Aki Rissanen

End of term couldn't come fast enough for pianist Aki Rissanen, our lone solo performer at 12 Points Festival 2009. A busy schedule awaits when he concludes his masters at The Sibelius Academy and Rissanen is already working with Finland's UMO Jazz Orchestra, performing with players of the stature of Daniel Humair and Barry Guy, and leading several bands with peers from around Europe. 2008 saw the release of La Lumiere Noire, a revelatory first solo recording that has elicited the highest praise in Finland. With a focussed intensity and formidable prowess across all parts of the instrument, Rissanen draws from diverse sources that also reflect his background in classical piano, and he wears the demands of this higher expression of the jazz art lightly.