Ricky-Tick Big Band & Julkinen Sana

(FIN)

Jazz and rap have different characters and cultures, but also much in common. They are both children of the great black music family. In effect, rap is verbal jazz. These facts in mind, Valtteri “Dalindèo” Pöyhönen’s red hot big band and Finland’s topmost rappers, Paleface, Redrama & Tommy Lindgren, combined their efforts. Their joint new album Burnaa kicks ass in such a manner that its pre-release single Julkinen sana (Public Word) won immediately YleX channel’s Rhythm Barometer, became the most played song on Radio Helsinki and generally instigated foam-mouthed praise both from the public and the critics.

Maestro Pöyhönen’s dynamic compositions draw inspiration from late period Duke Ellington and The Buddy Rich Big Band’s high-energy sound in the 60’s, like RTBB’s eponymous debut album (2011) already proved. Meanwhile the MCs take turns in the old school back-to-back manner. A lot of the rhymes were written in collective sessions.

Paleface has rapped in English and in Finnish on his own records, while Redrama and Don Johnson Big Band’s (actually a hip-hop quartet) Lindgren haven’t used Finnish this extensively before. All three have collaborated before in the gipsy-flavoured GG Caravan, Paleface and Redrama also in the pan-scandinavian Conscious Youth.