Olli Ahvenlahti

Svart Records is proud to reissue Olli Ahvenlahti’s first three solo albums on vinyl. This is is debut, Bandstand.

When legendary producer Otto Donner of Love Records approached Olli Ahvenlahti and said: ”Olli, maybe it’s time for you to record your first solo album”, the pianist did not hesitate. After all, not too many jazz musicians had such a lucky break in 1970s Finland. Moreover, Donner was right. Olli Ahvenlahti had studied church music at the Sibelius Academy as well as English philology at the University of Helsinki. He had been active in the Helsinki club scene as well as in various studio sessions, including Pekka Streng’s prog folk LP Kesämaa and jazzfunk recordings for Eero Koivistoinen’s celebrated album Wahoo! Most importantly, Otto Donner knew that Olli Ahvenlahti was ready for the test. The young pianist had written music that demanded to be released in an album format.

At the time, Ahvenlahti was extremely interested in the electric jazz music that Miles Davis had popularised in the late 1960s. On the other hand, he had not abandoned his love for melodic piano improvisations á la Erroll Garner and, especially, Bill Evans. Recorded over five days in September 1974 in the Marcus Music studios, Stockholm (interestingly, a week earlier rock group Hurriganes had finished their all-time Finnish album classic Roadrunner in the same studios), and launched in April 1975, Bandstand brought together these two jazz traditions.