Biography

Aleksi Ranta Group’s debut album, Long Lost LJ, combines American and European jazz with strong bebop aesthetics. Versatile and dynamic compositions draw inspiration from classical music. The album was recorded on live performance to achieve the authentic interaction and atmosphere.

Aleksi Ranta (b.23.5.1980) is a jazz/rock guitarist from Oulu, a composer and music pedagogist. He has studied music in Stockholm’s Royal Academy of Music, Oulu Pop & Jazz Conservatoire and Oulu University of Applied Sciences. In addition to this, he has taken private music studies in Finland, Sweden and United States. Ranta performs actively in Finland and abroad and composes music for his bands Aleksi Ranta Group and Atmospehres. Together with comic artist Ville Ranta they arrange “The Lerois” and “Comics in Concert” performances,  and Ranta also composes the music for the concerts. Ranta has played together with famous Finnish musicians, such as Raoul Björkenheim and Johanna Iivanainen.

With the background in classical music, Ranta combines different styles in his play in a distinctive way. Before his jazz career, he was known as the original member of the heavy metal band, The Black League. For the friends of folk/pop, Ranta is familiar as the guitarist of singer-songwriter Lotta Jääskelä.

Tracklist

1. Long Lost L J
2. Moly
3. Mosebacke
4. Lucky Luke
5. Muusa
6. Carmen
7. Song For Seppo
8. Tango For Diego