In this not so new-but one of the most highly acclaimed albums of this summer so far, Jimi plays the sweet surprise factor as always. I don’t know if it’s because of his broad friend circle of Finnish jazz musicians or the fact that he enjoys dressing like Zeki Müren, or simply because he’s a damn good musician with an open mind, he never loses the surprise factor, always open to experimentation and versatile without losing his own jazzy essence. You always get what you want from him and you never get bored. In Joystone for example he returns with a playful afro-jazzy sound that his official website boldly and most righteously calls “afrobaltic underground jazz”. Interesting huh? The afro part of the album comes from the polyrhythmic percussion of Kabu Kabu, a group from West Africa, led by Nicholas Addo-Nettey, a former member of Fela Kuti’s band. Timo Lassy and Jukka Eskola are also among guests who have a finger throughout the album.

Hermetic Man is an instantly recognizable Tenor song with its loping melodic passages and subtle hints of 1970s prog jazz. The album closes with Dede, a 7-minute opus that showcases the halkofon, a one-of-a-kind instrument invented and built by Tenor from sticks of wood used to heat up the Finnish sauna.

Jimi Tenor and Kabu Kabu - Hermetic Man
Jimi Tenor and Kabu Kabu - Dede