XX by Joona Toivanen Trio
Sometimes jazz can be evocative, exciting, gentle, passionate, yet without the need for extras, inflated effects or
forced concepts aimed at stunning listeners.
XX (Twenty), an album by Joona Toivanen and his trio, released on CAM JAZZ, is a valuable gem so naturally
conceived that its pure simplicity becomes an enchanting expressive device: that’s the very reason why it stuns.
Simplicity is not merely “removing what is non-essential” or “avoiding extras”.
To get an image-arousing power through music, one needs to know how to vaguely intimate.
How to skillfully intimate sounds that are intrinsically able to ignite but not pigeonhole the listener’s imagination,
thus giving the first push to fly away towards something of one’s own making, intangible or poignant, or joyful, or
even sad, no matter.
XX (Twenty) does precisely this. Ostinatos that float undaunted under the pressure of engaging melodies, as in
Polaroid, or notes struck again and again to highlight other notes flying away, as in Grayscape I. Repeated
harmonic sequences and chords that shatter into small moments of stillness and enchanting crescendos of
strength, as in Grayscape II.
Sites of self-exploration wrapped in melancholic moods and refined harmonies, as in Lament, alternate with
sweet, dreamy strolls, as in Seconds Before, where the piano and double bass softly flirt with each other against a
pastoral, even fairy-tale background.
You may happen to step onto an imaginary train, as in Trails (could that steady, relentless rhythm on drums be a
train?), that carries you on a journey or to a final destination or helps you escape, who knows…?
Finally, you reach that quiet, magical closing track, Mt. Juliet, beautifully depicted by Joona Toivanen on piano,
Tapani Toivanen on double bass and Olavi Louhivuori on drums.
Produced by Ermanno Basso for CAM JAZZ, XX was produced and mixed by Stefano Amerio at Artesuono
Recording Studio in Cavalicco (UD), Italy in May 2017, and mastered by Danilo Rossi.
Credits
Joona Toivanen (born 1981) is an award winning Finnish jazz pianist, based in Gothenburg, Sweden.
With his base in Sweden and roots in Finland, Toivanen has been active in the Nordic jazz scene since his late teens. His pianism is lyric and delicate and his technique serves the story in the music all the time. Musically he moves in the boundaries between tradition and avant-garde.