A new album from Jussi Reijonen on Challenge Records featuring Jason Palmer, Bulut Gulen, Layth Sidiq, Naseem Alatrash, Utar Artun, Kyle Miles, Keita Ogawa, Vancil Cooper and Luis Bacque.
As I write these notes sitting on my balcony in July 2022, it has been more than 9 years since the release of my debut album and more than 11years since it was recorded. The time since has been a personally tumultuous period of twists and turns � retreat, reflection, realization, reassessment,therapy, triumph, trial and error � entangled in a decade-long creative block that had me questioning whether I would ever be able to compose again.Though I felt there was so much I wanted and needed to say, I felt I had lost my voice, or perhaps never had one in the first place. A constant knot hadgrown tighter and tighter within me over time, but I did not understand what had created it or how it might be undone. In 2018, shaken awake by thecollision of two transients, I suddenly saw in a new light old patterns whose familiar presences I realized I had felt for much of my life, but had until thennever seen for what they were. Following a third, I finally found the humility to surrender, and as I began re-examining and confronting myself, I slowlystarted to discover new answers � and new questions to ask. Then the Covid-19 pandemic happened, and the world stopped. Like so many of uscaught in the new eerie calm, I retreated into inner spaces. I began revisiting sketches of ideas I had accumulated over the years, and finally, very,very slowly, new music started to come. - Jussi Reijonen
Electrifying and deeply resonant, monumental and profoundly personal, Reijonen's five-movement suite is a beautifully crafted, remarkable journey of sound and emotion performed by a knockout nine-piece ensemble. - Monarch
He's written one hell of a piece. - The Arts Fuse
On this remarkable and ambitious new recording, Reijonen delivers an epic transcultural suite that feels as deeply personal as it is expansive and far-reaching. - All About Jazz
a remarkable sophomore album -The Boston Globe
