Jazz enthusiasts will be pleased to hear that guitarist Tomi "Varre" Vartiainen is about to release a brand new album in February, titled Almost Standards. The album is set to be released on 4 February 2022, but audiences may expect to get a sneak peek of the album even before that as the single Dolphin Romance will be released on 14 January 2022.

Vartiainen has performed with many jazz and rock groups over the years and is without a doubt one of the most esteemed musicians of his generation. He is known from such notable groups as Nylon Beat, Sleepy Sleepers and Leningrad Cowboys. A Sibelius Academy graduate, Vartiainen has also made a name for himself on television, having performed with the house bands of such tv shows as the David Hasselhoff Show and the Finnish Idols. Vartiainen has also established himself in the field of theatre: together with Eeva Kontu and Jarmo Saari, Vartiainen wrote a rock musical version of Shakespeare’s Hamlet for the Tampere Workers’ Theatre. The musical debuted in the autumn of 2020.

Vartiainen formed his own band, named Husband, in 2000. The group has actively performed at jazz festivals and clubs for more than 20 years. Vartiainen has also collaborated with several well-known Finnish jazz musicians such as Severi Pyysalo, Joonatan Rautio and Mikko Hassinen.