Midweek pick, February 21st, 2024: Mikko Innanen Autonomus is happening
Mikko Innanen Autonomus: Hietsu (Fiasko)
Mikko Innanen: saxophones
Håvard Wiik: piano
Antti Lötjönen: double bass
Peter Bruun: drums
Maija Linkola: violin
Elina Viitasaari: violin
Lotta Poijärvi: viola
Petri Kumela: contrabass guitar
Finish saxophonist Mikko Innanen has been recording since the mid-to-late 90s, and in the years since he has played in many different settings, including with some real heavy hitters, like William Parker and Andrew Cyrille on the trio album Song For A New Decade, released by TUM in 2015. More recently, he has among other work featured on many recordings released by We Jazz, including albums by Koma Saxo and Antti Lötjönen Quintet East.
But he also has projects under his own name, one such being Mikko Innanen Autonomus. The group, which includes the above-mentioned Lötjönen on double bass plus Norwegian pianist Håvard Wiik and Danish drummer Peter Bruun, released their debut album, I-XXX, in 2019. A triple CD that I must admit to not having heard. My first encounter with the group is the recently released Hiestu, a fine live recording from their performance at Hiestru Is Happening! in Helsinki in 2019. The album also features two violins, one viola and a contrabass guitar.
The two pieces here ebb and flow fairly gently albeit with the occasional ripples and rumbles in a manner that feels fully improvised, but they use solid themes as spring boards. The violins, viola and guitar enter at various points throughout, and the presence of the strings, as well as the whole vibe of the recording, occasionally makes me think of some classic 60s live free jazz recordings, such as Albert Ayler in Greenwich Village. Not quite the fiery, mind you, and Innanen’s themes have a buoyant quality to them, more in the spirit of Ornette Coleman. Comparisons with such legends notwithstanding, the music more than holds its own.