THE MUSIC - MOTHER TONGUE

Lullaby is a soft and caressing ballad intended to make both the players and the audience feel good about themselves and the music.

Hymn is based on an improvisation Aaltonen played as an introduction to the hymn "Holy, Holy, Holy" by John B. Dykes on his album "I Love You Lord", a collection of religious songs that Aaltonen published himself in 1991. The structure of the performance builds in a reference to a New Orleans funeral parade, first with the drums approaching and the music getting louder and then with the music fading into the distance in the end.

Tuuliviiri (Weather Vane) was composed by Ulf Krokfors shortly before the trio was founded and has found its present form in a number of performances by the trio. The composition was named by Krokfors keeping in mind a comment that saxophonist Jone Takamäki made some years ago calling Krokfors a bit of a "weather vane" turning where the wind blows or, rather, playing with whoever happens to ask him to.

Reflections is a composition by Juhani Aaltonen that is based on Aaltonen´s improvisation on flute that used old Gregorian church music as its reference point. The improvisation was performed by Aaltonen with guitarist Ilkka Niemeläinen in a Russian orthodox church at the Kajaani Jazz Festival in the early 1990s. Aaltonen was intrigued by a sequence in the improvisation and put it down on note paper but only returned to the music after ten years as a basis for this composition.

Nature Boy is the standard by Eden Ahbez first made immortal by Nat King Cole but also recorded by the late John Coltrane in 1965 with his classic quartet. It is a song so often performed that it would seem almost impossible to find anything new to say with it. However, the trio has truly made the song its own in numerous public performances.

Tribute is Aaltonen´s tribute to the late John Coltrane, his foremost influence as a saxophonist. Although Aaltonen has never copied Coltrane´s phrases or practiced along his solos, Coltrane´s influence has always been strong. However, it is the spirit of Coltrane´s music rather that the notes played by him that Aaltonen feels closest to.