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Olli Hirvonen

Olli Hirvonen is a Finnish guitarist currently based in Brooklyn, NY. Fluent in various styles from jazz to rock to more experimental sounds, he has formed a highly unique style combining these different influences. As the winner of the 2016 Montreux Jazz Guitar Competition, Hirvonen is definitely one of the most accomplished Nordic musicians of his generation.

Born in the city of Lappeenranta, a lakeside town in southeast Finland, he began his musical studies at the age of nine at the local music institute with classical guitar and piano. After finishing high school in 2008, Hirvonen began his studies at the prestigious jazz department of Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, where he got to study with Tim Hagans, Raoul Björkenheim and Teemu Viinikainen. He finished his Bachelor’s degree in June 2011.

In August 2011 he relocated to New York City to pursue his Master’s degree at the Manhattan School of Music, where he had a chance to study with such jazz luminaries as Rodney Jones, Dave Liebman, Jim McNeely, John Riley and Phil Markowitz. His curriculum there also included composing classical and electro-acoustic music. He graduated in the spring of 2013.

After finishing school Hirvonen started to work full time as a freelancer in the NYC scene, playing as a sideman as many as eight gigs a week in various configurations from solo to big band, while simultaneously starting to build a presence as a leader in his own right. He released his debut album Detachment in 2014, and the same year toured the US as the Performer of the Year of the Finlandia Foundation, which allowed him to perform solo and trio concerts around the country. At the same time he was starting to play regularly with the bassist Marty Kenney and the drummer Nathan Ellman-Bell, a jazz trio that eventually morphed into a avant-metal-jazz group RED REITER. After some touring and the release of an EP featuring the NYC avant-garde scene shredder Brandon Seabrook, Hirvonen decided to return back to his jazz roots and formed the group New Helsinki with the same rhythm section plus the pianist Luke Marantz.

In the summer of 2016 Hirvonen won the Montreux Jazz Electric Guitar Competition. The jury, presided over by John McLaughlin, ended up choosing him as the winner after an exceptionally high level competition. He was also nominated as the Artist of the Year of the Pori Jazz 2011 festival, which is used to be one of the highest and the most visible recognitions in the Finnish jazz scene.

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11
Album Review

Elijah Shiffer: Star Jelly

Read "Star Jelly" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci


Sometimes very talented people write difficult music. The music is difficult because its intent is not immediately clear. Or it does not follow canonical criteria, at least as currently understood. Music history presents us with many examples: Charles Ives, Igor Stravinsky, Dmitri Shostakovich--these are only very famous “classical" composers whose work passed from controversial to acceptable to mainstream. In jazz, one thinks of Ornette Coleman or someone probably considerably less orthodox and perhaps much less well known.

31
Album Review

Olli Hirvonen: Displace

Read "Displace" reviewed by Glenn Astarita


A recipient of numerous awards and honors, Finnish guitarist Olli Hirvonen relocated to New York in 2011 where he attended the prestigious Manhattan School of Music. And on his maiden album for this label, the artist craftily fuses punk jazz, modern jazz, jazz fusion and noise music into a well-rounded, and sometimes psyched out presentation, highlighting his compositional scope and tenacious penchant for generating lofty concentrations of excitement. Hirvonen is a marksman via his intense phrasings and distortion-laced ...

2
Album Review

Olli Hirvonen: New Helsinki

Read "New Helsinki" reviewed by Roger Farbey


Hailing from Finland but now resident in Brooklyn, New York, Olli Hirvonen won first prize in the 2016 Socar Montreux Jazz Electric Guitar Competition. Significantly, the jury was presided over by John McLaughlin. “Arps" opens with cascades of Robert Fripp-like quick-fire obligato notes, rapidly ascending and descending the fretboard and instantly hooking the listener. The tentative beginning to “Gravity" belies its complexity, first sounding the very essence of McLaughlin's 4th Dimension but by the guitar break Hirvonen's guitar ...

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"He's great!" -John McLaughlin

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Star Jelly

Self Produced
2023

buy

Displace

Ropeadope
2019

buy

New Helsinki

Edition Records
2017

buy

Detachment

Love Records
2014

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