Jazz pianist and composer Samuli Mikkonen (b. 1973) is an established name in the Nordic jazz scene. The lively musical environment in his birthplace Jyväskylä contributed a great deal to his early development, enabling him to get high quality music education as a kid, play viola in an orchestra, write music for his own classical quintet, tour abroad at an early age with children's choir Vox Aurea, and eventually become a student of notable jazz piano pedagogue Matti Laukkanen. Improvising on the piano since the age of 3, he has expanded his sound palette by taking further extensive studies of both jazz music and classical composition at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, from where he has graduated with a MA.
Post-pandemic, he has concentrated on mostly solo piano improvisation and composing, while recording duo with multi-instrumentalist Jorma Tapio and performing as a sideman for drummers Brian Melvin and Ilmari Heikinheimo, among others.
His main band at the moment, Kuára, is an all-acoustic trio together with drummer and long-time musical companion Markku Ounaskari and Norwegian saxophonist Trygve Seim. Their debut album on ECM Records, produced by Manfred Eicher, was released in November 2010, featuring another Norwegian, trumpet player and singer Per Jørgensen before Seim. Kuára has toured extensively in Europe and the USA in the 2010's, and its debut album won the Emma prize for the best jazz record of 2010.
After moving to Helsinki in the early 1990's, Mikkonen soon became a member of some of the foremost Finnish jazz bands of the time, including Jouni Järvelä Group, Jari Perkiömäki Quartet, Mika Mylläri Quintet and Markus Ketola Tila Ensemble.
After experimenting with different ideas and instrumentations, Mikkonen started his own piano trio in 1997 with Ulf Krokfors and Mika Kallio as rhythm section. The trio's first album "Korpea Kuunnellessa" was released in 1998, and it got positive reviews in both Finland and abroad for its clarity, vision and "intense melancholy". This lineup was extended in 2001 when saxophonist/flutist Kari "Sonny" Heinilä joined the band, with also Sakari Kukko and Juhani Aaltonen taking the wind instrument seat at times. Eventually, the band became an octet, featuring also reedsmen Pepa Päivinen, Pentti Lahti and Jorma Tapio, releasing an album called "Samuli MIkkonen & 7 henkeä" in 2003 and touring with a repertoire of his compositions, and also arrangements of Finnish composers such as Sibelius, Kuula and Merikanto.
Mikkonen has also led a Scandinavian trio consisting of him, bassist Anders Jormin and drummer Audun Kleive, which recorded a live album "KOM Live", released in 2000, with subsequent touring in the Nordic countries.
He has played sideman gigs with Kenny Wheeler, John Zorn, Mike Gibbs, Adam Nussbaum and Wayne Krantz. As Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE was actively recording many Finnish jazz bands in the 1990's and early 2000's, their M1 studio became a regular hangout for Mikkonen at the time.
An important connection to his hometown throughout the 1990's was music/sound art collective Wäinämoiset together with Markus and Tony Elgland, which released its only album in 2001.
In the early 2000's, Mikkonen performed all over Finland with world music legend Sakari Kukko, did long tours in Asia and South America with another sax player Pekka Pylkkänen, and worked briefly also as a pianist in UMO. In the same time, a friendship and collaboration with producer Teemu Hammaren led to recording of 2 albums "Vibraltar" and "Vibraltar live in London", with a more urban aesthetic.
In the early 2010's, Mikkonen has worked with DJ/producer Aleksi Myllykoski. He also appears on the album Daraludul Yow (2014) of the Senegalese/French singer Julia Sarr, an important figure in the Paris world music scene, and performed with Indian flutist Saurabh Vartak.
Samuli Mikkonen has released 5 albums of his own, and played on over 20 of other musicians.
Besides most European countries, Mikkonen has toured in Argentina, Chile, Peru, Brazil, China, South Korea, Japan and USA. Performance venues include premier European clubs such as Porgy & Bess, Unterfahrt, Copenhagen Jazz House, Nefertiti, AMR Jazz and festivals home and overseas: Jarasum Jazz Festival, London Jazz Festival, Jazzfestival Münster, Jazz Baltica, Moldejazz, Rochester International Jazz Festival, Beijing Jazz Festival, Festival Internacional de Jazz de Providencia, Pori Jazz and others. His concerts have been broadcast by BBC, YLE, WDR, NDR, Ö1 Austria, SRG/SSR, NRK, Sveriges Radio, Eesti Raadio and Danmarks Radio. A TV concert documentary "Ajan Aalloilla" about Mikkonen's octet has been broadcast by YLE TV1, and his music has been used in the TV series "National Landscapes".
As a composer, Samuli Mikkonen has written for jazz ensembles ranging from duos and trios to a big band. Commissioned pieces include five pieces for big band, works for small jazz/classical hybrid ensembles, symphony orchestra, as well as music for theatre.
In addition to his musical career, Mikkonen was hired to start the Pop & Jazz education in Oulu University of Applied Sciences in 2005, and worked there consequently as a senior lecturer until 2023. He has also taught at the Sibelius Academy, Savonia University of Applied Sciences and in master class situations home and abroad.
Besides Finland, Mikkonen has lived in Berlin 2010–2011.