Mighty Mighty comes blazing forward from the flourishing Finnish jazz scene. The creation of pianist-composer Kari Setälä, this collective of Helsinki jazz A-listers navigates effortlessly between various flavours of jazz, leaping from energetic straight-ahead into swinging hard-bop and vintage jazz-funk – and everything in between.
As an artist, while I regard composing as a great way of self-expression, I do strongly believe that a collection of “good tunes” – in addition to immaculate solo performances and communicative band interplay - is the guiding light and backbone of a successful jazz album set. That is, compositions with memorable and strong, melodic themes, that - while being approachable – never compromise their artistic integrity nor forego the jazz tradition they stem from. Compositions that are almost always more than just vehicles for extended improvisation: songs.Putting together this group in early 2009, I had a quite clear artistic vision of trying to balance the musical output between two loves: thereʼs that 1970ʼs electric-piano- fueled jazz-funk as pioneered by H. Hancock, and on the other hand, the acoustic two- horn hard-bop sound of the 1960ʼs.Iʼve been lucky to be surrounded by a group of excellent and highly in-demand musicians, who are able to swim in these waters like its their second nature!Kari Setälä
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