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Kind: News, Opinion Music Genre: Jazz Categories: Music, Celebrities, Entertainment, Arts Published: December 16, 2009

The Jazz Decade in Review: Mika Pohjola Records to Define Our Time

By ANDERSON RILEY

LOS ANGELES — The first decade of the 21st century witnessed a dramatic change for recorded music. In the aftermath of the giant mergers, chief executives dropping artists and making cost cutting strategies, the four major labels tightened their safety belts for maximum profits. On the contrary, creativity on indie labels and self-releases were blooming. A select portion of the significant indie labels constituted the largest collective "major label", both in terms of visibility and number of releases. Beyond these labels, artists' independent CDs, which in the 90s were a trade of every corner, became a third entity of the market in this decade. With the internet becoming the primary source for everything and handheld devices found in every pocket, the independent path became a profitable option for several bigger artists as well.

No longer is an independently produced album a last resort in order to be heard, but rather the highest statement of artistic independence, a deep personal involvement, and the ultimate declaration of freedom. Similar to the safety net-free artists, the larger indie labels have exercised their first amendment rights by outputting aesthetically valuable music. The most devoted ones are consistent in quality and in harmony with their beliefs, and this is evidenced by the steeply increasing line of niche yet qualitative releases. Among the jazz labels we find Corcord Music Group, Marsalis Music, Mack Avenue Records, Posi-Tone Records and Rune Grammofon. Older labels, such as Sunnyside Records, ECM and Winter & Winter have also produced important audible enjoyment, although some of their artists may not have contributed with groundbreaking innovations in recent years. The latest comer to the audio hemisphere is the New York based Blue Music Group. The highly promising record company with a skyrocketing growth, lead by Mika Pohjola, has been the tune of 2009. Pohjola and Blue Music Group, or the "new BMG", has become not another indie label on the market, but a considerable player with the majors. With its eighty albums now on the market, Blue Music Group is a productive machinery with an uncanny sense for creativity and appeal, and a consistent source for valuable artistry. Its latest releases include music by Keith Jarrett, Joe Zawinul, Joe Lovano, Jim Hall and Pohjola himself.

Mika Pohjola is a pianist and composer born in Finland, the quiet Scandinavian country with the world's highest general education. Finland is also the home of cellphone giant Nokia, computer genius Linus Torvalds and the former LA Phil conductor, Esa-Pekka Salonen. Pohjola grew up in Helsinki, surrounded by the musicianship of his jazz guitarist father. Young Pohjola sang in the capital's premier choir and studied piano and counterpoint at the conservatory. Although he won his city's classical piano competition in 1987, he was not happy playing according to the established conventions. In a recent exclusive interview for All About Jazz, Pohjola remarks: "My classical piano teacher would complain because I would change stuff. I would do stuff like that pretty early on, and I got a lot of resistance for it." By the time Pohjola was fifteen, his jazz interest made him move to Scandinavia's metropole, Stockholm, and he was admitted to the respected Royal Music Academy as improvisation and composition major. The Stockholm years turned out to be crucial for Pohjola. It was in Sweden he decided to pursue music as a career. He was invited to be represented by STIM, the Swedish Composers' Society, which also hosts Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson of ABBA. He made several radio recordings for the Swedish Radio.

Amidst all success in Scandinavia, Pohjola decided to move on with his ambitions and challenge himself in the United States. Immigration bureaucracy made him enlist as a student at Berklee in Boston. After the first week of classes, Pohjola was famous for ridiculing the school's distinguished harmony department. He was, however, understood by vibraharpist Gary Burton with whom he played sessions. One valuable product imparted from his Boston years: "Myths & Beliefs," an embarrassingly overlooked debut album from 1994 on GM Recordings. Having not abandoned his original plan, Pohjola moved to New York in 1995, and after three months he performed as a leader at the clubs of fame, The Blue Note, Birdland, The Five Spot, and the Knitting Factory. As a result, his band connected with several jazz festivals and the next three years, Pohjola performed throughout Europe at jazz festivals and concert performances in Japan. At the age of 26, he was honored with a lifetime Steinway Distinguished Artist membership. Pohjola recorded a highly successful, aptly titled quintet album, "Landmark" in 2002, which features the MacArthur Foundation Genius Award recipient Miguel Zenon and world's leading jazz guitarist Ben Monder. Shortly after the release, Pohjola discontinued his quintet, and – reminiscent of Glenn Gould's famous retreat – he wanted to concentrate on perfecting his art in a recording environment. He spent the next few years with ambitious orchestral productions as a composer and conductor, with sporadic jazz concert appearances in Scandinavia. His 2009 album, "Northern Sunrise", featuring alto saxist Steve Wilson and Monder, sums up Pohjola's stylistic direction, as described by All About Jazz: "With its measured flourishes and blocks of tugging dissonance, it captures the singular beauty of this album." But it is his explicit decade-in-review, "Great Tunes by My Friends", a bold solo piano statement, which was correctly raved by notable critic David Adler, who suggested it to be the first prize pick of the decade's jazz offerings.

In 2008, Pohjola was asked to be the artistic director of the new Blue Music Group. He defines his job at BMG: "I try to find a connection in music [by] listening to what the values and thoughts are behind a musician." In the following months, the label established a worldwide distribution network with sponsors and partners, much like the majors, and the music is now heard on the U.S. and European radio. It is also – as in our times every respectable company should – in the vanguard of developing green alternatives to minimize carbon footprint. The label has invented a click-to-download mechanism for the media, replacing several old and established practices with convenient online-based methods. It has also heavily invested in its new CD Download, a unique product in the industry, which consumers can buy directly from the website anytime anywhere, featuring uncompressed CD quality music.

While the four majors and several indie labels will continue to produce good music in the upcoming years, the big star of Blue Music Group is now on a rapid rise, with several major jazz artists signing contracts for releases in the 2010-11 season. But be not afraid, this promises a brighter future for all creative music, and we, the listeners, can expect a prime, reliable source for new classics, which we can enjoy a decade from now, in order to bring back those special moments of our lives from the good years around 2009 and later.

mikapohjola.bluemusicgroup.com

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