(L to R:) Kyle Miles, Naseem Alatrash, Layth Sidiq, Utar Artun, Jussi Reijonen, Vancil Cooper, Jason Palmer, Keita Ogawa.
Dear Friends,
As I write this in mid-June 2021, It’s been over 8 years since the release of my debut album un in February 2013, and over 10 years since it was recorded in March 2011. Time flies.
The years in-between have been a period of many twists and turns – reflection, reassessment, personal growth, musical collaborations, private study, practice, research, trial, error, triumph and defeat… and a wrestling match with a 9-year-long writer’s block that at times felt like I would never be able to compose new original music again.
Then the pandemic happened, and the world stopped.
Though the reason for the pause in the hectic life of a working musician was as tragic as it was – too many of us lost loved ones to the pandemic, one of whom was my dear friend and mentor Bassam Saba – for a slow person like myself, the new eerie calm did bring with it something precious: time.
With everyone’s health being at risk and all my performances, tours and recording commitments vanishing into thin air in an instant, like all of us all around the world, I retreated into inner spaces.
My way of navigating those spaces was to roll up my sleeves and begin to finally work from sketches of ideas I had accumulated over the years since un and very, very slowly, new music started to emerge.
I have spent the past 12 months writing, arranging and orchestrating in the basement of our apartment building in Boston, in complete isolation at a cottage by lake Saimaa in Eastern Finland, and again in this very basement where I write these words now.
What was originally intended as a quintet album featuring the cello as a new color ended up getting… “out of hand” in one inspired writing session this past December, when it became clear that to fully realize the sounds I was hearing, I needed a larger palette to paint with. From that moment, the new window which had suddenly opened stayed ajar and my writer’s block started to fade into the background.
So you can imagine how thrilled I am to finally announce the most deeply personal and ambitious creative endeavor of my life thus far: my new album Three Seconds | Kolme Toista, a long-form five-movement suite for a 9-piece ensemble.
Making it even more personally meaningful is the fact that I got to record it with 8 people who not only are like brothers to me, but deep artists each in their own right and musical heroes of mine. The album will feature:
Jussi Reijonen – 7-string fretless guitar, electric guitar, classical guitar, Arabic oud
Jason Palmer – trumpet, flugelhorn
Bulut Gulen – trombone
Layth Sidiq – violin
Naseem Alatrash – cello
Utar Artun – microtonal piano
Kyle Miles – fretless and acoustic bass
Keita Ogawa – percussion
Vancil Cooper – drums
…in a nutshell, an absolute dream.
At the end of May, we recorded the music at Power Station New England in Waterford, CT with recording engineer genius Luis Bacqué at the helm, and I can only say those three days were absolutely magical. The most profound musical / creative experience of my life. A huge shout out to Evan Bakke and everyone at PSNE for making us feel so welcome and inspired!
Also, I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to The Boston Foundation for kickstarting the project with their Live Arts Boston grant, as well as the additional support from Mass Cultural Council, Taike and Musiikinedistämiskeskus MES. I could not have done this without your help.
There is still some post-production work and overdubs to do, but I can already say that what we captured in the studio is something special. More updates on the release and related concerts coming soon – I can not wait to share it with you all.
Thank you for supporting and listening all these years, and stay healthy, safe and in tune!
Warmth,
-J
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