Pekka Pohjola, 1952-2008

Pekka Pohjola, widely regarded as the finest bass guitarist ever to come out of Finland, has died at the age of 56. His death was announced on Thursday on the online service of the Finnish Broadcasting Company, YLE.
      Pohjola, who was also a composer of some repute, was among the best known of Finnish artists on the international music scene, a true "musicians' musician".
     
Pohjola's musical output took influences from jazz, rock, folk music and traditional hymns. He initially studied classical music at the Sibelius Academy (piano & violin, and he came close to winning the Finnish nationals on the latter instrument), but switched over to rock, choosing the electric bass allegedly inspired by the example of The Beatles.
      He began his professional career with Eero, Jussi and The Boys, and then moved to the highly influential Finnish progressive rock outfit Wigwam.
      A solo career then followed, with a number of albums in a jazz fusion style somewhat reminiscent of the late Frank Zappa.
      Always in demand as a session musician, Pohjola also toured with Tubular Bells composer Mike Oldfield in 1978.
      He had come to the attention of the British music business slightly earlier, and two of his solo albums were released on the Virgin label at that time. Zappa, too, is said to have offered Pohjola a seat in his studio band at one stage.
     
Pekka Pohjola was born into a hugely musical family, with choirmaster Ensti Pohjola for a father and Erkki Pohjola, a well-known music pedagogue and long-serving conductor of the Tapiola Choir as his uncle.
      His cousin is Sakari Oramo, the former Music Director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and current Chief Conductor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic.
     
Pekka's name is carried forward by two sons who have also gone into making music - Verneri (trumpet) and Ilmari (trombone) are both prominent Finnish jazz musicians, and they played alongside their father at the 2004 Pori Jazz Festival.
      He also leaves to posterity a legacy of numerous excellent albums, most recently Views from 2001.


Links:
  Pekka Pohjola Group on YouTube from around 1980
  Pekka Pohjola biography and discography
  Pekka Pohjola (Wikipedia)
  The Madness Subsides, from Pohjola´s second solo album, released in the UK as B The Magpie (YouTube)