CD: Five Corners Quintet: Helsinki Sessions (2011)

Fueled by the ever-growing demand around the project, a young quintet debuted in 2004. The core of the group took the
form of sax man Timo Lassy, trumpet player Jukka Eskola, pianist Mikael Jakobsson, bass player Antti Lötjönen and framer
Teppo "Teddy Rok" Mäkynen, who also acted as the musical leader of the group on stage. During the early stages of
its existence, the combo also often featured Finnish jazz giants Eero Koivistoinen on sax and Severi Pyysalo on vibraphone.
Looking back at hindsight, the story of the most internationally successful Finnish jazz band seems unlikely, but somehow
very logical at the same time. In addition to the project at large, each of the musicians in the group have evolved into
another level of artistic recognition during the six years aboard, and three of the band members are nowadays also highlyregarded
solo artists. The concerts played by the live version of The Five Corners Quintet include an appearance at the
Pori Jazz Festival in front of an audience of 35 000 listeners and performing at Helsinki's Flow Festival during five consecutive
years, as well as acclaimed concerts at the Lincoln Center in New York, the Roskilde rock festival in Denmark, plus
several sold out tours in Japan, extending also to China.
The concerts recorded for the live album at Helsinki's Kapsäkki venue are the quintet's last remaining home soil appearances
to date. Included is a fine collection of tracks spanning the bands career thus far, consisting of the recorded body of
work of several singles and two albums. The debut release 'Trading Eights' features here as the opening theme,
'Unsquare Bossa' from the first album "Chasin' the Jazz By" (2005) receives a treatment highlighting the bands knack at
altering the mood of its music remarkably well within a single track, and the closing tune 'Shake It' finally pushes the jazz
enthusiasts present at the recording over the edge into exhilaration. Selections such as 'Midnight in Trieste' and 'Three
Corners' display the ensembles ability to cool things down should the need arise.
A noteworthy feature in The Five Corners Quintet's live interpretations is its soloistic flight and freedom when compared to
the compact versions heard on the studio albums. Indeed, four of the seven tracks included here punch out at over 10
minutes of duration, yet it hardly seems that the quintet would be giving its audience anything that could've been left out.
This is exactly how The Five Corners Quintet will and should be remembered: as an innovative studio project drawing
knowingly from the history of jazz, and as tight-as-nails live quintet using the former as a starting point while creating its
own universe of sound on stage.