JUKKA TOLONEN BAND: A PASSENGER TO PARAMARIBO

Guitarist (and occasional multi-instrumentalist) Jukka Tolonen became famous as the leading force of Tasavallan Presidentti, the other of the two most legendary Finnish prog bands. In the early 70's Tolonen started his instrumental Fusion oriented solo discography, which IMHO reached its artistic peak with The Hook (1974). Hystetica (1975) was a bit more rocking and care-free album.

After that the guitar virtuoso gathered a new group around him: Coste Apetrea from the Swedish RIO band Samla Mammas Manna as the second guitarist, Swedish saxophonist Christer Eklund -- who also produced A Passenger to Paramaribo --, the American- born drummer Bill Carson and bassist Ilkka Hanski replacing the TP partner Heikki Virtanen. Key wizard Esa Kotilainen continued his collaboration in Tolonen's band.

Compared to the previous albums this one contains more funk flavour, well present on the first two tracks. The third piece 'Tanja' was named after Jukka Tolonen's wife. It's an elegant and mellow little composition for acoustic guitars. 'Air Rock' is rather a typical Fusion piece of the time with airy melodies, virtuotic playing and the light funk elements. Nice, if not spectacular in any sense.

The energetic 'Dimitri' was named after Tolonen's son. The album closes with its only vocal track 'What Went Wrong?' sung by Bill Carson (whose singing style reminds me a little of Wigwam's Jim Pembroke). An OK, laid back song with a jazz/blues orientation and a long solo for electric guitar.

This is a fairly good and pleasant Fusion album all the way, but not quite as impressive as some of Tolonen's other albums.