Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, OC was a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. from the 1950s onwards.
Tim Hagans is an American jazz trumpeter, arranger, and composer. He has been nominated for three Grammy Awards: Best Instrumental Composition for "Box of Cannoli" on The Avatar Sessions ; Best Contemporary Jazz Album for Animation*Imagination ; and Best Contemporary Jazz Album for Re-Animation.
Jyrki Sakari Kukko, is a Finnish musician.
Louis William Marini Jr., known as "Blue Lou" Marini, is an American saxophonist, arranger, and composer. He is best known for his work in jazz, rock, blues, and soul music, as well as his association with The Blues Brothers.
Thomas "Bones" Malone is an American jazz musician, arranger, and producer. As his nickname implies, he specializes on the trombone but he also plays saxophone, trumpet, tuba, flute, and bass guitar. He has been a member of The Blues Brothers, Saturday Night Live Band, Blood, Sweat & Tears, and the CBS Orchestra, the house band for the Late Show with David Letterman.
Raoul Melvin Björkenheim is a Finnish-American jazz guitarist, who has lived in Helsinki, New York, and Los Angeles.
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.
John Lee Clayton Jr. is an American jazz musician, classical double bassist, arranger, and composer.
Jukka Santeri Tiensuu is a Finnish contemporary classical composer, harpsichordist, pianist and conductor.
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.
Lenny Pickett is an American saxophonist and musical director of the Saturday Night Live band. From 1973 to 1981 he was a member of the band Tower of Power.
Juhani Aaltonen is a Finnish jazz saxophonist and flautist.
Tapani Rinne is a Finnish musician, composer, record producer and sound designer, who is known for his experimental and innovative style with the clarinet and saxophone. It has earned him a reputation as one of the most respected and unique Nordic instrumentalists.
Jarmo Savolainen was a Finnish jazz pianist and composer. He was born in Iisalmi, Eastern Finland, and first studied classical piano. He later turned his attention to jazz and studied at Berklee College of Music.
Jesper Lundgaard is a Danish jazz bassist, bandleader, composer and record producer. Since his debut in the mid-1970s, he has been among the most prominent bassists in Danish jazz and as a sideman he has appeared on more than 400 albums both with Danish and leading American jazz musicians.
Pekka Juhani Pöyry was a Finnish jazz and rock saxophonist and flutist. He was part of the Pekka Pöyry Quartet and Quintet.
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.
Vidar Johansen is a Norwegian jazz musician, music arranger and composer.
Kari Ikonen is a Finnish pianist, Moog player, and composer. He received the Yrjö-award from Jazz Finland in 2013, as the Finnish Jazz Musician of the Year.
Pauliina May is a Finnish–Dutch vocalist and a voice teacher. She is currently resident in Kinderdijk, The Netherlands.
