Atro "Wade" Mikkola (b. 1956) was bitten by the jazz bug at the age of 13 and visited U.S. already in the 1970's, soon after graduating from high school. The experience was fruitful and Mikkola moved to U.S. in 1984 and started his jazzstudies at the University of Massachusetts. Besides the bass and composing lessons Mikkola took, he performed a lot, for example with Archie Shepp. In 1993-1997 Mikkola lived in New York and worked as a musician for a living. The debut album as a group leader was also born in New York which proved him to be a smooth jazzcomposer as well.

When Mikkola returned to Finland he started to perform actively on the Finnish jazz field and to teach both in Pop & Jazz Conservatory and in Sibelius Academy where he is still teaching jazz music. The first album recorded in Finland was Muistatko... Remember (AMK 1999) which was recorded with a quintet and consisted of jazzversions from Finnish schlagerclassics. At the same time bassist started to organize jazzevenings in the Helsinki metropolitan area, for example at Poseidon in Katajannokka.

In the 21st century Mikkola has organized jazzevenings in i.a. Restaurant Piano and Kappelin Kellari where many Finnish and international musicians have performed. In 2006 Mikkola released a jazzstandard album Taking a Change (AMK) with American singer Mandy Gaines and Mikkola's quintet, a group of Finnish top jazzmusicians. Mikkola, who still performs actively, has also been an active conversationalist and a spokesman for the American jazztradition in different associations, such as Freelancemusicians and Jazzmusicians.