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Kari Ikonen

To be updated soon... meanwhile, please see www.kariikonen.com

The 2013 Yrjö Award recipient as the Finnish Jazz Musician of the Year, pianist, moogist and composer Kari Ikonen (b.1973) is currently active with his own trio and several other bands and projects like Orchestra Nazionale della Luna, trio Toffa, Quartet Ajaton and Jeff Denson Trio. He has worked with the likes of Louis Sclavis, Lee Konitz, Bob Moses, Ingrid Jensen, Magnus Broo, Vincent Courtois and Ron McClure. Kari has performed in Australia, South Korea, Japan, USA, Armenia, Turkey, Russia and 30 European countries. His playing and/or compositions have been recorded for more than 40 albums, 7 of these on his own name. His compositions have been honoured internationally, taking first prizes in the American “Julius Hemphill Composition Awards” and in the Italian “Scrivere in Jazz”. He also works as a part-time professor at Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.

Awards

-First prize at the "Scrivere in Jazz" composition contest in Sassari, Italy 2002. -First prize at Jazz Composers Alliance/Julius Hemphill Composition Awards, USA 2000. -"Jazz-Emma" - Prize (Finland's Grammy) for the best jazz-cd of 2001.

Gear

Piano, Rhodes Mark V 73, Mark II 88, Moog Rogue, Korg PolySix etc.


Tags

1
Radio & Podcasts

One Man’s Jazz Show 1200th Show Special

Read "One Man’s Jazz Show 1200th Show Special" reviewed by Maurice Hogue


This episode of One Man's Jazz marks the 1200th since its very first show at CKUW FM in Winnipeg. It moved over to taintradio.org in early 2012. One of the mantras of the show has always been that the show was about the music and the musicians who make it. I had no illusions of becoming--let along desires to be--some talking jazz head. So with that thought in mind, I decided to approach a number of artists about contributing a ...

3
Radio & Podcasts

Kari Ikonen, Matt Piet, Alberto Pinton & Some New Year's Eve Dancin’

Read "Kari Ikonen, Matt Piet,  Alberto Pinton & Some New Year's Eve Dancin’" reviewed by Maurice Hogue


Faced with a New Year's Eve show, this one was extended by two hours, and the last three veered off into dancin' territory. There were some new releases sampled though. In hour one, Finnish pianist Kari Ikonen displays his considerable talents and his “maqiano" for playing Arabic half-tones, on his solo excursion Impressions, Improvisations & Compositions, and Swedish multi-reedist Alberto Pinton checked in with his new All The Difference. In the second hour, you'll hear more solo piano from Matt ...

10
Album Review

Kari Ikonen: Impressions, Improvisations and Compositions

Read "Impressions, Improvisations and Compositions" reviewed by Rob Garratt


Twentieth century artists were often known to power their creative process with a jazz soundtrack—Jackson Pollack's frenzied brushstrokes supposedly sparked by bebop horn spurts—while further back loftily enlightened Romantic composers often hoped to distill the essence of other mediums in their work—perhaps most famously with Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. Jazz musicians taking sonic inspiration from the fruit of visual art may not be entirely uncommon, but for Kari Ikonen it's painterly methods, not products, which ...

4
Radio & Podcasts

Wind, Frost & Radiation with Kari Ikonen

Read "Wind, Frost & Radiation with Kari Ikonen" reviewed by Nick Davies


This show features an interview with pianist Kari Ikonen where we discuss the strength and depth of the Finnish jazz scene as well as his recent trio's album Wind, Frost & Radiation, which is out on Ozella Music. The playlist also include lots of great new music from artists like Fred Hersch and Jessica Lauren. Playlist Fred Hersch “Bristol Fog (For John Taylor)" from Live in Europe (Palmetto) 1:49 Jan Roth “Herbst" from Kleinod (Sinnbus) 11:03 Jessica ...

7
Multiple Reviews

Kari Ikonen: Bright and The Helsinki Suite

Read "Kari Ikonen: Bright and The Helsinki Suite" reviewed by John Ephland


Kari Ikonen Trio Bright Ozella Music 2013 The 40-year-old Finnish keyboardist Kari Ikonen--first heard by this reviewer in a live context in his native homeland with another, much more open and unconventional trio Slo Motive--lets his jazz chops shine, his groove glisten and his range within the music flourish with these two releases. From the first bars of Bright with his frolicking swinger “Bapmgwala" it becomes apparent that Ikonen can be both lyrical and slightly ...

132
Nordic Sounds

Karikko: Variations on a Theme

Read "Karikko:  Variations on a Theme" reviewed by Matthew Wuethrich


Siltasali Jyväskylä, Finland November 14, 2003

Ever since bebop and its progeny hard bop, jazz compositions have been vehicles built for soloing. Composers have written relatively simple unison melodies based on some kind of chord progression, both complex and simple. With some notable exceptions, in jazz compositions form (the melody/song structure) has generally followed function (the solo). Finnish pianist Kari Ikonen is working from the opposite direction, exploring the possibilities of powerful themes for smaller jazz ...

270
Album Review

Kari Ikonen: Karikko

Read "Karikko" reviewed by Matthew Wuethrich


Jazz musicians have offered up as many definitions of “jazz composition" as there are notes in a John Coltrane solo. Yet the basic challenge remains: how to find the right balance between improvisation, the lifeblood of jazz, and composed structures. Kari Ikonen, on his Fiasko Records debut Karikko, artfully answers this challenge with a set of organic, graceful compositions in which one cannot tell where his composing ends and improvising begins. He uses spare instrumentation to create an expansive sound, ...

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“Ikonen has an original approach (…) his work here that suggests the Ozella label have discovered a pianist of considerable potential.” -Stuart Nicholson, JazzWise (UK) June 2013

“Inventive, spright and clever, Bright is not just a good Nordic jazz record, it’s world-class good.” -Something Else Reviews (USA)

“Mit seiner aus jeder Note berstenden Lust aufs Zusammenspiel, durch eine besondere Klangschönheit und Harmoniefülle (…) erzeugt eine CD wie ,,Bright” schon vom ersten Ton an Aufmerksamkeit.” -Jazzthing (DE) April / Mai 2013

”With The Helsinski Suite, Ikonen has created once again his own perspectives of, or reactions to, or elaborations upon, various genres. At the same time, he has set up opportunities for the members of Karikko to personalize his music through exceptional individual performances as well.” -Cadence (USA)

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Primary Instrument

Piano

Location

Helsinki

Willing to teach

Advanced only

Photos

Concerts

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Impressions,...

Ozella Music
2021

buy

Bright

Seventh String Music
2013

buy

Kari Ikonen Trio:...

Ozella Music
2013

buy

Karikko

Fiasko Records
2002

buy

Karikko

Seventh String Music
2001

buy

Videos

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