Jukka Haavisto puts the music first on ”Reflections”

Every now and again along comes an album that really makes you listen up and take notice.

Finnish bassist Jukka Haavisto’s first solo album ”Reflections” is one such record. If you’re into classic Seventies Fusion Jazz, then you should definitely give this album a listen!

Jukka Haavisto – the name’s pronounced a bit like ”Yucca Harvester” – recorded ”Reflections” with his band comprising himself as leader and bassist (obviously), Johannes Granroth on guitar, Vili Itäpelto on keyboards, and Severi Sorjonen on drums.

Haavisto and his band must have had a large sign in the studio reading ”Put the music first, stupid!”, because that’s exactly what they did. Where some Fusion records try to blind you with overtly technical playing and deliberately complicated arrangements, ”Reflections” draws the listener in with its warm, almost ”retro” soundscapes and it’s wonderfully musical approach to the genre.

This isn’t to say that ”Reflections” is a pastiche or a rehash – far from it! Jukka Haavisto and his band have managed to come up with an album of compositions that feed the soul and the mind in equal proportions, taking on board the best of classic Fusion Jazz, but transporting it to our times. The playing is top notch and the album’s sound warm and welcoming.

Jukka Haavisto’s ”Reflections” is too good an album to let it pass unnoticed. It is available both digitally and as a physical record. You should give it a spin – now!