Verneri Pohjola (born 23 December 1977 in

Helsinki, Finland 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 major ...

trumpeter.

Biography

The son of bassist

Pekka Pohjola Jussi Pekka Pohjola (13 January 1952 – 27 November 2008) was a Finnish multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer. Best known as a bass player, Pohjola was also a classically trained pianist and violinist. Pohjola rose to fame as the ba ...

, Pohjola studied at the Jazz and Pop Conservatory in Helsinki and the Örebro Music School. From 1999 he studied jazz music at the Sibelius-Akademie, where he met pianist Tuomo Prättälä, bassist Antti Lötjönen, and drummer

Olavi Louhivuori Olavi Louhivuori (born 13 July 1981 in Jyväskylä, Finland) is a Finnish jazz drummer and composer, the leader of his own ensemble Oddarrang, and also performer within several other bands. He is married to the singer Emma Salokoski. Career L ...

, members of his ''Ilmiliekki Quartet'' in 2002. In 2003 they released their debut album ''March of the Alpha Males'', followed by ''Take It With Me'' in 2006 . In addition, Pohjola is a member of the band ''Quintessence'', the band of Iro Haarla, the ensemble ''Suhkan Uhka'' of Antti Hytti and Jone Takamäki, the ''

UMO Jazz Orchestra 250px, UMO Jazz Orchestra UMO Jazz Orchestra is a Finnish big band. It was founded in 1975 by jazz musicians Heikki Sarmanto and Esko Linnavalli. UMO is an abbreviation of "Uuden Musiikin Orkesteri" (New Musical Orchestra). Since 1984 UMO has bee ...

,'' and the

post-rock Post-rock is a form of experimental rock characterized by a focus on exploring textures and timbre over traditional rock song structures, chords, or riffs. Post-rock artists are often instrumental, typically combining rock instrumentation with ...

band ''Silvio'', where he plays the drums. With his brother Ilmari, he played with his father Pekka Pohjola for the first time on his album Views (2001) . His first solo album ''Aurora'' was first released 2009 by the Finnish independent label Texicalli Records and came out for the German label ACT Music 2011. The only non-original composition of the eight tracks is Joaquin Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez Amour". The artist has been cited that his music is “about embracing life in all of its complex emotions, while we still have it. After all, the dead don’t dream.” The final phrase makes also the title of his 2020 solo album. The sidemen for this seven tracks comprising CD and vinyl disc release at Edition Records have been: Antti Lötjönen bass, Mika Kallio drums, Miikka Paatelainen pedal steel guitar,

Tuomo Prättälä Tuomo Prättälä also known by the mononym Tuomo (born 30 April 1979 Helsinki) is a Finnish soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymolo ...

piano and electronics and Pauli Lyytinen soprano and tenor saxophone. The JazzTimes reviewer commented about Pohjola: "he plays ideas you haven’t heard before".

Honors

His quartet was awarded the ''Teosto-Preis'' of the Association of Finnish Composers, and Pohjola was voted Artist of the Year at the ''

Pori Jazz festival Pori Jazz is a large international jazz festival, held annually during the month of July in the coastal city of Pori (a population of 82,809 in January 2010), Finland. It is one of the oldest and best known jazz festivals in Europe, having bee ...

'' In 2004, the quartet was invited to the official reception by the Finnish president Tarja Halonen on the occasion of the

Finnish Independence Day Independence Day of Finland ( fi, itsenäisyyspäivä; sv, självständighetsdagen) is a national public holiday, and a flag flying day, held on 6 December to celebrate Finland's declaration of independence from the Russian Empire when the Bols ...

. In 2009 for his album ''Aurora,'' Pohjola received a Finnish jazz

Emma Award Emma may refer to: * Emma (given name) Film * ''Emma'' (1932 film), a comedy-drama film by Clarence Brown * ''Emma'' (1996 theatrical film), a film starring Gwyneth Paltrow * ''Emma'' (1996 TV film), a British television film starring Kate B ...

as the ″Jazz Album of the Year".

Discography

Solo albums

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

: ''Aurora'' ( ACT), with

Juhani Aaltonen Juhani Aaltonen (born December 12, 1935) is a Finnish jazz saxophonist and flautist. Born in Kouvola, Finland, he studied at Sibelius Academy and Berklee College of Music. He began playing professionally at the end of the 1950s. He played in a ...

, Pepa Päivinen, Ilmari Pohjola, Aki Rissanen, Antti Lötjönen, Pekka Pohjola, Joonas Riippa, Meta4 String Quartet *

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

: ''Ancient History'' (ACT) * 2011: ''Music For The Play Mr Vertigo'' (KHY Suomen Musiikki Oy), with Joonas Riippa and Aki Rissanen *

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

: ''Rubidium'' (TUM Records), with Black Motor *

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

: ''Bullhorn'' (

Edition Edition may refer to: * Edition (book), a bibliographical term for a substantially similar set of copies * Edition (printmaking), a publishing term for a set print run * Edition (textual criticism), a particular version of a text * Edition Recor ...

EDN1056)CD Rezension von Mike Collins zu ''Bullhorn''
LondonJazz News 5. Januar 2015 *

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

: ''Pekka'' (Edition) *

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

: ''Animal Image'' (Edition), with Mika Kallio * 2020: ''The Dead Don't Dream'' (Edition)

Collaborations

; With Quintessence *

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

: ''Talk Less Listen More'' (Texicalli Records) *

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

: ''5 am'' (Jupiter) ; With Suhkan Uhka *

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

: ''Suhka'' (TUM Records) ; With Ilmiliekki Quartet * 2003: ''March Of The Alpha Males'' (TUM Records) *

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

: ''Take It With Me'' (TUM Records) *

: ''Vi Sålde Våra Hemman'' (KHY Suomen Musiikki Oy), with Emma Salokoski * 2019: ''Land Of Real Men'' (We Jazz Records) ; With Silvio * 2005: ''Amass All You Can'' (New Music Community) ; With Jupiter Horns *

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

: ''Street Poetry'' (WolfGang Records), with Hanoi Rocks ; With Orrenmaa Band * 2009: ''Make My Day'' (TO Records, Nordic Notes), with Billy Cobham & Tower Of Power Horns ; With Nils Landgren,

Michael Wollny Michael Wollny (born 25 May 1978) is a German jazz pianist and a professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Leipzig. He has played with international musicians including Joachim Kühn, Tamar Halperin, Marius Neset, Andreas Schaerer, Ém ...

, Leszek Możdżer, Nguyên Lê,

Lars Danielsson Lars Danielsson (born 5 September 1958) is a Swedish jazz bassist, composer, and record producer. Biography Danielsson was born in Smålandsstenar, and was educated at the Conservatory of music, music conservatory in Gothenburg. He plays doub ...

, Wolfgang Haffner,

Cæcilie Norby Cæcilie Norby (born 9 September 1964) is a Danish jazz and rock singer. She was born in Frederiksberg, Denmark, into a musical family. Her father, Erik Norby, is classical composer and her mother, Solveig Lumholt, is an opera singer. She was a ...

Céline Bonacina Céline Bonacina (born 23 July 1975 in Belfort, France) is a French saxophonist and composer. She plays soprano, alto and baritone saxophone. Biography Bonacina started learning music at the age of eight. She got classical saxophone lessons at ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

: ''The ACT Jubilee Concert'' (ACT) ; With

Adam Bałdych Adam Bałdych (born 18 May 1986 in Gorzów Wielkopolski, Poland) is a Polish violinist, composer, and music producer. Baldych is an ACT MUSIC (Germany) recording artist. He is known from a series of record releases and collaborations with music ...

& The Baltic Gang * 2012: ''Imaginary Room'' (ACT) ; With Flora Et Labora * 2012: ''Flora Et Labora'' (Konnex Records) ; With Iro Haarla Sextet * 2013: ''Kolibri'' (TUM Records) ; With Flame Jazz Messengers * 2016: ''Port Arthur'' (Fredriksson Music)

References

External links

Official MySpace Website

Site at (ACT)
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pohjola, Verneri 1977 births Living people Finnish trumpeters Finnish jazz composers Finnish jazz trumpeters Finnish drummers 21st-century trumpeters 21st-century drummers ACT Music artists Edition Records artists