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Vesala, Edward [Martti]locked

Vesala, Edward [Martti]locked

  • Pekka Gronow
  • , revised by Atro Mikkola

Updated in this version

updated and revised

(b Mäntyharju, Finland, Feb 15, 1945; d Yläne, Finland, Dec 4, 1999). Finnish drummer, percussionist, composer, leader, and record producer. He studied percussion at the Sibelius Academy, Helsinki (1965–7), and in the late 1960s played with Seppo Paakkunainen and others; he made the first of a number of recordings as a leader in 1969. With Heikki Sarmanto and Paakkunainen he was a member of the Tuohi quartet, which won the first prize at the Montreaux Jazz Festival in 1971; an excerpt from their performance can be seen in the video Tuohi-kvartetti: Seagull (1971). In the early 1970s he performed with Jan Garbarek and toured Central Europe, and in 1974 he began working with Tomasz Stańko; he can be seen on video in Vesala & Stańko: First Song (1976). Later he recorded in a cooperative free-jazz trio with Gerd Dudek and Buschi Niebergall (1977) and as a sideman with Kenny Wheeler (1979). During the late 1970s Vesala founded his own record label, Leo (see Leo), on which he recorded as a leader and as a sideman with Stańko (1978), Juhani Aaltonen (1978, 1981), and Charlie Mariano (1980). From 1984 he led Sound and Fury, a workshop ensemble for young Finnish musicians. He continued to record as a leader, and as a sideman with the electric guitarist Jimi Sumen (1991–2) and the saxophonists Pepa Päivinen (1997) and Kari Heinilä (1999). Vesala’s playing, at first influenced chiefly by the free jazz of the 1970s, became increasingly colored by ethnic music as a result of his travels in India, Indonesia, and China. His compositions, which include jazz and vocal works, combine elements of free jazz, ethnic music, and avant-garde concert music. His philosophy, which stressed the importance of personal emotional expression, is reflected in his recording Ode to the Death of Jazz (1990). In the late 1990s he became increasingly reclusive and lived mainly in his country house in Yläne.

Selected recordings

(recorded for ECM unless otherwise indicated)

As leader

Nan Madol (1974, 1077)

Satu (1976, 1088)

Heavy Life (1980, Leo 009)

Mau-Mau (1982, Johanna 2071)

Lumi (1986, 1339)

Ode to the Death of Jazz (1990, 1413)

Nordic Gallery (1994, 1541)

As sideman

J. Garbarek: Triptykon (1972, 1029)

T. Stańko: Balladyna (1975, 1071)

Kenny Wheeler: Around 6 (1979, 1156)

J. Sumen: Paintbrush, Rock Penstemon (1992, CMP 61)

P. Päivinen: Saxigon (1997, Strawberry 030)

K. Heinilä: Lill’Lisa (1999, Abovoice 1012)

Bibliography

  • A. Granholm: Finnish Jazz (Helsinki, 1974, rev. and enlarged 5/1997, by M. Huuskonen, J. Muikku, and T. Vähäsilta)
  • J. Sermila: “Edward’s Thoughts: Interview with Edward Vesala,” JF [intl edn], no.28 (1974), 46
  • T. Vähäsilta: “Edward Vesala: a Drummer from the North,” JF [intl edn], no.92 (1985), 30
  • J. Muikku: “Edward Vesala: the Sound and the Fury,” Finnish Music Quarterly (1991), no.4, p.44
  • F. Reutemann: “Edward Vesala: Sound and Fury,” JP, 40/2 (1991), 49
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