Edward Vesala, Antero Honkanen, Jarmo Sermila

Black vinyl, 500 copies. This collection of experimental recordings was originally released on Scandia, one of Finland’s largest labels, which shows how open the mood of the mid-seventies was for new things, even in large-scale record companies. Ode to Marilyn, based on a group of recordings from 1973, is a sophisticated gem of experimental music. The recording sessions resulted in the material on the album, which is a coherent and balanced package and is a combination of avant-garde, improvisation and electronic music. The album is an excellent example of how a group of musicians with very different musical backgrounds, but each armed with a broad-minded attitude, can produce unexpected and positively surprising results.

For the recording session the composer-trumpeter Jarmo Sermilä gathered the band, which included several prominent musicians of the time. In addition to him, the band contained electronic composer Antero Honkanen, drummer Edward “Eetu” Vesala, bassist Teppo Hauta-aho and flautist Mikael Helasvuo. One track has a guest, soprano singer Pirkkoliisa Tikka, who interprets the tragic poem written by Marilyn Monroe.

Essentially a "Headless" studio session involving Finnish jazz legends Edward Vesala & fellow "Suomalaista Elektroakustista Musiikkia" contributor Jarmo Sermilä taken over by Honkanen's Electronic production, to the point where little of the original instrumentation remains. Honkanen's liberal application of studio effects & filtrations all but eroding the timbral & iterative characteristics of most of the "Playing" here, leaving a spectral slime-trail that's as removed from anything remotely "Instrumental" as imaginable (Keith Fullerton Whitman)