Jimi Tenor

Last updated
Jimi Tenor JimiTenor.jpg
Jimi Tenor

Jimi Tenor (born Lassi O. T. Lehto, 1965) [1] is a Finnish composer and a musician. [2] [3] [4] [5] His artist name is a combination of an instrument and the first name comes from Lassi's childhood. When he was little next door neighbour girls used to call him Jimi because of likeness to Jimmy Osmond .. Jimi Tenor found that irritating, [6] but the name stuck for life. The last name comes from tenor saxophone, which is Tenor's main instrument.

Contents

Music

Tenor started his career in Jimi Tenor & His Shamans playing industrial music. The group was inspired by the Italian futurist Luigi Russolo, Japanese drumming ensembles and industrial noise music. [1] His band Jimi Tenor & His Shamans released its first album in 1988.

Having disbanded Jimi Tenor And His Shamans, the artist embarked on a solo career in the early 1990s, recording his debut work "Sähkomies" on rudimentary equipment in a small New York apartment. The album was released in 1994 on the Finnish imprint Sähko that also issued Tenor's sophomore work "Europa" a year later, expanding on the ideas articulated on the first disc.

On the back of a performance at the Love Parade in Berlin, Jimi Tenor scored his first hit with "Take Me Baby", entering the charts and signing a deal with the seminal electronic label Warp Records. Three albums were released on Warp: "Intervision" (1997), "Organism" (1999) and "Out Of Nowhere" (2000).

2003 Jimi Tenor Big Band toured around Europe playing more than 50 gigs in one stretch. Jimi Tenor has since collaborated with Umo Jazz Orchestra, Tv and Radio Orchestra of Croatia, Dachau Big Band, Metropole Orkest and with the avant-garde big band Flat Earth Society.

2011 Jimi Tenor made an album with Tony Allen called "Inspiration Information". After the release Jimi Tenor and Tony Allen toured extensively in Europe.

Jimi Tenor recorded three albums for Sähkö Recordings with a Berlin based Afrobeat band named "Kabukabu": "Joystone" (2007), "4th Dimension" (2008), and "The Mystery Of Aether for Kindered Spirits" (2012).

In 2009, he covered an Elektroids song for the Warp20 (Recreated) compilation album, as well as having his song "Paint the Stars" covered by Hudson Mohawke.

Blending jazz, synthesizer sounds, afrobeats and drum machine dubs, Jimi Tenor created a distinctive sound often resembling free-fowing, sporadic sketches, with a touch of the absurd.

As a soloist Jimi Tenor has appeared mostly as a flute player, also saxophone. Jimi Tenor does frequent guest appearances and has been featured on records of Nightmares on Wax, Malla and Dalindeo.

During his years composing, he has released albums on Sähkö Recordings, Warp Records, Kitty-Yo record labels, Philophon, Bureau-B and Timmion.

He has released more than 15 solo albums and collaboration albums with UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra, Tony Allen, Edward Vesala, Kabukabu, Freestyle Man, Jori Hulkkonen. Nicole Willis, Timmion Records (Soul Investigators), Maurice Fulton, Khan Of Finland, Lary 7, DJ Sotofett.

Films

Jimi Tenor has filmed a science fiction film Nuntius with Jori Hulkkonen. As Tenor and Hulkkonen constantly change the script, it can only be seen as a live performance, since Hulkkonen and Tenor play the soundtrack live.

In "Sähkö the Movie", Jimi Tenor documented the early era of Sähkö records, Ilpo Väisänen, Keith McIvor (aka JD Twitch), Tommi Grönlund (founder of Sähkö records), and Mika Vainio.

Life

Tenor was born in Lahti, Finland. [1] He has talked in multiple interviews about his childhood and ski jumping with other kids as a hobby. Jimi Tenor has lived in Berlin (1990), New York (1991-1994), London (1999-2000) Barcelona (1996-1999, 2001-2004) and Helsinki (2009-). [1]

Discography

Jimi Tenor and his Shamans

Solo

With Abdissa Assefa

With Kabu Kabu

With Tony Allen

With Lary 7, Mia Teodoratus; Soft Focus

With Nicole Willis; Cola & Jimmu

With Nicole Willis & The Soul Investigators (As also Jimmy Tenor)

With Nicole Willis featuring Tony Allen

With Myron & E with The Soul Investigators

With Willie West & The High Society Brothers

With The Soul Investigators

With UMO Jazz Orchestra

With Tapani Rinne

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "jimi tenor : tenorvision : bio". www.jimitenor.com. Retrieved 2019-11-17.
  2. ↑ Walters, John L. (21 September 2004). "Jimi Tenor, Jazz Cafe, London". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2019-11-17– via www.theguardian.com.
  3. ↑ Spencer, Neil (24 September 2000). "Pop: Jimi Tenor". The Observer. ISSN   0029-7712 . Retrieved 2019-11-17– via www.theguardian.com.
  4. ↑ Walters, John L. (19 September 2000). "Reviews; Jimi Tenor". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2019-11-17– via www.theguardian.com.
  5. ↑ Clarke, Betty (17 March 2003). "Jimi Tenor Big Band, Jazz Cafe, London". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2019-11-17– via www.theguardian.com.
  6. ↑ As Jimi tells Gilles Peterson in BBC Radio 6 Music
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.