Description
It was spring 2022, and the second weekend with a full band at Studio Pelto. Tõnu Naissoo had arrived from Tallinn by boat, driving his own car, ready for an intensive weekend of recording with a full cast of Finnish players. During that time, we recorded the Shapes & Colours album and the EMA EP, both to great success.
That weekend had a demanding schedule. Sunday was reserved for overdubs, which took only a few hours, and I remember realizing we had about three hours left before the boat would take Tõnu back home. The question came up: what are we going to do now?
Tõnu replied, “Let’s do a solo piano album.”
I was amazed that he still had energy left after such an intensive session — he’s was in his early seventies at this stage and his creative stamina is something else. He sat down at the piano and improvised eleven beautiful instrumentals, reaching a total length of 45 minutes.
A year later, we revisited the session, and Tõnu liked what he heard. “Let’s call it Nordic Suite.” A tribute to the Nordics — and that became the album title.
At the artistic level Tõnu Naissoo operates on, these improvisations are of the highest caliber. He moves effortlessly through landscapes of jazz piano, classical elements, and minimalism, with an astonishing range. As he himself puts it, there’s “a little Keith Jarrett” in there — an influence he’s always held close. But the music is pure Tõnu Naissoo, let your own ears be the judge.
This release is another hand-cut limited lathe of 50 copies, sealed in a fold-out sleeve and individually numbered.
Due to the long running time on each side, these took a significant amount of time to cut. For that reason, the price is slightly higher than usual, and limited to one copy per customer.
