Olli Ahvenlahti: The Poet

(FIN))
modern jazz, fusion, funk

In ”The Classic Albums Live” vein Olli Ahvenlahti’s excellent sextet plays his The Poet in its entirety. The album was made in 1976 and resurfaced in the 90’s as a

much-sought-after cult classic. Its last number Grandma’s Rockin’ Chair made it onto an international compilation of rare acid jazz gems. Olli plays the same Fender Rhodes in Pori that he uses on

the record.

Schooled in the Sibelius Academy and in NY, Ahvenlahti is a true dynamo in Finnish jazz, rock and entertainment. He became a national figure when he played a comic accompanist Puppe on TV to the famous

singer/flutist Vesa-Matti Loiri. On the more serious side, Olli played killer jazz-rock in the 70’s in The Group that included the late bass maestro Pekka Pohjola. With trumpetist Markku Johansson he

made bopish mainstream while also composing reams of material for the mighty UMO and countless TV shows and movies, not to mention his own albums, of which the deliciously groovy Bandstand has also become a

hip cult item.

Olli tours the churches as an organist in “Silence” with sax player Eero Koivistoinen and singer Johanna Iivanainen. Another on-going live project is “Kaksi ihoa”: Ahvenlahti

compositions with poems by Tommy Tabermann.