25.4.2024

New cd "We come to Rinse!" out with 67 x Naked and a record release tour in UK and Ireland starts on 27th April.

"We come to Rinse!" tour gigs:

Apr 26th - Suffolk, Private gig

Apr 27th - London, Wapping market, 1pm-4pm

Apr 28th - London, Poulet Bar - Bermondsey, 3pm-7pm

Apr 28th - London, Jamboree Kings Cross, 8:30pm

Apr 30th - Bristol, Grain Barge, 8pm-11pm

May 1st - Fishguard, FFWM restaurant, 7:30pm

May 3rd - Ballydehop, local school gig, morning

May 3rd - Ballydehop, Levi’s Corner House, 9pm

May 4th, Ballydehop, The Irish Whip, 5pm

May 4th, Ballydehop, Rosie’s Bar, 10pm

May 5th, Ballydehop, The Irish Whip, 4pm

May 5th, Ballydehop, “Funeral parade”, 6pm

May 6th, Ballydehop, The Irish Whip, 4pm

3.10.2023

Djangology!-concert coming up!

I'm playing as a guitar solist with Arkadics Jazz Orchestra on saturday 21.10. on Teatteri Toivo (Haukilahdenkatu 2). Conductor/arranger Markku Renko has made arrangements following the Django Reinhardt's original big band recordings. These haven't been performed to my knowledge that much so this is a rare opportunity for me to play as a solist with a big band and for the audience to hear Django's big band music. Check out more details about the concert from the concert flyer below.

6.3.2020

New album out now with Django Collective Helsinki. Available on all the common streams (Spotify etc.). Please consider supporting us by purchasing either from the best record shop in Finland (international shipping!) Digelius or digitally from Apple Music etc.

30.11.2018

Let me introduce you to my new music project with a young and talented singer Elina Virtanen. I heard Elina first time on a jam session in Helsinki and immediately thought that this is the type of singer i’ve been looking for. But looking for what? Now hold your horses and let me tell you a bit of background for the story.

For the last ten years I’ve been in love with a music style called gypsy jazz which can be said to be created by Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli mainly in the 30s and 40s. Do you know Django? The “gypsy guitarist with two fingers”? This music style has some magic in it. It’s so fun to play it as a guitarist. Playing rhythm is a kind of a self-hypnosis therapy session and you can get so deep into the fine details of it. On the other hand playing solo is a very challenging because the instrument needs to be played in a certain way so that you get a good sound and projection out of it and this takes years of dedication. Not to mention what notes should you play! But when you get “there”, then it’s so rewarding with so much expressiveness. Gypsy jazz is a kind of movement with a lot of dedicated people. During this time i’ve also got to know what a dance style called lindy hop is by trying it myself by going to dance lessons, social dances and events. Swing music and lindy hop goes together like bread and butter. Lindy hop is basically a dance style which developed during the golden swing era of 30s and 40s by dedicated people like Frankie Manning, Herbert ”Whitey” White, ”Shorty” George Snowden etc. Since I started to dance lindy hop I realised that it’s not just a dance style but also a kind of movement with certain clothes, shoes and a lot of dedicated people. The people you meet in the social dances are probably the happiest people in this planet. It’s just impossible not to smile while you dance even if your cat had just died (or a weasel if you’re one of those hipsters in Kallio). I see a lot of similarities in history and in the people when I compare gypsy jazz and lindy hop.

In this point i want to mention some lovely, dedicated and passionate people from the swing dance scene in Helsinki i’ve had the pleasure to meet, help and work with just to show how amazing the scene has become. Some names in no particular order: Minna Marttila (Tuesday Night Hop), Tanja Wingerter & Karri Rasinmäki (Black Pepper Swing), Jaakko Kurttila and co (Sail Attic Swing), Laura Halttula (Jazz Factory), Arja Sahlberg (Blues Dance Mondays), Caroline Moinel & Andrzej Milosz (Swing Jam), Karita Ala-Savikota & Tiina Pasuri and Milla Leisso (Balboa Fridays) and Harri Hertell (In The Mood). Sorry if I don’t remember everybody.

I’ve played music for lindy hoppers for many years now and i’ve realised that it takes a certain dedication and vision to make that music work. It’s not only about the tempos but more about the delicate feeling inside the music. Usually gypsy jazz is more suitable for a faster dance styles for example balboa. So this new project is about bringing these two worlds together by fine tuning the gypsy jazz more suitable to lindy hoppers. I also want to explore more electric sounds as a soloist. So Elina Virtanen, who I met in a jam session, is a singer with a unique quality in her voice that fits perfectly to this project. Not only does her voice has old quality in it but she can really scat in a similar style you’ve heard Ella Fitzgerald scat! Elina also shares the same love for the swing era. To make this project special I’ve worked hard on transcribing a lot of the original versions (or the closest ones I’ve found) of the songs and comparing them to later versions such as Oscar Peterson’s, Ella Fitzgerald’s etc and made my own arrangements to make them work in a rhythm section that is based on a modern gypsy jazz trio. Some arrangements are very close to for example the versions Billie Holiday has recorded.

So out of love to the swing era from players and dancers point of view I present this live video “Comes Love” from a social dance night called “Tuesday Night Hop” where we played on September. We hope to get more gigs and to have a change to further develop this music!

30.6.2018

New album STUDIO JJ SESSIONS with Adrien Tarraga and Tero Tuovinen is finally being released on July 5th. The album is released and sold on tour that covers several jazz festival and clubs such as Baltic Jazz, Linnajazz and Porijazz. Check the gig calendar for more details!

1.2.2018

Last year I did a two day video shooting for an online music school Rockway for a basic/intermediate level gypsy jazz guitar course. On this course I discuss about different aspects of rhythm and solo guitar and show different exercises. The course is in Finnish. Here's a little taster! You can find the full course HERE!

1.1.2018

For couple of years I've been hosting a gypsy jazz oriented music night in an Italian restaurant called Pjazza in the center of Helsinki. Every wednesdays I play there with an amazing double bass player Tero Tuovinen. Every week we also try to organize different players to play with us. Our goal is to show people what gypsy jazz is all about. Some of our guests in the past include such great musicians (in no particular order) as Henrik Perelló, Teemu Viinikainen, Mikko-Ville Luolajan-Mikkola, Jouni Järvelä, Charlotta Kerbs, Olli Soikkeli, Jarmo Hynninen, Susanna Eronen, Laura Airola, Joose Ojala, Lassi Kouvo, Noora Kiili, Mika Huusari, Aki Hauru, Kimmo Iltanen, Tuomas Lehto, Rémi Oswald, Jimbino Vegan, Lauri Yrjölä, Birger Lindström, Tero Hyväluoma, Mikko "Gunu" Karjalainen, Heidi Kiviharju, Adrien Tarraga, Viki Balzar, Tuomo Dahlblom, Petri Kautto, Timo Seppänen, Juha Lanu, Max Zenger and many more to come.

18.12.2017

Years ago during the Django Reinhardt festival in Samois-Sur-Seine I met a guitar player called Adrien Tarraga. Going to the same festival for years we started to play more and more together and realised that we share the same kind of passion and vision about gypsy jazz music. In one point we both felt that we need to record something together and without planning it too much we booked a studio. So I'm thrilled to say that our new album is coming out soon in the first half of 2018!