Iiro Rantala in duo with Youn Sun Nah
Iiro Rantala (1970) – piano – Finland
check:
Haiti Concert
After touring the world for 18 years with Trio Töykeät,
Finnish jazz piano virtuoso Iiro Rantala is
refreshingly still at the forefront of international
pianism. The energetic keyboard lion crosses musical genres
and styles with ease and excitement, playing at his
exhilarating and adventurous best. Definitely entertaining,
zany,unconventional and occasionally wicked, yet always
uncompromising. Iiro Rantala is among the most
internationally visible Finnish jazz musicians, and is
second to none when it comes to unsurpassable keyboard
technique and flaring showmanship. The pianist first became
infected by music in the children's choir Cantores Minores
at the age of seven and soon afterwards was already taking
piano lessons. Iiro Rantala is best known as the
founder and pianist of Trio Töykeät, Finland's most famous
jazz group, which became one of the biggest success stories
in Finnish jazz. Töykeät gave over 2,500 performances in 60
countries between 1988 and 2006, and released 8 albums - a
formidable achievement. The development of Iiro
Rantala as a creative pianistic improvisor has been one of
the most astonishing phenomena in the Finnish music world,
and he has been the winner of all major jazz awards in
Finland during his 22 year career.
www.iirorantala.com
In Duo with vocalist YOUN SUN NAH (Korea)
www.younsunnah.com
Review of London concert in Jazzwise
Review of London concert in London Jazz
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Youn Sun Nah is Korea's rising vocal star - a most formidable, versatile and higly celebrated vocalist with a wide ranging and
original repertoire. She has just recorded (for April '09 international release on the German ACT label) her beautiful new album called
'Voyage', together with Swedish guitarist Ulf Wakenius and other brilliant Nordic musicians.: As the jazz world welcomes more
female singers, Youn Sun Nah continues to stand out from the rest. With the support of a talented group of musicians,
she has succeeded in making her mark on the jazz scene, despite being outside the typical promotional circuit.
Who is she and how does she define her music? She likes to say that her group’s music is a manifestation of the best
in jazz - free, without borders, constantly evolving - and drawing inspiration from French chanson, pop, and contemporary music.
Youn Sun Nah is a remarkable and most enchanting jazz vocalist from Korea but with a French connection and
cabaret-chanson style vocals, who since the mid nineties has made a most significant mark on the French/European and Korean/Asian jazz scene. |
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(photos: Maarit Kytöharju)
"....romantic-classical strivings
in which his famed, composing country man Sibelius
was so good, and with that shakes his head above the
keys as a keyboard lion of the Horowitz type...."
Jacob Haagsma - Leeuwarder Courant - Holland
"...His playing to put it mildly is
virtuoso. One must perhaps go all the way back to Franz
Liszt to find the same kind of virtuosity. At least there is
lots of romanticism in Rantala."
Kjeld Fransden, Berlingske Tidene, Copenhagen
"Pianist Iiro Rantala is a real keyboard
lion. That he sees the grand piano particularly also as a
toy, appears in the many jokes in compositions lie 'Another
Ragtime, 'Unfinnish Tango' and 'Hömppa Humppa'"
Frans van Leeuwen - NCR Handelsblad - Holland
"Iiro Rantala is a pianistic sensation who
makes the strongest case I know to believe in reincarnation
because his pianistic technique and musical sensitivity
speak of depths which appear impossible to have been
achieved in this lifetime alone...."
Gil Goldstein, pianist and arranger, New York City.
"When I first heard the Trio Toykeat play
I was totally bowled over...knocked out. I immediately
recommended them for work...and also started hiring them...
then they started hiring me! Iiro Rantala is one of the
best musicians I have ever known. A RARE talent!"
Lew Soloff, trumpeter, New York City

Current Biography
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