Jimi Tenor
Beyond The Stars

There's nothing to be done. Some albums, like certain readings, certain companies, including some imperturbable women, with the rising temperatures and the arrival of the holiday climate, acquire a different substance, revealing an allure and qualities that, until recently, caught up in the daily grind, we hadn't noticed.

This is exactly what happened with this album by the creative Finnish musician Jimi Tenor, known in the worldly realm as Lassi Letho, "Beyond The Stars". A first listen several months ago left a good impression on me, but then the CD was almost forgotten and buried by new arrivals. Revisiting it now, in this torrid equatorial jungle atmosphere, the album has taken on new depths, fully manifesting its fragrances and intense aromas that fit perfectly with this blazing start to summer. Cool jazz rhythms blend with more intense frequencies; Latin American orchestras merge the sound of their brass with dub; slightly retro melodies lull you like a gently rippling sea; sudden free jazz bursts, Sun Ra-like atmospheres awaken you with a start; a fusion never banal and rich in references serves as a binder to the many sounds present.
The opening track "Barcelona Sunrise", with a very black&soul groove, immediately projects you into the sensual and vaguely lustful climate that characterizes the whole work: the birth of a new day in the city of Gaudí is one that many might wish for.
With "Moon Godness" there is a big band with frequent acid jazz turns and our tenor sax, of course, charting the course. In the title track, to the brass and syncopated rhythms of the big band are added vaguely psychedelic, almost spatial suggestions. In "Asteroid Belt", Ornette Coleman-like free jazz transforms, in the finale, into the soundtrack of a B-movie in America. In "Take off", old school funk dominates, with brass as the main protagonists.
With "Siren of Salo" the rhythms slow down; celestial choirs, reminiscent of those of maestro Morricone, envelop you, a light, almost ethereal piece, which would have looked splendid accompanying scenes from a beautiful sentimental '70s film. The unmistakable silhouette of Sun Ra instead casts its shadow on "Gamelavad", with cosmic openings and unsettling choirs. More traditional and classy black music, it almost feels like listening to a certain Todd Rundgren, is found in "Going For The Gold"; more experimental and open to current influences in "Tsunami". It closes with the splendid "Strawberry Place", a track with a new acid jazz feel, reminiscent of the best Galliano.
Jimi Tenor confirms, with this latest work, that he is one of those who is not afraid to dare, like all truly talented musicians, to exaggerate with references and fusions; an attitude that, in some aspects, brings him closer to some sacred monsters like Zappa, if it is permissible to compare small things to great ones.

If you still haven't prepared the selection that will accompany you during your holidays, consider "Beyond The Stars": it might help you see somewhat clichéd situations from a "summer" perspective.