Eero Koivistoinen (born January 13, 1946), one of the all-time greats in Finnish jazz and saxophone, arrived in the Finnish jazz scene in the mid-60s. Ever since, he has been one of the most distinguished and trusted jazz musicians in Finland. He is known for his versatility and creativeness, his tastes ranging from pithy jazz solos to large-scale orchestral works.
Eero Koivistoinen’s interest in music began at an early age, his first choices being classical and the violin. At sixteen, the violin was put aside in favour of the alto saxophone. Later on he switched to the tenor and soprano saxophones. Barely in his twenties, Koivistoinen was already a familiar face in Helsinki’s burgeoning jazz clubs. At that time he was studying at the Sibelius Academy: saxophone with Eero Linnala and composition with the famous Aulis Sallinen.
Eero Koivistoinen’s first line-up was with Edward Vesala on drums and Pekka Sarmanto on bass. This improvising trio was the first to explore the possibilities of avant-garde and free jazz in Finland. In 1967 newly-founded Finnish Jazz Federation decided he should be the first ever recipient of the Georgie Award, and he was nominated Jazz Musician of the Year. In 1969 Koivistoinen was to continue on the winning trail as his group won the competition for ensembles in Montreux, Switzerland. This gave him an opportunity to perform at the Newport Jazz Festival in the US. This award was, in fact, the very first time Finnish jazz was recognised on this scale.
In the early 70s Koivistoinen refined his skills at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he had such teachers as Herb Pomeroy and Joe Viola. Towards the end of the decade Koivistoinen made several concert tours and recordings and his quartet attracted a great deal of attention. In 1981 Koivistoinen won the Arranger’s Prize in the Nordring Competition held by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) in Jersey with his own orchestral work Ultima Thule. Six years later, in 1987, the Foundation for the Promotion of Finnish Music organised a competition for big band compositions. Koivistoinen won the first prize with a work entitled Kukonpesä.
The UMO Jazz Orchestra has played an important role in Koivistoinen’s career ever since its creation in 1975. In the mid-90s, after gradually shifting his emphasis from saxophone playing to composing and conducting, Koivistoinen was appointed Artistic Director of the renowned group for a period of two years (1996-98). As a conductor, he is held in high esteem not only locally, but also through his appearances in Germany, Norway, Denmark, Hungary, Estonia, Lithuania, Japan and South Africa. Koivistoinen was the producer of the UMO’s first recording for Naxos Jazz label; he also acted as the conductor and arranger of Electrifying Miles with Tim Hagans as the guest star on A-Records label. The album was given four stars in Down Beat Magazine. In 2013 the UMO Jazz Orchestra released an album of Eero’s children’s songs called Ville ja Valle. In 2016 Svart Records released Arctic Blues, an album in triple vinyl and double CD format. It includes 18 compositions or arrangements by Eero. UNC Jazz Press (University of Northern Colorado, USA) is publishing Eero’s big band charts.
Between 1998 – 2008 Eero was doing projects in Africa and African based music. As a result, he recorded Eero Koivistoinen and Senegalese Drums (1998) and performed with the band in major jazz festivals in Finland as well as at the Stockholm Jazz Festival (2003). In 2003 Koivistoinen also produced a record with Galaxy, containing mbalax and other Senegalese musical heritage. A few years earlier he had produced records for Naxos World label in Africa: Mozambique Relief, Venancio Mbande Orchestra, Eduardo Durao Timbila Ensemble in Mozambique, and Alexandra Youth Choir in South Africa. Alexandra is a township close to Johannesburg, South Africa. Lately Eero has been working also in Japan. In 2014 he performed his music with Tetsuya Tatsumi’s big band in two concerts in Tokyo.
Picture In Three Colours (1983) was one culmination point: Koivistoinen had gathered together a group of international megastars. The band included such musicians as Jack DeJohnette (drums), John Scofield (guitar), Tom Harrell (trumpet), Jim McNeely (piano) and Ron McClure (bass).
DeJohnette, Scofield and McClure got together again in 1992 , joined by Randy Brecker on trumpet, Conrad Herwig on trombone and Dave Kikoski on piano, to record Altered Things, which was highly acclaimed by critics. Bill Milkowski of Down Beat granted four and a half stars to this album and wrote, ”But a cursory listening to Altered Things reveals that these musicians were motivated by more than just funding. Koivistoinen happens to be a first-rate composer, an arranger of the highest order, and a strong improviser on tenor.”
Other multinational groups can be heard on the albums Dialog (1995), Sometime Ago (1999) and Zone: First Definition (1999). Dale Smoak of Cadence described the group play on Dialog: “Saxophonist Eero Koivistoinen leads a powerful multinational quintet through an energetic set of modern modal jazz. …Koivistoinen wrote eight of the twelve tunes and all of the arrangements. His settings and the strong solo and group play make for exciting music. Recommended.”
In the early 2000s Koivistoinen made three recordings together with vocalist Johanna Iivanainen, a quartet album Utu of Finnish folksongs, and a funk album called X-Ray. Svart Records has released Koivistoinen’s albums with a quartet: Hati Hati (2015) Illusion (2017) and Diversity (2022). Arctic Blues (2016) with UMO Big Band and Alma - an album with Martin Alvarado and Alexi Tuomarila. Svart Records rereleased also all of Koivistoinen’s older recordings, mostly in Vinyl format. Valtakunta, Odysseus, For Children, The Original Sin, Wahoo!, 3dr Version, The Front is Breaking, Labyrinth and Jappa. Svart Records released also Picture in Three Colors and Altered Thins recorded in New York, USA with musicians like John Scofield, Randy Brecker, Jack DeJohnette, Ron McClure etc.
Eero's children' song album Ville ja Valle with UMO Jazz Orchestra got Emma Price 2014.
Koivistoinen received the Finnish State Music Award 2017.
