Reiska Laine Jam Session

(FIN)

modern jazz, be-bop

The only other musician outside of Ted Curson that has played every Pori Jazz festival. The jam hungry drummer has played many other major jazz festivals, too, like Montreaux and Newport.

Starting professionally in the mid-60’s, Reino Laine spent early on a year in USA utilizing every opportunity to play with “heavies”, like saxists Dexter Gordon, Clifford Jordan and Charlie Mariano. His number one influence is the late great Tony Williams. Two of the former Helsinki City Theatre percussionist’s many ensembles must be mentioned: master reedsman Juhani Aaltonen’s The Finnish Middle-Aged All Stars from the 80’s and the 90’s Reiska Laine Band featuring only Finnish “Jazz Grammy” recipients: reedsman Eero Koivistoinen, pianist Seppo Kantonen, saxist Jukka Perko and bassist Häkä Virtanen. The long-time member of the Finnish Parliament has done a lot for jazz in many music committees.