Jimi Tenor has a new album out. Press release notes:
Finland's Jimi Tenor, a musician, composer and arranger known to constantly reinvent himself, has finished work on his latest album 4th Dimension, on which he continues his exploration of Afrobeat music. The album also sees him reunite with Kabu Kabu, a group of West African musicians based in Germany, who debuted on Tenor's 2007 album Joystone.
4th Dimension's Afrobeat is highlighted with Tenor's jazzy, bohemian touches and ability to write irresistible tunes. Tenor's catchy-yet-challeng ing arrangements are reminiscent of the legendary Fela Kuti, and perhaps one can also sense the influence of the likes of Lalo Schifrin, Charlie Mingus and Sun Ra. Tenor's trademark high-pitched vocals are heard less this time around as the maestro concentrates on tooting his tenor sax, playing the flute and synth.
The album's first single "Mystery Spot" is uplifting and uptempo Afrobeat. "Global Party" starts out moody but builds into a frenzied Disco groove. "Grind!" and "Me I Say Yes" are perhaps the album's most traditional Afro-inspired songs with their loping basslines and heavy percussion.
"Mogadishu Ave." is a surprise number of Goblin-esque psychedelic prog rock. "Mega Roots" and "Fast Legs" are lo-fi percussion jams similar to the African field recordings released by legendary labels Folkways and Ocora.
4th Dimension, yet another superb album by Jimi Tenor, is available at your local record store, or for mail order and immediate digital download at http://www.sahkorecordings.com/puu-35.php.
Artist: Jimi Tenor & Kabu Kabu Title: Mystery Spot/Black January Cat.no: SAHCO-002 Date: September 2008
Jimi Tenor has a new 7" out on Sähkö Recordings' sub-label Sahco, again as a collobaration with Kabu Kabu (who already collaborated with Jimi on Joystone album of 2007), representing the bespectacled Finn maestro's current Afrobeat funk style. From the forthcoming album 4th Dimension.
More Jimi Tenor & His Shamans; this video is from Fear Of A Black Jesus (Bad-28, Bad Vugum, 1992), the band's last album before the Shamans split and Jimi launched his solo career.
Courtesy of Tommi Forsström (If Society Records), who has now uploaded to YouTube the contents of rare Finnish VHS compilations Bad Vugum: From B To V (of Bad Vugum label) and Arctic Fury, featuring videos and live performances from the early 1990s by some now-legendary Finnish indie/punk/metal/avantgarde acts such as Mana Mana, Deep Turtle and Keuhkot; and alongside Jimi Tenor & His Shamans the act maybe most interesting for pHinnWeb, the early videos of postrock/post-Krautrock band Circle, especially of their Meronia era:
Shadowplay, a Finnish cult band, who started in 1982, combining raw post-punk moods to jazz-tinged flavours provided by the trumpetist Marco Kosonen. In 1985 they released the now-legendary 7" 'Night Porter', taking its name from Liliana Cavani's decadent 1974 film of the same name. Shadowplay appeared with this song in 1986 Finnish film Kill City, which performance was the highlight of that otherwise best-to-be-forgotten flick. The albums Touch & Glow, Eggs & Pop and Raw Powder were also to follow. The band's henchman Brandi Ifgray was also to release two solo albums for Sähkö Recordings' sub Puu, produced by Jimi Tenor and Tuomo Puranen of The Elevators/Op:l Bastards.
Before his career as an eclectic lounge-jazz-soul-funk man Jimi Tenor was known in the late 1980s for his industrial-tinged, oil barrel-banging band Shamans.
Festival of Finnish popular music in Ghent, Belgium
'Etoiles Polares Finland', a festival dedicated exclusively to Finnish music, will take place at Vooruit Arts Centre, Ghent, Belgium, on December 12 - 15.
'Etoiles Polares Finland' is produced by Vooruit Arts Centre with additional programme consultation by Fimic, and with the support of several Finnish institutions and foundations.
Vooruit Arts Center is a prominent cultural house hosting two venues with standing capacities of 1200 and 300. Music aside, it programmes regularly contemporary dance, plays, performance art, and installations.
Jimi Tenor -- that legendary Finnish combination of Sun Ra, Curtis Mayfield, Barry White, Prince and Brains of Thunderbirds -- will have a new album out soon, as a joint release of Californian Ubiquity Records and Finland's Sähkö Recordings.
Tracklisting: 01. Anywhere, Anytime 02. Green Grass 03. I Wanna Hook Up... 04. Hot Baby 05. Bedroom Eyes 06. Hermetic Man 07. Love Is The Only God 08. Ariane 09. Smoking 10. Horror Water 11. Sunrise 12. Dede
Press Release: "Joystone is the latest musical excursion by the ever-inventive arranger, composer and musician Jimi Tenor. On Joystone the super-eccentric Finn teams up with Kabu Kabu, a trio of West-African musicians and ex-Fela Kuti sidemen lead by Nicholas Addo Nettey. The result is an exceptionally unique and inspired album that joins the dots between dance music, Afrobeat, funk, and pop."
"Despite its cosmic overtones, Joystone was conceived in Tenor's tiny garage in the city of Lahti in Finland and recorded, mixed and produced entirely by Didier Selin in Helsinki. Selin is the mastermind behind the award winning 2006 album Keep Reachin' Up by Tenor's wife Nicole Willis And The Soul Investigators. Adding spice are the leading players in the budding Finnish jazz scene including trumpeter Jukka Eskola and saxophonist Timo Lassy. The resulting mash of Scandinavian jazz and polyrhythmic Afro-Beat and Funk is reminiscent of legendary Euro-eccentrics Marc Moulin and Placebo. However, it is Tenor's captivating melodies, quirky humor, and genre-defying playfulness that are at the forefront of Joystone."
"On 'Sunrise', for which there is a video of Tenor and band running around a forest, he murmurs his sources of inspiration: 'Sunrise oh sunrise, my favorite time of the day. I wake up, make some coffee. Look at the garden and start making some music. Everyday pretty much the same, and yet so different'. 'Hermetic Man' is classic Tenor with loping melodic passages and subtle hints of 1970's prog jazz. The sly spacey funk of 'Smoking' contrasts the playful uptempo 'I Wanna Hook Up With You', and the album closes with 'Dede', a cinematic 7-minute opus showcasing the halkofon, a one-of-a-kind instrument invented and built by Tenor from sticks of wood used to heat up the Finnish sauna.
Jimi Tenor, was born as Lassi Lehto. His band Jimi Tenor & His Shamans released it's first album in 1988, with Tenor's first solo album dropping in 1994 and delivering 'Take Me Baby', his first big hit. He has released albums on Sähkö Recordings, Warp Records and the Kitty-Yo label. He has recorded with a 55-piece Polish Orchestra and most recently appeared on the Keep Reachin' Up album for his wife Nicole Willis. Curiously he has been called the 'Elton John of jazz' and the 'Barry White of Finland', but we like to think of this mad musical genius, having fun while searching for the missing link between Sun Ra and Fela Kuti. Joystone finds Jimi Tenor reuniting with the legendary Sähkö Recordings, the label that kickstarted his career back in 1994, and releasing through Ubiquity in North America, the UK, Australia and New Zealand."
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Also from jimitenor.com:
"A Jimi Tenor live album will soon be out on Kitty-Yo. The refreshingly spontaneous nature of Jimi Tenor's live performance is captured on Live in Berlin, recorded during the 'Beyond The Stars' tour on 27 May 2004 in Berlin's Club Maria. The album is released digitally on April 20."
Jimi Tenor @ pHinnWeb (not updated any more -- I guess it started to feel unnecessary to keep an unofficial site when more professionally maintained jimitenor.com came along.)
