All the way from Finland, Mortality’s self-titled prog-jazz album is injected with a dose of ECM chamber mystique – and “in a silent way,” is a gorgeous glance at the wonderful classic records from Kenny Wheeler, Ralph Towner’s Solstice, and Eberhard Weber with his band, Colours.
Just a note: This is the music of Tapio Ylinen, the Finnish singer-songwriter, performed by a stellar cast of jazz musicians from Finland.
That said, Tapio’s opening guitar melody to “In Memoriam … Part 1” (and his only appearance on the record) oozes with memory of John Abercrombie, circa his solo album Characters, and then Aki Rissanen’s piano introduces “In Memoriam … Part 2.” A tense string bass juxtaposes the brisk piano and guitar, while Pauli Lyytinen’s sax and Verneri Pohjola’s trumpet sweep with shades of King Crimson’s Lizard, a weird (sort of psychedelic) dance floor, until a jazz piano returns to the forefront and bounces a melody — all the while drummer Mika Kallio keeps a sympathetic beat, and the tune ends with an almost Eastern gong burst.
Then, a brisk fanfare announces “In Memoriam … Part 3.” The reoccurring piano motif is re-introduced, which flows into a languid jazz section that gives way to a melodic free-for-all that bulges, smiles, and inflates that central theme. Indeed, this music recalls the intricate beauty of Finland’s Pekka Pohjola’s big group jazzy albums like B the Magpie. And, yes, that is Pekka’s son, Verneri, on trumpet. Ditto for “Death’s Little Sister” (with Teemu Viinikainen on guitar), which evokes the deep passion of Pekka Pohjola’s sublime album Visitation.
And an equal mention must be made to the Finnish tradition of wondrous chamber jazz (with both classical and folk roots!) albums like Edward Vesala’s Satu, Lumi, or Ode to the Death of Jazz, and Jukka Gustavson’s (wonderfully odd) post-Wigwam records like (my computer spell check just groaned!) Jaloa Ylpeytta Yletan … Ylevaa Noyryytta Sousen (aka Pride’s an Exalted Purchase … Humility’s the Lever Sublime).
By the way, Mortality certainly invokes that very human (and very William Blakean!), “sublime lever” maxim. And, indeed, thank you Love Records!
The band’s namesake title tune tune follows with more chamber jazz that embraces emotional sax and trumpet melodies which soar and (to quote King Crimson’s Islands) “wheel and glide” over a piano, bass, and percussion framework. This is lovely music.
The three-part “Towards Dawn” is more of the same ECM chamber jazz: “Part 1,” again, embraces the unison sax/trumpet sound, while the piano plays the tune of a quietly dissonant bedfellow. There’s a big comfort of warm humanity to the tune. “Part 2” begins with an acoustic guitar and then enters, once more, a languid jazz glade that’s a soundtrack to any important impressionistic painting. And then, the piano-based funky jazz, “Part 3,” with the ensemble bubbling, races to the finish line with brief and quite jubilant finale.
The liner notes state that Mortality “evokes both 1970s-era prog-rock and the more prototype instrumental jazz that borrows from ECM-style sound.” Yeah, that’s a sublime mix – but in a very beautiful way, Mortality, while living up to its very human jazzy heartbeat, does all of that.
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