Mika Pohjola (b. 1971) started his music studies at the Vantaa Conservatory with classical piano, music theory, counterpoint and composition. He also started playing jazz, and improvise freely. Pohjola was introduced to the music of Art Tatum, Charlie Parker and Oscar Peterson by his father, who played his large record collection at home. Pohjola performed music by Mozart, Beethoven and Debussy at regional recitals and received a shared second prize in the classical piano competition of Vantaa in 1987, and represented his city and the conservatory at the Ilmari Hannikainen Piano Competition. 

In the Fall 1987, Pohjola moved to Stockholm, Sweden to study jazz and classical music at the Södra Latin Music Gymnasium. Pohjola received a Master's Degree in Jazz Improvisation and Education from the Royal College of Music at age 20 in the Spring of 1992. His senior recital included his first recorded adult compositions, after which he was invited to join STIM, the collecting society for songwriters, composers and music publishers of Sweden. 

After graduating from Stockholm, Pohjola moved to Boston, Massachusetts to study under a scholarship at Berklee College of Music. His continued studies were also supported by his Swedish college, where he had performed his studies with a Summa cum laude. His Berklee professors included Herb Pomeroy, Gary Burton, Phil Wilson, Ed Bedner, and Hal Crook. It was at Berklee where Pohjola met several of his performing and recording collaborators of the 1990s and 2000s, among them Jill Walsh, Johanna Grüssner, Fernando Huergo, Matt Penman, Bruno Råberg, Roberto Dani and Mick Goodrick. Pohjola graduated from Berklee with honors and several prizes in 1994. That same year he recorded Myths and Beliefs (GM Recordings), produced by Gunther Schuller. 

Pohjola settled in New York City in 1995 and became a part of the thriving downtown jazz scene. He briefly studied with pianist Sal Mosca, who was a student of the legendary Lennie Tristano. His collaborators included Chris Cheek, Mark Turner, Miguel Zenón, Ben Monder, Drew Gress, Jeff Williams, Jochen Rückert, Matt Wilson and Mark Ferber. Pohjola started touring Europe regularly, mostly as a bandleader and composer where he performed with his New York-based ensembles. Pohjola was invited to Ukraine in 1999, 2001 and 2002 as the cultural representative of the Finnish Foreign Ministry. As a counterbalance to his quartet, he formed a freely improvising duo, Sound of Village, with Yusuke Yamamoto. Their home became the Knitting Factory in New York City, but they also did two notable appearances at Steinway Hall. In 2000, Sound of Village recorded its self-titled album. Their tours included appearances at several jazz festivals in Scandinavia and Japan. 

In the recording sessions of his first four albums as a leader, Pohjola's interest and knowledge in the possibilities of the recording studio grew from a mere documentary medium into a compositional tool. He had recorded two multi-tracked songs for his Landmark album in 2002, featuring multiple voices with fellow Finnish vocalist Johanna Grüssner. The success of Landmark led to further cooperation with Grüssner, and the first recording of the entire catalog of the original Moomin music songbook by Tove Jansson. Moomin Voices was released in two versions (2003 in Swedish; 2005 in Finnish). The follow-up album, A Lark in the Snowstorm (2006), featured Pohjola's original-minded arrangements of legendary tangos. 

Since 1993, Pohjola has been a frequent clinician at conservatories, especially in Scandinavia. In the years 1995-2008, he was also the jazz principal and big band leader at the international Nilsiä Summer Music Camp. Pohjola is a Steinway Distinguished Artist since 1997, and a major visiting artist at Berklee College of Music since 2006. 

Pohjola's 2009 releases, Northern Sunrise with Steve Wilson and Ben Monder, and solo piano album Great Tunes by My Friends with music by Kurt Rosenwinkel, Monder, Reid Anderson and others, have been widely acclaimed. Pohjola also plays Argentine chacarera and jazz compositions with bassist and composer Fernando Huergo. They recorded Provinciano for Sunnyside Records in 2008, on which Pohjola is also credited as the mixing and mastering engineer.