My Working Class Hero, to be issued on German label ACT Music, reveals yet another side of Rantala’s masterful skills as a solo pianist. The album is to be released just before Lennon’s 75th birthday.
One of Finland’s most internationally acclaimed jazz artists, Iiro Rantala, brings out a new album on 28 August. My Working Class Hero is dedicated to the music of John Lennon – one of Rantala’s most important musical influences. Acquainted with Lennon’s music long before jazz, Rantala discloses in the liner notes that in addition to Lennon’s genius as a composer he finds his pacifist themes deeply moving and increasingly topical in today’s world. The album comes out on renowned German label ACT Music, also behind the pianist’s previous, critically acclaimed solo piano recording, Lost Heroes.
Originally a concept for a tour, My Working Class Hero could be described as an ambitious album on which Rantala shows his ability to take the giant Lennon’s timeless, well-known pieces and make them new. What is in common for both Lennon’s originals and Rantala’s renditions is an aesthetics of stripped, easy melodicity. Forming the second chapter in the successful collaboration with ACT producer Siggi Loch, the album could be seen as a conceptual sequel to Rantala’s previous album, Lost Heroes, – also relased non ACT – on which the pianist honours his musical heroes.
“My only guiding dogma was to preserve Lennon’s melodies distinct and intact. I did not allow myself to touch them, while almost all other aspects, such as tempos, chords and structures differ from those of the original versions. From The Beatles’ songs I only chose ones that are known to be by Lennon, and generally I have given preference to arrangements in which I felt I was able to realise my ideas in the most full-blown way”, the artist concludes.
My Working Class Hero preview:
Iiro Rantala (b. 1970) is known as a virtuoso pianist and composer with a healthy antipathy for strict genre boundaries. He first came to large-scale attention as the leader of Trio Töykeät – one of the success stories of Finnish jazz. In addition to the trio, he has performed in a host of outfits and acted as the artistic director of the Kansi Auki Piano Jazz Festival, organised in Helsinki. Also a familiar face from the TV, Rantala has hosted and been in charge of the music in such shows as Iirottelua, Iiro irti and Juhannusjuna. Rantala’s presence extends to the radio, too: he is currently hosting the radio programme Iiron musiikkiluokka (Iiro’s Music Class) on the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE’s main radio station, YLE Radio 1. His former radio show, Tunteiden ilta (Night of Emotions) won the EBU Rose D’or prize in Berlin and received a honorable mention at New York Radio Festivals event in June.
Rantala's latest solo album, Lost Heroes, which hit the jackpot especially with German audiences, was awarded with prizes Deutsche Schallplattenkritik and Echo Deutscher Musikpreis in 2011. My Working Class Hero will be the second album for Rantala this in 2015: the duo recording It Takes Two To Tango, made in collaboration with saxophonist Jukka Perko, was released in April this year.
Iiro Rantala: My Working Class Hero
ACT Music 2015 CD (9597-2, release date 28 August 2015)
Distribution (Finland): OY Fg-Naxos Ab
1. Norwegian Wood 2. Working Class Hero 3. Just Like Starting Over 4. Because 5. Woman 6. Imagine 7. Help 8. Watching the Wheels 9. Oh My Love 10. In My Life 11. Happy Xmas, War Is Over 12. All You Need Is Love
Iiro Rantala, piano
Compositions: John Lennon (2., 3., 4., 6., 8.), John Lennon & Paul McCartney (1., 5., 7., 10., 12.), John Lennon & Yoko Ono (9., 11.)