Iiro Rantala (born 1970, in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

) is a Finnish

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

pianist. He studied piano in the jazz department of

Sibelius Academy The Sibelius Academy ( fi, Taideyliopiston Sibelius-Akatemia, sv, Sibelius-Akademin vid Konstuniversitetet) is part of the University of the Arts Helsinki and a university-level music school which operates in Helsinki and Kuopio, Finland. It al ...

and classical piano at the Manhattan School of Music. He is one of the best known Finnish jazz pianists, both in Finland and abroad. Rantala is a pianist and composer with

Trio Töykeät Trio Töykeät (founded in 1988) was a Finnish jazz trio. Their music ranges from humorous ragtimes to sentimental waltzes. Their playing style is often rhythmic, energetic and virtuosic. The group disbanded in 2008 Members * Iiro Rantala – pi ...

, a Finnish jazz trio. In addition to jazz, he has composed some classical pieces, most notably the '' Concerto for Piano and Concerto in G♯ΔA♭''. In 2008, he released the album ''

Elmo Elmo is a red Muppet monster character on the long-running PBS/ HBO children's television show ''Sesame Street''. A furry red monster who has a falsetto voice and illeism, he hosts the last full five-minute segment (fifteen minutes prio ...

'' with his new formation, the '' Iiro Rantala New Trio''. The members of the trio are Rantala (piano), Marzi Nyman (guitar) and Felix Zenger (beatbox).

Discography

Trio Töykeät

* '' Päivää'' (

Sonet Synchronous optical networking (SONET) and synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) are standardized protocols that transfer multiple digital bit streams synchronously over optical fiber using lasers or highly coherent light from light-emitting diode ...

, 1990) ** International version: ''

G'day G'day may refer to: * g'day, a greeting in Australian English * ''G'day'' (album), a 1993 album by Trio Töykeät See also * ''G'day G'day'' (album), a 1988 album by Slim Dusty ** "G'day G'day" (song), the title song * G-Day (disambiguation ...

'' (

Emarcy EmArcy Records is a jazz record label founded in 1954 by the American Mercury Records. The name is a phonetic spelling of "MRC", the initials for Mercury Record Company. During the 1950s and 1960s, musicians such as Max Roach, Clifford Brown ...

, 1993) * '' Jazzlantis'' (Emarcy, 1995) * ''

Sisu SiSU (SiSU information structuring universe or Structured information, serialized units), is a Unix command line-oriented framework for document structuring, publishing and search. Usage Using markup applied to a document, or a collection of do ...

'' (PolyGram Emarcy, 1998) * ''Kudos'' (

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

, 2000) * ''

High Standards High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift to ...

'' ( EMI Blue Note, 2003) * '' Wake'' (EMI Blue Note, 2005) * ''

One Night in Tampere 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit (measurement), unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment ...

'' (EMI Blue Note, 2007)

Big Bad Family

* ''

Big Bad Family Big or BIG may refer to: * Big, of great size or degree Film and television * ''Big'' (film), a 1988 fantasy-comedy film starring Tom Hanks * '' Big!'', a Discovery Channel television show * ''Richard Hammond's Big'', a television show present ...

'' ( Kompass, 1988) * ''Big Bad Family'' (re-release) (

Final Mix Records Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

, 1996)

Tango Kings

* ''

Tango Kings Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries as the result of a combinat ...

'' (

Big World ''Big World'' is a 1986 live album of original songs by Joe Jackson. The album was recorded in front of an invited audience at the Roundabout Theatre, East 17th Street in New York City on 23, 24 and 25 January 1986 (except "Man in the Stree ...

, 1995)

Sinfonia Lahti, Trio Töykeät, Jaakko ja Pekka Kuusisto

* '' Music!'' ( BIS Records, 2002)

SaloRantala Soi

* '' SaloRantala Soi!'' (

Johanna Kustannus Johanna Kustannus Oy (Ltd) has been the name of two Finnish record labels. has been a founding member for both companies, and Pekka Aarnio has also been involved with both. The first company using the name used the sublabel Johanna, while the sec ...

, 2003) * '' Talvijalka'' ( Sateen ääni, 2009)

Rantala & Tapiola Sinfonietta

* '' Concerto for Piano and Concerto in G♯ΔA♭'' ( Ondine, 2006)

Iiro Rantala New Trio

* ''

'' ( Rockadillo Records, 2008)

Pekka Kuusisto & Iiro Rantala

* '' Subterráneo'', ( Liverace, 2009)

Iiro Rantala solo piano

* ''Lost Heroes'', (ACT, 2011) * ''My History of Jazz'', (ACT, 2012)

Iiro Rantala String Trio

* ''Anyone with a Heart'', (ACT, 2014)

Iiro Rantala

* ''My Working Class Hero'', (ACT, 2015) * ''How Long Is Now?'', (ACT, 2016) * ''Good Stuff'', (ACT, 2017) * ''My Finnish Calendar'', (ACT, 2019) * ''Potsdam'', (ACT, 2022) (live)

References

External links

Iiro Rantala official homepageHomepage of Espoo Big Band
1970 births Living people Musicians from Helsinki Finnish classical pianists Finnish jazz pianists Manhattan School of Music faculty Avant-garde jazz pianists Finnish jazz composers ACT Music artists 21st-century classical pianists Trio Töykeät members {{classical-pianist-stub