Tapio Ylinen’s Expressive Memorial Instrumentals

Mortality – Mortality (Eclipse Music, 2019)

Mortality is a profoundly personal album from Finnish composer and guitarist Tapio Ylinen. The musical pieces were composed in the period after the passing of his wife. Initially, this was going to be a one man project, where he planned to play all musical instruments. However, Ylinen reconsidered and ended up recruiting various contemporary jazz musicians to finalize the project.

The brief opening track features an ethereal solo guitar performed by Ylinen. This is the only track where he appears as an instrumentalist on the album. Although I mentioned jazz earlier, the album also features chamber classic music influences. There is a nice balance between the thoughtful, composed and structured sections that feature delightful guitar, piano, trumpet and bass interaction, and skillful jazz improvisation.

The fantastic band on this recording includes Verneri Pohjola on trumpet; Pauli Lyytinen on saxophone; Aki Rissanen on piano, Rhodes; Mika Kallio on drums; Jori Huhtala on bass; Jere Haakana on guitar; Teemu Viinikainen on guitar; and Tapio Ylinen on guitar.

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