on the snow. Two photos of today mixed together. (Juha H.) 

Beginning of Easter Bonfire. (Juha H.) 

Ja tuli ilta

Worked all day with my music - mastered a musical project. A month ago I downloaded AbletonLive version 5. Since that time I've worked with it and Pro Tools recording and mixing my music. Today I burned the whole on CD. Some 43 minutes of audio. World music, electronica, improvisation and then what mixed in more or less weird ways...I'm very pleased of the results!!

Improvisages rehearsal today was canceled. What a pity. Jori got a surprise gig in some far away place.

Otherwise a nice Spring day.

Juha H.

Muzaa

Good evening. Everything is pretty well. For a couple of days I've worked with my composition Sunny In a Small Way. Now everything is recorded, mixed and ok. Woodwinds, guitars and all.

Easter is here.

Juha H.

An old photo-manipulation from the year 1999. (Juha H.) 

Improvisages ja videot

For a couple of nights I've tried to send Improvisages videos here. But thus far I've only managed to send slightly wrong kind of wmv-files. For some reason my website doesn't like them and claims that they are no video-files at all... So I sent them as pictures. And there they are. Some day in the near future I'll solve this dilemma.

Jori is back from Thailand.

Juha H.

Poster of the next Improvisages Concert. (Juha H.) 

Machine Men

I manipulated and fixed just a little bit some photos of Machine Men playing LIVE . Yesterday's gig in Aanekoski. It's quite fantastic to see and hear the band playing LIVE. They are so good. Sini sent the pics here.

Snow melting rapidly. The icy cover of Lake Keitele still holds its might.

Juha H.

Machine Men played a wonderful gig in Aanekoski tonight - even though the PA-system was somewhat broken. (Juha H.) 

Musiikkia ja aurinkoa

One more day working with my music. I improvised and recorded a pile of flute-solos. Some of them I manipulated further and added some - again improvised - Yamaha WX5 lines. Now all is mixed and bounced to hard-disk.

Sun has been shining all day long. Snow melts fast away. This is good news.

Toropainen visited on his way to the depth of the forest.

Tonight Machine Men are playing in Aanekoski. I'll be there, too.

Juha H.

Drops of water on red. (Juha H.) 

An old composition. After reading Peter F. Hamilton's book A Second Change at Eden I wrote the above piece of jazz-music. (Juha H.) 

Musaa

Most of the day I worked with my music. Recorded a couple of my compositions - Intro and Outro for a Suite of more than 30 minutes of music - of which maybe one third is more or less composed and the rest mostly improvised. Today's auditive selections consist of weird and manipulated animal-like noises, tracks of Yamaha WX5, electric guitars, soprano and tenor saxes. All music is mixed, too. And bounced to disk with Pro Tools.

The weather is quite wet. Finally the snow is melting away.

Juha H.

Pasuunapelimannit

Pasuunapelimannit had a rehearsal in Sumiainen. And how nice it was. Mostly Finish Folk music. Only a little bit jazz. Luckily there are many composer-musicians in the orchestra. So the material is mostly original compositions.

While I was away Sini had warmed sauna. Now after it I'm relaxed and a bit tired.

Juha H.

Computer art from a few years back - JazzMan Dancing. (Juha H.) 

Sunnuntaita

Sini and I had a couple of long walks across snowy fields and on the Lake Keitele. There is alot of snow everywhere and the ice over the freezing water is almost one metre thick. So it seems that the Summer is going to be late this year.

Rest of the day I worked with my music. Recorded some woodwind tracks and guitars over a sequence that I created earlier this week with Ableton Live. What a marvellous software - especially when combined with Pro Tools.

Jori and his wife Eija are in Thailand. So Improvisages won't rehearse for a week.

Juha H.

Today Sini and I went to Sirpa Hernesmaa's birthday party. At the same time she had an Art Exhibition going - a couple of samples above. (Juha H.)