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Jazz pianist Mika Pohjola releases "101 Compositions"

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One Hundred One compositions by Mika Pohjola is one of most important musical statements to-date by the Finnish-born New York jazz pianist who also writes classical music. In 2009, Pohjola was cited as one of fifty “most influential pianists since 1990," by Jazz, a 700- page book on jazz history, authored by Gary Giddins and Scott DeVeaux.

Pohjola has recorded a majority of his compositions with his own ensembles, featuring his contemporaries on the jazz scene, saxophonists Miguel Zenon, Steve Wilson and Chris Cheek, bassists Fernando Huergo and Matt Penman, guitarists Mick Goodrick and Ben Monder, and drummers Mark Ferber and Roberto Dani. He has also worked with vocalists Rigmor Gustafsson and Johanna Grussner.

Mika Pohjola was born in Helsinki, Finland, and studied in Stockholm, Sweden before migrating to the United States at the age of twenty. At Berklee he studied with Gary Burton and Herb Pomeroy. Apart from his concert and recording activities, Pohjola has been a frequent clinician at conservatories. Pohjola is a Steinway Distinguished Artist since 1997, and a major visiting artist at Berklee College of Music since 2006.

One Hundred One compositions convey both the depth and versatility of Pohjola's pen. The stylistic references range from Renaissance music to serialism, from Bebop to Rock, and beyond. However, personal integrity is the first ingredient which profiles this large work. Released for the first time in the form of sheet music, One Hundred One compositions share a valuable insight to Pohjola's introspective and thoughtful sound as a writer as well as an improviser.

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