In 2017 trumpet player Ilkka Arola convinced his audience with a dark sounding debut album, now he returns
with a new group Ilkka Arola Sound Tagine exploring and combining more music styles and colors than ever.
The band's rich and energetic debut album Land Ahead! was released in 30.10.2019 by Flame Jazz Records.
With his new album Land Ahead! trumpet player Ilkka Arola moves towards free and open-minded way to combine elements from various
music styles and cultures. His background in jazz music has given more and more space for influences especially from his travels in
Middle-East and Africa. The musicians interpreting the melodic and inevitably compelling compositions in addition to the trumpetist leader
are: woodwind player Max Zenger, drummer Eeti Nieminen, guitar and oud player Topi Korhonen, bass player Esko Grundström and
percussionist Juuso Hannukainen.
As the group's name implies the album is like a stew cooked with care and love: the sound is combined from carefully selected ingredients
resulting in an awesome and tasteful pot of music, it's like food for soul. ”My first album (From the Depths of the Earth; 2017) was quite dark
– I had just returned from study journey from Palestine and those experiences affected a lot how I composed back then. Now with my
second album I wanted to create lighter and catchier music, you can hear more of dancefloor rhythms and rapid melodies next to the softer
and more contemplating expression that is very natural for me”, Arola explains.
Ilkka Arola (b. 1988) is a Finnish trumpet player and multi-instrumentalist who writes music full of powerful stories, strong rhythms and
imaginative soundscapes – cinematic adventure music. Traveling in Middle East and Africa has had a great impact on his music as well as
recognizing his own roots in Nordic culture. He uses special Quartertone trumpet and flugelhorn to explore Arabic maqams and other
microtonal music. In quest for meaningful music making Arola started to imitate human voice with his trumpet. By “singing” through his
instrument Arola tells powerful stories without words. A good story is something Arola is always looking for when writing and arranging
music.