Olli Hirvonen - guitar
Luke Marantz - piano
Marty Kenney - bass
Nathan Ellman-Bell - drums
Olli Hirvonen on New Yorgis elav soome kitarrist, kes on saavutanud filigraansuse pillikäsitlemisel nii jazzi, rocki kui ka eksperimentaalmuusika žanrites – see moodustabki tema väga omapärase stiili vundamendi. 2016. aastal võidetud Montreux jazzkitarri konkursi esikoht on selge tunnistus Hirvoneni seisusest oma põlvkonna ühe tunnustatuima Põhjamaade muusikuna.
Noorpõlve mõjutustest rääkides viitab Hirvonen erinevatele klassikutele – alates Deep Purple’i Ritchie Blackmore’ist kuni George Bensoni ja Grant Greenini. Oma tõelise loomingulise palangu leidis Hirvonen 2011. aastal New Yorki kolides ning oma tänaste võitluskaaslastega tutvudes.
Olli Hirvonen is a Finnish guitarist currently based in Brooklyn, NY. Fluent in various styles from jazz to rock to more experimental sounds, he has formed a highly unique style combining these different influences. As the winner of the 2016 Montreux Jazz Guitar Competition, Hirvonen is definitely one of the most accomplished Nordic musicians of his generation.
Hirvonen started studying classical guitar in Finland when he was 9, which helped him develop an ability to sight-read that continues to be an asset today; in New York, he’s a go-to guy for
composers looking to test out demanding new music. He received his first electric guitar a year later, and became enamored of Deep Purple’s Ritchie Blackmore. (In fact, one of his earliest
bands played nothing but Deep Purple.) A guitar teacher introduced him to jazz in high school, and slowly but surely he became immersed in the music. His late teen years, as well as his
undergrad tenure at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, where his mentors included Raoul Björkenheim, were all about internalizing the bebop language, and he spent many hours absorbing George Benson, Grant Green and the like.
In 2011 he moved to New York to pursue his master’s at Manhattan School of Music, and his creative world opened up. He met many of the comrades he continues to gig with today, studied
classical composition and electro-acoustic music, and discovered the thriving avant-garde. That meant the outré side of jazz and classical, sure, but also Nels Cline, Thurston Moore and Lee
Ranaldo of Sonic Youth and other explorers. Hirvonen earned his master’s from Manhattan School of Music in 2013 and, three
years later, won the prestigious Socar Montreux Jazz Electric Guitar Competition, presided over by John McLaughlin. He’s earned critical acclaim from DownBeat and other outlets for his work in the saxophonist Brian Krock’s ensembles as well as for his own dynamic catalog as a leader.
His outstanding 2017 release on Edition Records, New Helsinki, features Walter Smith III on tenor saxophone and Adam O’Farrill on trumpet, in addition to the musicians who fill out the interactive quartet on Displace: keyboardist Luke Marantz, bassist Marty Kenney and drummer Nathan Ellman-Bell.