Pianist, keyboard player and composer Jarmo Savolainen (1961-2009) was one of the most successful and internationally known Finnish jazz musicians. He is a perfect example how a Finnish jazz musician can build an international career with a persistent work.

Savolainen studied at the Conservatory of Kuopio in 1977-1979 when he heavily absorbed influences from famous jazz pianists Chich Corea and Keith Jarrett. Later on Savolainen studied also at Berklee College of Music in Boston what made him ready to finally choose the career of a jazz musician.

Savolainen was known as a jazz composer for different bands and orchestras from solo piano to big band music. He has also composed music for theatres, dance groups, television shows and movies. As a musician Savolainen performed in diverse groups from rock music to contemporary music and played gigs actively around Europe. He performed for example with The Baltic Quartet, Espoo Big Band, UMO Jazz Orchestra and bass player Pekka Pohjola's bands. Savolainen recorded his first solo album in New York for a Dutch label Timeless in the beginning of 1990's and after that he recorded three albums more for a Dutch label A-records which were all distributed internationally. He took also part in dozens of other recordings as a musician and a composer.