Kannaste-Viinikainen-Riippa, or KVR Trio, is formed by three top-notch Finnish jazz artists: saxophonist Jussi Kannaste, guitarist Teemu Viinikainen and drummer Joonas Riippa. These musicians share an individual and daring style and a good sense of musical humour, making a team that is very close-knit and flexible at the same time. The trio was originally founded as Jussi Kannaste, the Sony Jazz Prize Award winner of 2005, started a new group for a Finnish Jazz Federation tour.

The sax, the guitar and the drums make an interesting line-up. The absence of the bass creates some refreshing challenges and paves the way for the musicians to test the conventional roles of their instruments. For instance, the role of Kannaste’s sax reaches from playing the melody to creating rhythmic effects, whereas Riippa’s rich array of percussions transcends the line to the opposite direction by sketching even some melodic patterns. This freedom from orthodox instrumentation plus the members’ previous shared experience in playing together bring original and intriguing edge to the trio’s sound and result in natural and intimate communication between the band members.

Both Jussi Kannaste and Teemu Viinikainen have composed music specifically for KVR Trio’s purposes, and their original compositions, fusing ingredients from different traditions, render the group’s original repertoire very versatile. The group's sets are complemented by a select number of jazz standards in trio arrangements as well. Nevertheless, one of KVR Trio's most distinctive traits - and indisputable strengths - is free, creative improvisation, the talent of living in the now, appreciated so much in jazz music. Thus, it is no surprise that this group is an enthralling mixture of imagination and tradition, boldness and immediacy and, above all, solid team work.

KVR Trio’s eponymous debut album came out in January 2013 on Jaskaa label.

ed. Annamari Innanen 9.4.2014