Heikki Sarmanto

Last updated
Heikki Sarmanto
Birth nameHeikki Veli Uolevi Sarmanto
Born (1939-06-22) 22 June 1939 (age 83)
Helsinki, Finland
Genres Jazz, classical
Occupation(s) Pianist, composer
Instrument(s) Piano
Years active1966–present
Website http://www.sarmanto.com/

Heikki Veli Uolevi Sarmanto (born 22 June 1939) [1] is a Finnish jazz pianist and composer.

Contents

Sarmanto was born in Helsinki, Finland, [1] and began to play jazz during the 1960s. He studied first at the Sibelius Academy and later at the Berklee College of Music in Boston between 1968 and 1971. [1] In 1970 he was chosen as 'Jazz Musician of the Year' in Finland and, the following year, he won top prizes at the Montreux Jazz Festival in both piano and combo categories.

Sarmanto has released around 40 recordings, numerous published scores, and songbooks, as well as having several film scores to his credit. He has collaborated with jazz musicians such as Sonny Rollins, Art Farmer, Helen Merrill, George Russell and Jeannine Otis; [2] in addition to his work in the classical arena with baritone Jorma Hynninen, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Tapiola Children's Choir.

In September 1998, Sarmanto was appointed Artistic Director of the UMO Jazz Orchestra.

Pekka Sarmanto, who is also a jazz musician, is Sarmanto's brother.

Discography

Related Research Articles

The music of Finland can be roughly divided into categories of folk music, classical and contemporary art music, and contemporary popular music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sakari Kukko</span> Finnish musician

Sakari Kukko, is a Finnish musician.

Joseph Jarman was an American jazz musician, composer, poet, and Shinshu Buddhist priest. He was one of the first members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and a member of the Art Ensemble of Chicago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curtis Counce</span> American jazz double bassist

Curtis Counce was an American hard bop and West Coast jazz double bassist.

Eero Koivistoinen is a Finnish jazz musician and saxophone player, who started his career in the mid-1960s. Koivistoinen has worked as a musician, composer, arranger, conductor, producer and educator. He first heard jazz from the records his sailor brother had brought in from his travels. As a youngster Koivistoinen studied classical violin, saxophone and also composition at the Sibelius Academy, and later jazz at Berklee College of Music in Boston. His first line-up featured the drummer Edward Vesala and bassist Pekka Sarmanto. Koivistoinen was also a member of the seminal Finnish rock band Blues Section in the years 1967 and 1968. In 1968 he released his first solo album, a "literary record" called Valtakunta which featured songs composed to the texts of such poets as Pentti Saarikoski, Jarkko Laine, Tuomas Anhava and Hannu Mäkelä; interpreted by the vocalists Vesa-Matti Loiri, Eero Raittinen and Seija Simola. Eero Koivistoinen's later solo albums such as Wahoo (1972) enjoy a considerable international reputation. His hip hop-influenced 2006 album X-Ray features such people as the vocalists Charles Salter and Bina Nkwazi, DJ LBJ and the rap artist Redrama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guy Barker</span> English jazz trumpeter and composer

Guy Jeffrey Barker, is an English jazz trumpeter and composer.

Laurence Reginald Ward Johnson, is an English composer and bandleader who has written scores for dozens of film and television series and has been one of the most highly regarded arrangers of instrumental pop and swing music since the 1950s with works often serving as stock production music.

François Boland was a classically trained Belgian jazz composer and pianist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teddy Powell</span> Musical artist

Teddy Powell was born in Oakland, California, United States, as Teodoro Paolella, and became a respected American jazz musician, band leader, composer, and arranger. Some of his compositions were written under the pseudonym Freddy James.

Preston Haynes Love was an American saxophonist, bandleader, and songwriter from Omaha, Nebraska, United States, best known as a sideman for jazz and rhythm and blues artists like Count Basie and Ray Charles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carola Standertskjöld</span> Musical artist

Carola Christina Standertskjöld-Liemola, professionally known as Carola, was a Finnish jazz and pop singer. Her style was partially inspired by American singers of the 1950s. Simultaneously, it was in the spirit of the modal jazz scene going down in Europe in the 1960s. Mostly, Carola's jazz repertoire consisted in idiosyncratic versions of American songs in English, while her most famous jazz track "The Flame" was an original composition by Esa Pethman and the lyrics by the singer herself. As the vocalist for Esa Pethman's quartet and Hazy Osterwald's sextet in the early 1960s, Carola made fame in Finland and Sweden, and toured Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Switzerland. Her most significant recording is a session with the Heikki Sarmanto Trio from 1966, which the Finnish Music Information Centre considers among the original blueprints of Finnish jazz. Carola's recordings have been credited for the accosting tone of her contralto voice and her phrasing. The singer also co-produced the groovy approach of her supporting orchestras. In late 1960s and early 1970s, she performed in nine languages and a wide variety of styles, including chanson, schlager, Latin, rock'n'roll, and soul. After her death of Alzheimer's disease in 1997, Carola's music was revived in 2004 with two Best of albums and Carola & Heikki Sarmanto Trio reaching the Finnish charts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jimmy Woode</span> American jazz bassist

James Bryant Woode was an American jazz bassist. He played and/or recorded in bands with Flip Phillips, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Coleman Hawkins, Nat Pierce, Sidney Bechet, Billie Holiday, Jaki Byard, Earl Hines, Jimmy Witherspoon, Clark Terry and Miles Davis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juhani Aaltonen</span> Finnish jazz saxophonist and flautist

Juhani Aaltonen is a Finnish jazz saxophonist and flautist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pekka Sarmanto</span> Finnish musician

Pekka Eerik Juhani Sarmanto is a Finnish jazz bassist. Heikki Sarmanto is Pekka's brother.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1939 in jazz</span> Overview of the events of 1939 in jazz

This is a timeline documenting events of Jazz in the year 1939.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pekka Pöyry</span> Musical artist

Pekka Juhani Pöyry was a Finnish jazz and rock saxophonist and flutist. He was part of the Pekka Pöyry Quartet and Quintet.

UMO Jazz Orchestra is a Finnish big band. It was founded in 1975 by jazz musicians Heikki Sarmanto and Esko Linnavalli.

Harry Kaj Olof Backlund was a Finnish jazz trumpeter, composer, arranger, bandleader, theorist, and one of the founders of the Helsinki Pop & Jazz Conservatory and the Jazz Department of Sibelius Academy. He was also one of the founding members of UMO Jazz Orchestra. He was a contemporary music education pioneer in Finland and a long-running senior music theory teacher in Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarmanto</span> Surname list

Sarmanto is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:

Jeannine Otis, also known as "Jahneen," is an American singer, educator and music director.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 2192. ISBN   0-85112-939-0.
  2. "Jeannine Otis – Heikki Sarmanto - Magic Song". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2018-06-07.