Vesa-Matti Loiri - 1971 - 4 + 20

Vesa-Matti Loiri

1971

4 + 20

01. 4 + 20 (1. Session) 2:46

02. Turkish Coffee 7:16

03. Anttilan Keväthuumaus 3:21

04. Candle Dance 5:54

05. Carnavalito & El Condor Pasa 4:13

06. Mummon Kaappikello 2:18

07. Coming Home Baby 6:15

08. 4 + 20 (2. Session) 1:52

09. Itkevä Huilu 3:30

10. 4 + 20 (1. Session) 1:08

Bass – Pekka Sarmanto (tracks: A1, A2, A4 to B4, B6)

Drums – Esko Rosnell (tracks: A2, B2, B3), Pekka Sarmanto (tracks: A3, B5)

Flute – Vesa-Matti Loiri (tracks: A1 to B1, B3 to B6)

Guitar – Hasse Walli

Kazoo – Eero Koivistoinen (tracks: A2), Esa Pethman (tracks: A2)

Organ – Tuomo Tanska (tracks: A3, B3)

Percussion – Alf Forsman (tracks: A1), Esa Pethman (tracks: B1), Mikko Kuoppamäki (tracks: A1, A2, A4 to B6), Reino Laine (tracks: A4 to B3, B5), Vesa-Matti Loiri (tracks: A1, A2, B4, B6)

Piano – Tuomo Tanska (tracks: A3, A4, B3)

Recorder – Vesa-Matti Loiri (tracks: A4, B1)

Soprano Saxophone – Eero Koivistoinen (tracks: A2 to A4, B2, B3)

Tenor Saxophone – Esa Pethman (tracks: A3, B2)

Vocals – Erkki Pälli (tracks: A3), Pertti Melasniemi (tracks: A3), Vesa-Matti Loiri (tracks: A1, A3, B2, B4 to B6)

Even in our so-called information age, where everything is up for grabs on a global level, and international boundaries of culture have -- at least theoretically -- become blurred, it can be surprising to realize how little we often know of other nations' artistic history. How many Americans, for instance, are familiar with the name of Vesa-Matti Loiri? In Finland, Loiri is an iconic, multi-talented artist who has an eclectic, multi-Platinum musical discography and has racked up the Finnish equivalent of Grammys and Emmys for his acting work over the decades. The U.S. release of Loiri's 1971 album 4+20 might go some way toward spreading the word outside of Finland. It finds Loiri functioning primarily as a flautist, though he makes a couple of casual vocal contributions over the course of the album. Though it's a mostly instrumental outing, 4+20 isn't exactly a jazz album. True to Loiri's many-sided musical personality, it mixes jazz, folk, and rock freely. The result is a cross between the groove-conscious, flute-centric post-bop work of Herbie Mann (Loiri covers a number of tunes from the Mann songbook here) and the flights of flautist fancy essayed by the likes of Traffic's Chris Wood or even early Jethro Tull. The album's title track is an instrumental excursion that uses the Crosby, Stills & Nash tune as its starting point, and is cut into three pieces that bookend and bisect the record. The comic side of Loiri's acting work comes out in "Mummon Kaappikello," in which his singing is sped up to achieve a Woody Woodpecker-like effect. Over the course of the album, a loose, fun, slightly stoned feeling prevails, one that's very much in keeping with the era, and is exemplified by Loiri's original liner notes, which proclaim "This record was made spontaneously, without any great preparations. It is not meant to serve commercial purposes."

"4 + 20", recorded during several sessions in March 1971, was the debut album released by Finnish flautist / singer / actor Vesa-Matti Loiri. Born January 4, 1945 Loiri was already a "familiar face" on the modern Finnish Jazz scene at the time.

Of course it is hard to believe that any of the album's participants, including Loiri himself, could have possibly imagined that 40 years later he would be considered as one of the central pillars of the Finnish Culture. A true Renaissance man, Loiri developed over the years a spectacular career, both as a musician and as an actor / comedian. He recorded dozens of albums, many of which were immensely popular in his native country. He even represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1980, singing a song dedicated to his beloved flute. He also starred in dozens of movies, many of which are considered absolute classics.

Loiri's musical career is quite diverse, but the most important aspect of it is dedicated to his performances of songs with the lyrics written by the great Finnish poet Eino Leino (1878-1926), the great pioneer of Finnish poetry. Loiri recorded several albums dedicated to Leino's poetry, all of which are quite extraordinary, both musically and lyrically. Although Loiri was never a Jazz musician per se, he always cooperated on his albums with many Finnish Jazz musicians and many of these albums can be considered as Jazz albums, in a broader sense. The Eino Leino albums, therefore, should be considered as part of the Jazz & Poetry movement, which was quite popular in Europe since the 1960s.

The passionate love affair between Jazz and Poetry originated during the Beat movement in the 1950s, when US writers and poets discovered that the freedom and improvisational character of modern Jazz could be also utilized in modern writing. The spiritual proximity between the various disciplines of Modern Art & Literature created many cross-media encounters, with Jazz musicians and poets often performing together.

In the early 1960s Jazz & Poetry crossed over to Europe, first into UK and then spreading quickly all over the Continent. Jazz musicians and poets created passionate collaborations in France, Germany, Poland and the Scandinavian countries. But in a similar way as to what happened to American Jazz, when it was absorbed by the Europeans, who amalgamated it with their European musical heritage, Jazz & Poetry also changed, when music was being composed by the Europeans not only to accompany contemporary literary works, but also Classic literature and poetry, as far back as Shakespeare's sonnets.

European Jazz musicians / composers often created music to accompany literary works from their National heritage, similar in a way to the inspirations of the European Romantic Classical composers earlier on. In Finland the Jazz & Poetry movement produced some extraordinary achievements and many of the country's most illustrious musicians were involved with it at least at some stage of their career. Vesa-Matti Loiri's contributions to the movement are surely amongst the most important ones.

On the gatefold cover of the "4 + 20" LP Vesa-Matti Loiri writes as follows: "This record was made spontaneously, without any great preparations. It is not meant to serve commercial purposes. This music has risen from friendship." This is in fact a concise and completely truthful description of this album.

The album features Loiri the flute player. His vocal contributions here are mostly accidental and humorous (his comedian nature), except for one track, where he actually sings. For the recording he invited a group of friends, which in retrospect reads like the who's who of Finnish Jazz at the time: saxophonist / flautist Esa Pethman (who plays piccolo flute here), saxophonist Eero Koivistoinen, organist Tuomo Tanska, guitarist Hasse Walli (who also helped Loiri with most of the arrangements), bassist Pekka Sarmanto and drummer Esko Rosnell. Several other players contribute percussion and vocal tidbits.

The music is very versatile and ranges from Jazz via Folklore to Rock and even Classical. A couple of Herbie Mann's tunes – an obvious choice by a flautist, some folklore, both international and Finnish, some Rock and some "serious" music (see below), all arranged in a Jazzy fashion and performed joyously yet somewhat informally, as indicated by Loiri's quote. Nevertheless there are plenty of great solos here and the overall level of performance is definitely outstanding.

The album's title is of course the Stephen Stills' tune, first heard on the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young legendary "Déjà Vu" album. It is used here as a repeated "theme", appearing repeatedly between the tracks.

The album's most interesting track, which is the song "Itkevä Huilu", featuring Loiri's vocals, is a clear precursor of his future Jazz & Poetry work. The song's lyrics were written by the Finnish poet Larin Kyösti and the music by the great Finnish Classical composer Oskar Merikanto.

Overall the music on this album is conserved, as in a time capsule, losing nothing of its joy and playfulness, good nature and musical friendship. Such qualities should definitely be preserved!

4 + 20, recorded in March 1971, was the debut album by Finnish flautist/singer/actor Vesa-Matti Loiri. Loiri was already a "familiar face" on the modern Finnish jazz scene at the time. 40 years later he would be considered one of the central pillars of Finnish culture. For the recording he invited a group of friends, which in retrospect reads like the who's who of Finnish Jazz at the time: saxophonist / flautist Esa Pethman, saxophonist Eero Koivistoinen, organist Tuomo Tanska, guitarist Hasse Walli, bassist Pekka Sarmanto and drummer Esko Rosnell. The music is very versatile and ranges from jazz via folklore to rock and even classical, all arranged in a jazzy fashion and performed joyously yet somewhat informally. The overall level of performance is outstanding and one of a kind.