KEESOJEN LEHTO [AKA: THE MATHEMATICIAN'S AIR DISPLAY; THE CONSEQUENCES OF INDECISIONS]

Fantastic work by one of Finland's finest Prog artists. Having played with the best musicians there, he finally went solo in 1972 and there was no stopping from there - till his untimely passing away.

Building on his previous and well received album "B The Magpie", this work finds him in fine form again. A multi instrumentalist and composer he is best known about his monsterous, thumping style on bass that could only be compared with Jack Bruce on a good day. That Pohjola is never far from playing a bass solo - either heavy, or the lyrical in the background on just about every other tune of his output - is making him a truly special and unique artist.

This work is a fine example of the best of innovative European Jazz-Rock with not a hint of paying any homage to by copying big names of that genre. A slight Scandinavian flavour is always present in Pohjola's work without getting overly folksy.

A stellar line-up of respected musicians are featured here, that includes Mike Oldfield (with Sally in tow) at his best when Pierre Moerlen's Gong were his back-up musicians for live performances.

This album is painfully short at 36 mins, that includes a quick hoedown as the last piece, a piece with Sally, that wouldn't be missed. Still, the rest of what's on offer here is excellent and represents an essential addition to any Jazz-Rock fans library. 4.5, rounded up.