Water Music
Drummer and percussionist Pekka Saarikorpi was intrigued by the idea of arranging his own compositions for different ensembles.
This is how Water Music came to be – an album best described as a composing drummer’s debut. It is deep in personal
flavour – strongly percussive but simultaneosly lyrical and minimalistically melodic. The recording contains Saarikorpi’s
solo pieces for marimba, percussions, and drum kit, as well as arrangements for varied ensembles, among others a jazz
quintet.
In the Winter of 2007, the Finnish Cultural Foundation wanted to encourage musician Pekka Saarikorpi’s composing by giving
him use of a marimba. The outcome was Water Music, an album of instrumental pieces and a narrative that joins them
together. The powerful moods and stories of the pieces sweep the listener away, placing him in a sailing boat alongside
Saarikorpi.
Music:
West African rhythmics and the uninhibited stream of consciousness of free jazz
Saarikorpi’s method of composing is strongly based on West African popular music, where rhythmic motifs are essential
compositional building blocks for all instruments. The album’s rhythmicality, the way the rhythms interweave, and a repetition
based melodic minimalism together create a tone language that hasn’t been heard all that much on the Finnish music scene.
Saarikorpi himself defines his music as follows:
“The complexity that is characteristic of jazz music is expressed in my compositions more through rhythmics than through melodic
or harmonic lines. The starting point for my pieces lies in a specific kind of minimalism where intense cinematic moods
merge with the aesthetics of free jazz.”
Saarikorpi Brom
Part of Saarikorpi’s compositions ended up on Water Music as his own solo pieces, but he wanted to arrange a large part
of the material for different jazz and folk music lineups. This was the beginning of Saarikorpi Brom, a group that consists of
young, promising Finnish musicians, as well as of more established profiles on the jazz and folk music scene. The personality
of the musicians and the broad range of the instrumentation created a perfect base for Saarikorpi’s compositions and arrangements.
The album’s distinctive sound and character springs from the ability of the musicians to morph into different ensembles
and instrument groups inside Saarikorpi Brom. Together they create a space where West African rhythmics and cinematic and
minimalistic melodies and harmonies fuse with Nordic folk music and the uninhibited stream of consciousness of free jazz.
The musicians of Saarikorpi Brom are:
Pekka Saarikorpi: drums, percussion, marimba, compositions and arrangement
Uffe Krokfors: doublebass
Juha Kujanpää: piano and harmonium
Joakim Berghäll: tenor and baritone saxophone
Joonas Outakoski: alto and soprano saxophone
Pekka Saarikorpi’s other jazz and folk music groups are, among others, Korpi Ensemble, Veljeni Valas, Kurkirku, Nuria, and
Pasi K. & Hurmos. Bassist Uffe Krokfors is already a living legend on the Finnish jazz music scene. He has played on numerous
acclaimed albums and worked with a number of awarded groups and musicians, for example Iro Haarla, Edward Vesala,
Juhani Aaltonen, Esa Pietilä, and the Krakatau ensemble. Pianist Juha Kujanpää plays in and composes for the groups Kirjava
Lintu, Juhola–Järvelä–Kujanpää -trio and Poutaja, to name a few. Saxophone players Joakim Berghäll and Joonas Outakoski
are familiar from several jazz and folk music ensembles. Both have, for instance, played with the Finnish-Norwegian group
Frigg. Berghäll also plays in Tsuumi Sound System, and is known from the Finnish-Norwegian-Danish free jazz-group Trio
Creepy. Outakoski, on his part, plays free jazz in Veljeni Valas.