COMPOSERS: Jimi Sumen
LABELS: CMP
WORKS: Paintbrush, Rock Penstemon
PERFORMER: Jimi Sumen (el-g) + Matti Riikonen (tpt); Jorma Tapio (b-clt); Jouni Kannisto, Pertti Paivinen (saxes, f); Tapani Rinne (clt); Jukka Orma (el-pipa); Iro Haarla (ky, harp): Edward Vesala (d); Kari Kriikku (b-clt); MarkNauseef (perc)
CATALOGUE NO: CD 61
All the music here is by drummer Edward Vesala, Jimi Sumen's leader in the Finnish band Sound and Fury. Despite its immediate visceral impact, its stunning textural variety and easy way with idioms from psychedelia through rock to free improvisation, Vesala's music is still not widely appreciated. The guitar-hero focus of Paintbrush... should change this, for Sumen, although subordinating his sound to the needs of the ensemble, displays superb skill throughout the album, whether screaming over the band's rumbling percussive tattoos, stuttering out fractured lines over sinister jumbles of tumbling drums and electronic noise, or contributing quiet musing to an unusual trio of guitar, harp and bass clarinet. Wholeheartedly recommended. Chris Parker