Auteur Jazz is an energetic sextet, active since 2008. In addition to the band’s “auteur”, multi-instrumentalist Antti Hynninen, Auteur Jazz is formed by a group of young Finnish talents. The debut album combined cinematic soundscapes with a refreshingly inventive take on dance floor jazz aesthetics. The group’s latest release, Cunning Album (KHY Suomen Musiikki Oy), came out in 2011 and it was nominated in the Album of the Year category in the Funky Awards.

Auteur Jazz was initially started as a studio project by Antti Hynninen who composed, arranged, produced and recorded the 2009 debut, Aphorisms (Ricky-Tick Records). This was not, however, the end of the story. On stage, the six-piece is more than a sum of its parts and their cinematic, 60s –inspired continental sound hits possibly even harder than on the record.

Interest in the group surged after the release of the 12-inch vinyl EP, Two Jaguars in Warsaw (Ricky-Tick Records), which was enthusiastically received by DJs around the world. In addition to playing to full houses at festivals and clubs in Finland the band has performed at the Italian Sudtirol Jazz Festival.

Take Joakim “Jusu” Berghäll’s muscular baritone sax and delicate soprano sax solos and Antti Kujanpää’s groovy, Chick-Corea-style piano playing and add Eero Tikkanen’s robustly rolling bass lines, Tatu Rönkkö’s agile drumming plus Abdissa Assefa’s spicy rhythms. With these ingredients the group’s hard-boiled “action jazz” is bound to give the listener a thrill!

ed. Annamari Innanen 24.2.2014