Raoul Bjorkenheim - Solar Winds (2020) {Long Song Records}

×

Raoul Bjorkenheim - Solar Winds (2020) {Long Song Records}

Close

Raoul Björkenheim's guitar playing is often described as a force of nature, the conventional traits usually associated with jazz or rock having given way to a more visceral, expressionistic approach to creating timbre and velocities. Experimenting with various tunings on 6 and 12 string guitars, Raoul makes full use of the subtleties offered by electronics and the deft touch of his fingers, creating startling textures that imitate everything from birds, opera singers or flutes to heavy industrial machines, string orchestras or butterfly wings. Constantly discovering new sonorities on his guitar, he has created a uniquely personal language which speaks to audiences all over the world through his concerts and recordings. Influenced at first by Jimi Hendrix and B.B. King, Raoul progressed gradually from Frank Zappa to John McLaughlin and John Coltrane, finding great inspiration in the highly charged expression of their music. Jazz guitar lessons in New York City whetted his thirst for more knowledge, leading him to study first at the Helsinki Conservatory, then at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, from which he graduated in 1981. Moving back to Helsinki, he became part of a very active jazz scene.Raoul began to find his own way, drawing from experiences playing in jazz, Cuban and Senegalese bands. He teamed up with like-spirited artists Jone Takamäki, Tom Nekljudow, Antti Hytti and Jarmo Savolainen for the Roommushklahn, a group devoted to electric improvising in a personal idiom drawing strongly from world ethnic music. He also continued his work with Arbuusi, a pugnacious trio with Nekljudow and the bassist Toppo Isopuro, which was founded already in 1976. These activities led to several important years of apprenticeship with the Finnish maestro of free jazz, Edward Vesala, whose uncompromising attitude and brilliant drumming acted as a pivotal force in Raoul's development. Rehearsal sessions legendary for their intensity and gigs with Vesala's band, Sound & Fury, served as exhilarating post-graduate study. Raoul recorded three albums with Vesala, among them "Lumi" for ECM. In 1985, Vesala, Björkenheim and the trombonist Jari Hongisto formed a trio as a satellite of S&F, with a mission to create a fireworks of improvised energy. This band was called Krakatau.