Since the Tse Tse Club in february 1999 invited Hasse Poulsen to Helsinki to play with Teppo Hauta-aho and Jari Hongisto the interplay between the three has become an institution. Thanks to the  manager Charles Gil Sound Kitchen has toured several times in Finland and Scandinavia as well as playing the Festivals of Grenoble, Luz, and Mulhouse in France.

 

The concerts have been – just as the CD Pass me the Wine, please from 2000 – overwhelmingly well received everywhere

Teppo Hauta-aho is a modest Giant of Scandinavian music ” why this titan of modern music is not better known in the United States has to be one of the truly great mysteries”.. He has earned his living in Helsinki Symphonic orchestra and in Helsinki opera orchestra in many, many years. He tours the world as a double bass soloist and improvises with Trio Nuevo Finlandia and with Cecil Taylor European Quintet,  he composes for every imaginable formation from solo-pices to works for symphony orchestra. (His Cadenza for solobass is an established part of the double bass repertoire all over the world.)

 

PRESS

 

SOUND KITCHEN - PASS ME THE WINE, PLEASE

JARI HONGISTO, TROMBONE, PERCUSSION; Hasse Poulsen, gui­tars; Teppo Hauta-oho, double boss.

. AV-ART AACD 1011 Jari Hongisto/Hasse Poulsen/Teppo Hauto-aho: the cocktail; the soup; the snack; the fish; the meat; the bread; the salad; . the sweet.

 

Thirty-eight year-old Jari Hongisto is a name of sorts in his native Finland, having routinely performed a wide variety of exceptional music throughout Europe and abroad. Despite a burgeoning reputation for eclectic diversity, it is his work with the so-called "free school" that has earned him the lion's share of his hard-earned acclaim. Hongisto's musical contributions have been both daring and plentiful, as he continues to venture forward into a unique artistic worlds of his own invention. He is truly one of the shining stars of his chosen avocation.

 

SOUND KITCHEN - PASS ME THE WINE, PLEASE is the latest musical collective to showcase Hongisto, who shares equal billing with Hauta-aho and guitarist Hasse Poulsen, on unpredictable and exciting performer. Show­casing the trio at its creative best, this CD features selections from a 1999 Finnish tour organized by French promoter Charles Gill. The compositions are not to be taken at face value. They are merely a conceptual juxtaposition of select performances. It is doubtful these pieces were ever intended as any more than edited forays of spontaneity, where the actualized music was undecided until the first notes were played. Be that as it may, what accounts for the finished product is truly mesmerizing. Like Roswell Rudd, Hongisto's playing transcends wide trills and smears, by attaining an almost spiritual actualization. Unlike his mentor Bauer's most recent effort, everyone on SOUND KITCHEN - PASS ME THE WINE, PLEASE can be heard in his best light; and when Hongisto backs from his amplification, it serves as a calculated technique to enhance the music. It is refreshing to hear at least one "free" trombonist demon­strate concern for such matters. As for Hauta-aho, he is everywhere. When he is not enhancing the body of the ensemble with those trademark wide strokes, he is con­tributing immeasurably to its percussiveness. Why this titan of modem music is not better known in the United States has to be one of the truly great mysteries.

Granted, this music will not be for everyone. It requires serious concentration. In fact, there will probably be some of the lesser initiated who will deem its absorption the equivalent of undergoing a radical surgical procedure. Yet, for those risk takers who are eager to take the road seldom traveled, let this recording be their Ferrari.

-Tom Smith ~Pfeiffer University

 

Stemning og harmoni

 

Fire skandinaviske mu­sikere dyrker den frie improvisationsmusik ­i et intimt og kammer­musikalsk sprog.

 

Harmonisk. Det er et nær­liggende udtryk. selvom der i koncertens forløb på intet tidspunkt opstår noget, der i elementær musikteoretisk forstand kan betegnes som harmoni. Heller ikke en rigtig melodi eller en fast puls ind­går i programmet.

Her handler det kort sagt om fri improvisationsmusik. en stilart, der - med rødder i den engang så revolutionære freejazz - næsten pr. defini­tion indebærer voldsomt rabi­ate udtryksformer.

Men det er stort set ikke tilfældet hos Scandinavian Sound Kitchen. fire musikere, der på det nærmeste vender strømmen. Søger et intimt og kammermusikalsk sprog. Det er musik, der ret beset bevæger sig på grænsen af så vel det totale kaos som den totale intethed, men det er også musik, der får krop og sjæl i kraft af musikere. der aldrig fraviger et helhjertet engagement i netop denne ­verdensomspændende- mar­ginalmusik.

 

Den finske basunist Jari Hongisto. den danske guitarist Hasse Poulsen. den finske bas­sist Teppo Hauta-aho og den svenske trommeslager Ray­mond Strid arbejder både med og imod deres instru­menters oprindelige funktio­ner, men selv i de mest sære og performance-agtige optrin, virker det musikalske udtryk hverken fortænkt eller hyste­risk.

Mens første afdeling nær­mest er en nedtonet leg med klang-konfigurationer. kom­mer der efter pausen lidt mere dynamik i foretagendet. og man fornemmer, at også en let underspillet humor er med til at samle trådene.

Koncerten bliver en strøm af lydmalerier. som opbygges og nedbrydes. men som alle får den rette tid til at udvikle sig og til at fuldkommengøre sig. Musikerne bevarer lyd­hørhed og engagement, og den sære og sårbare musik bevarer sin intensitet og sin stemning. ja, sin uharmoniske harmoni.

 

Scandinavian Sound Kit­chen, Copenhagen Jazz House. torsdag aften.

 

AF KJELD FRANDSEN

 

Et quelques maîtres européens des "silences" acoustiques/ou électroniques obtinrent de vrais et francs suçcés. Comme les "nordiques" (Danemark/Finlande) drôles et inventifs de Sound Kitchen avec l'incroyable Hasse Poulsen (g).

 

Perre-Henri Ardoncau Jazz Magazine sur Jazz a Luz

 

SOUND KITCHEN

P ASS ME THE WINE, PLEASE I. AV-ART AACD 1011

 

Le disque est fait d'une sélection de onze morceaux joués pendant une tournée de novembre 99 en Finlande. La liste des titres reconstitue un menu imaginaire: the cocktail, the soup, the snack, etc. Ces titres fonctionnent comme ceux de 49° Nord en décri­vant la texture du morceau; densité de the soup, sons aquatiques de the fish, par exemple. Hauto-Aho à la contrebasse est étonnant dans ce contexte, il y tient une fonction classique de soutien avec beaucoup de souplesse et de discrétion. Hongisto marie intimement des influences contemporaines et l'attachement au côté hot de son instrument Poulsen manipule avec virtuosité le son de la guitare acoustique. Ce groupe est, de tous ceux de Poulsen, celui qui joue le plus. Malgré la distance, il m'évoque de trio de Jimmy Giuf­fre avec Jim Hall et Bob Brookmeyer par quelque chose d'élégant, d'humoristique, un certain raffine ment dans l'évocation. Comme Giuffre, Poulsen vient troubler, déplacer, détourner sans briser des formes de jeu préexistantes. Le guitariste s'y réapproprie prudemment certaines formes mélodiques (la fin de the bread) ou stylistiques (les évocations du blues dans the sweet); après s'être beaucoup interdit et alors même qu'il n'utilise pas la guitare électrique, Poulsen explore la musique avec un très large spectre sonore.

Noël Tachet, ImproJazz

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Dans le registre des bizarreries, le concert de Sound Kitchen (Jari Hongisto, trombone, percussion, Hasse Poulsen, guitare, Teppo Hauta-aho, contrebasse) à une heure très avancée de la nuit, après le concert sous le chapiteau était réservé à des festivaliers avertis. Le guitariste Hasse Poulsen entre Vienne et Parthenay (où il participait au très apprécié Napoli's walls) s'est arrêté ici pour jouer avec ses deux complices finlandais à des jeux insolites, minimalistes et bruitistes. Excellente introduction à la nuit : chuchotements sans trop de cris, crissements, chuintements et ballets étranges autour de leurs instruments-objets décortiqués, déritualisés dans leur utilisation. Une panoplie d'ustensiles pour une cuisine-laboratoire.

Phillippe MEZIAT

 

Malgré l'heure tardive, le trio de Sound Kitchen Jari Hongisto (tb), Hasse Poulsen (g) et Teppo Hauta-Aho (b) plongea l'auditoire dans une douce rêverie. Ici l'élégance et le raffinement des timbres (Giuffre n'est pas loin), là la complicité et la générosité comme arme d'amour absolue.

Xavier Mathyssens, Impro Jazz