Primary Instrument: Band/orchestra
The Five Corners Quintet is a Helsinki-based postmodern jazz outfit influenced by early sixties straight ahead and latin jazz. Led by producer Tuomas Kallio the Five Corners Quintet is a new extension of the highly acclaimed Nuspirit Helsinki collective.
The two innovators behind Five Corners Quintet, composer, producer and arranger Tuomas Kallio and the band's benevolent svengali and record label manager Antti Eerikäinen initially were simply set out to release a few vinyl singles of stylish jazz music tailored for the dance floor. As the first three vinyl single releases received a huge response among the press and international taste makers and at the same were all sold out, The Five Corners Quintet project slowly evolved into an established and more serious phase. This meant two things: setting up a live band and a CD-album project.
The debut album Chasin' The Jazz Gone By came out in September 2005, spent 11 weeks in the Finnish album TOP-40 chart and has been released in Europe (SonyBMG and Ricky-Tick Records/Timewarp), USA (Milan Entertainment/WEA) and Japan (Columbia International). The album and the vinyl singles preceding it have already sold more than 40.000 copies in total. Not bad for a jazz recording in 2005.
In musical terms the goal of TFCQ is to set an example of how dance floor friendly contemporary production can fruitfully meet the musical craftsmanship of the past, creating music that sounds as hip as the classic jazz records but is at the same time structurally polished and easily accessible music of today. Not housey nu-jazz, but jazz in the classic modernist spirit.
Studio production
In studio the Five Corners Quintet is a contemporary project dictated by producer Tuomas Kallio and gathering separately the right people for each song from a pool of musicians that are some of the finest players in the Finnish and international jazz scene. Musical production is utilizing both the analog and digital domain, drawing on tools from tape recorders to samplers and sequencers. Even though the final sound and feel is a lot alike, the production approach of TFCQ is thus entirely different from a mid-20th century studio setting.
Live band
The Five Corners Quintet performing live is another story. The live band is a phenomenal jazz quintet--or at times a sextet or even bigger--that can appeal both to a critical seated jazz audience and a dancing club crowd. On stage The Five Corners Quintet is a real band featuring the cream of Finnish jazzmen: no machines, no samplers, no DJ's but instead a lot of energy, interaction and world class level of musicianship.
Awards:
TFCQ received the Japanese ADLIB Magazine International New Star of the Year 2005 award in December and was nominated for the TEOSTO-award in Finland. Three Corners-track was selected as a Gilles Peterson's Worldwide All Winners Cut of 2004 on BBC Radio One while the Chasin' The Jazz Gone By was nominated for best album of 2005.“...the players have internalized these historical styles so they can have fun with them. ...the repetitive riffs on Blueprint and Trading Eights are as deep and hooky as anything in dub or techno... thoroughly enjoyable young band.” --John L. Walters, The Guardian on TFCQ live at Jazz Cafe 12.09.2005
Chasin' The Jazz Gone By
Milan Records
2005
Tracks: Blue Cycles; Trading Eights; Interlope; This Could Be the Start of Something; Straight Up; Three Corners; Case Study; Lighthouse; Before We Say Goodbye; Unsquare Bossa; The Devil Kicks; Jamming (With Mr. Hoagland); Taxi Driver: Prelude/Blues/Night Prowl/Bloodbath/Finale [*]
Personnel: Teppo Mäkynen: drums/bandleader; Timo Lassy: sax; Jukka Eskola: trumpet; Mikael Jakobsson: piano; Antti Lötjönen: double bass; Tuomas Kallio: composer/engineer; Mark Murphy: vocals; Okou: vocals
Hot Corner
Milan Records
2009
Tracks: Hot Rod; Kerouac Days in Montana - (featuring Mark Murphy); Skinny Dipping; Rich in Time - (featuring Okou); Midnight in Trieste; Come and Get Me - (featuring Mark Murphy); Interlope II; Waltz Up; Easy Diggin; Shake It; Habib's Habit
Personnel: Teppo Mäkynen: drums/bandleader; Timo Lassy: sax; Jukka Eskola: trumpet; Mikael Jakobsson: piano; Antti Lötjönen: double bass; Tuomas Kallio: composer/engineer; Mark Murphy: vocals; Okou: vocals
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