Törmäsin Matthew Wuethrichin nimeen sattumoisin jokin
aika sitten etsiessäni aineistoa eräästä suomalaisesta
yhtyeestä. Wuethrichin arvio All About Jazz -verkkolehdessä
johti tutustumaan miehen muihinkin kirjoituksiin. Samaisesta
AAJ:sta löytyikin monen monta mielenkiintoista juttua,
esimerkiksi varmasti kattavin kirjoituskokoelma vuoden
2003 Tampere Jazz Happeningistä. Chicagosta kotoisin
oleva Wuethrich on meren ylitettyään asunut Prahassa,
Jerusalemissa ja Kotkassa ennen asettumistaan
nykyiseen kotikaupunkiinsa Jyväskylään.

Haastattelu julkaistaan poikkeuksellisesti englanninkielisenä.

1. How did you end up in Finland? Tell the whole story!

OK, but you asked for it! The shorter, storybook version
would read: We meet in Prague's main square, my future
Finnish wife stopping me for directions her first night in the
city, we fall in love, get married, I move to Finland. Reality,
as always, takes a few more twists and turns. We did meet
on the streets of Prague, as I was living there and teaching
English and she had come to study contemporary dance,
but after her term ended she returned to Stockholm and I
stayed in Prague. That started a year of living apart until
we decided to move together to Jerusalem (another long
story). We arrived just in time for the Second Intifada to
begin, and after four months I returned to the States and
Elina to Finland. After another few months apart I moved
to Kotka where she was working as a lääneentaiteilija.
After three months of a fruitless job search my tourist
visa ran out, so we decided to finally get married. Another
nine months in Kotk went, with me unemployed and
studying Finnish in Inkeroinen, until a job opportunity
opened up in Jyväskylä, which brings us to where we
are now…

2. What are your activities now in Jyväskylä? Work,
hobbies etc?

Monday to Friday (and some Sundays) I spend teaching
and planning lessons for my work as an English trainer at
AAC Global Oy, where I give courses in English for Business
Purposes. I teach general courses, writing, presentations,
negotiation language and various other types.

When I'm not getting Finnish people to speak English - and
learning more about pulp, mobile phones, tractors, paper
and IT than I ever thought - music and our Tibetan terrier
get most of my attention. Listening to music, live and
recorded, and writing about it is my main hobby, but I read
quite a lot, fiction, non-fiction, magazines.

3. Tell us about All About Jazz. How did you get to write
for AAJ?

AAJ is more a community than a website, a community of
listeners, musicians and writers, and the format of the site
allows all three groups to share ideas, thoughts,
recommendations, whatever. The site is always looking for
more content, and I found that there was next to nothing
about Finnish jazz. As I was living in Kotka at the time and
just beginning to discover Finnish music, I thought it would
be a good way to learn about what was happening
musically in this country. So I started raiding Kotka's
music library (which also showed me how extensive
Finland's public library system is.)

4. How did you become a jazz critic anyway? (For
example: what is your relationship to music in general?
Why jazz? Do you make music yourself? Have you studied
music?)

Writing music articles combines my two passions, writing
and music. I studied writing at the University Of Illinois,
taking courses in creative writing, journalism and business
communication. Music has mostly been from a listener's
perspective, but I did study electric bass during university
and had lots of friends who also had music as hobby, so
we often got together and experimented with all kinds of
music, from free improvisation and rock to bluegrass and
American roots music.

Music has meant many things to me at different times in
my life - creative inspiration, a means to create community,
and more recently I've started to see musical expressions
and traditions as storehouses of history, culture and
identity, where you can glimpse the terrain of the past in
the present. Maybe that's why jazz has always intrigued
me, because as a form one can hear the changes of the
twentieth-century so distinctly, but the individuals who
make the music are free to draw on all time periods at
any time in their playing, if they wish.

5. Do you have a total freedom in AAJ, to write about
anything you wish, and as much as you want about
Finnish music?

AAJ operates with a completely free editorial policy,
meaning anyone with something to say can say it. I just
recently started a new column called 'Nordic Sounds',
and I have the green light to write about any aspect
of the Finnish music scene, and now about any
Scandinavian country. In future, I want to broaden my
focus and try to capture a little bit of each country.

6. What else do you listen to besides jazz?

I try to stay open to just about anything because I
realize there is still a wealth of great music to be heard;
rock, reggae, funk, American folk and country,
soundtracks, electronica, Cuban, Brazilian, Balkan, Bach,
20th-century music - I listen to a little bit of everything.
I often swing between really introverted atmospheres, l
ike recently between György Ligeti, Supersilent and
Kemialliset Ystävät, to more extroverted attitudes, like
King Tubby, Kuusumun Profeetta, Circle and The Grateful
Dead.

I try to keep a journal of what I listen to, and when I
look through I am always surprised to see the range.
One month will have Fado singer Amalia Rodrigues,
Tom Waits and Johnny Cash, along with Charles Mingus,
Mozart, Cecil Taylor and Fela Kuti, maybe even some
Balinese Gamelan, John Fahey and solo oud.

I should say that I find a lot of inspiration in the library
here, as I make trips probably weekly, taking the
opportunity to experiment for new finds.

7. How is jazz situated in the field of music generally in
the USA? Do you feel there are any differences between
the USA, Europe, Finland?

There are a lot of people (musicians, critics, listeners)
who would like jazz to be considered "America's Classical
music," which means they want to canonize certain
artists and exclude others (see Ken Burn's Jazz
documentary for a classic example of this.) But there are
just as many people - musicians, listeners and critics -
who are still digging for ways to evolve the form.

From what I've seen this mainstream/underground dialogue
is going on in Finland and the European countries I've
experienced. For every jazz club offering swing, hot jazz
and bebop revivals, there are festivals showing more
modern sounds.

In general it's a pity that this mainstream/underground
distinction even exists, because it just ends up that
people turn their noses up at other styles, and we end
up missing some really pleasurable, exciting experiences.
I wish music didn't always have to feel like some kind of
competition, where everyone runs around holding up
their favourite music as the 'truth', or trying to keep
their discoveries to themselves.

8.There must be a lot of music in the field of American
jazz that is not so well known here in Europe. What of
the present day American jazz would you like to import
to Finland, if you could for example decide on a festival
programme?

If I wanted an edgier, more out festival I would want
some of the groups coming out of Chicago, like the
Chicago Underground projects with cornetist Rob Mazurek
and guitarist Jeff Parker, or The Vandermark 5 for some
fired-up free playing, or even tenor saxophonist Fred
Anderson, a legend who is only now getting his due.
From New York, pianist Matthew Shipp has some
interesting projects going on. Saxophonist Ellery
Eskelin's trio with Zeena Parkins and Jim Black would
also be great to see.

If I wanted people to really dance and just have a good
time, I would say groups like Steve Bernstein's Sex Mob,
and the avant-groove trio MMW. Too often at festivals
and concerts (in many countries) people feel inhibited,
and these groups, with their energy and spirit, allow
people to let loose. And just enjoy the music with their
whole bodies.

9 .What was you first contact with Finnish jazz? First
concerts here? Any funny feelings about the way music
was played? Are you used to Finnish music now, or
are there still surprises?

I bought Sound and Fury's Nordic Gallery in Prague after
meeting my wife. At first, the title and the cover
confirmed my stereotypes of the Nordic countries: a
bunch of straight-faced people wandering around in
the snow, lots of pine trees, etc. But the music was
something else entirely. Mutant tangos, strange
vocalizations, a whole spectrum of instruments
(accordions, electric and acoustic bass, guitar,
clarinets, bells) moving in and out of the mix and
extended angular melodies - totally foreign and not
like anything I had heard before.

My first concert was a bass trio with Teppa Hauta-Aho
at a lighthouse in Kotka. Not as strange as Vesala, but
still a fresh experience. One of my early shows that
remains really memorable was also in Kotka, it was a
trio - Seppo Kantonen on piano, Ville Herrala on bass,
Tom Nekljudow on drums and Yrjänä Sauros reciting
poetry, telling riddles and playing harmonica. Totally
surreal, especially because at the time I didn't
understand any Finnish, so it was just this blur of
consonants and unfamiliar vowels against more
recognizable musical forms.

I always feel that the vocal music (rock, pop, folk) of
a foreign country holds its secrets longer than
instrumental music. So much of the effect of vocal
music is in the sound and meaning of the words and
the way they are manipulated, and usually in ways
that only native, or really experienced, speakers can
fully appreciate.

10. What are the signs of locality, how is the grammar
of Finnish jazz different from the one you have been
used to earlier?

It depends on who one listens to. Composers like
Vesala, Haarla and Mikkonen use elements that
create surprising song structures, ones that seem
to unique to Finland (The Kalevela, fusions of blues
sonorities and older Finnish folk forms). But jazz by
its nature incorporates elements from whatever is
around it, and by becoming so global, it is quite
natural to hear folk forms from many countries being
used.

11. Can you name Finnish musicians or bands that
have made the greatest impression on you?

Recently I've really enjoyed hearing Mikko Innanen
play. It always sounds first and foremost like he's
enjoying himself, but at the same time he's really
dialoguing with the past: arguing with it, agreeing
with it, respecting it - all at the same time. His
recent tours with Delirium and Triade were fabulous.

Samuli Mikkonen's large ensemble is also a stunning
experience, where the sounds and atmosphere just
overwhelm you. I also enjoy the Juhani Aaltonen
Trio's intimate atmospheres and listening to Karikko
is also great fun, as it moves between chamber music,
jazz and fusion in the space of a few bars.

Outside of jazz circles, I just saw Kuusumun Profeetta
this past weekend and came away stunned. High-energy
rock, subtle song structures, loose and almost jazzy
keyboards and Mika Rättö's sonic boom of a voice -
easily one of the best performances I've seen in Finland.
In January I saw a performance of Kari Saairaho's music
in Jyväskylä City Theatre. Absolutely spellbinding, almost
ghostly music.

12. How does the cultural life of this small town of
Jyväskylä feel? It must be a little different from your
home Chicago?

You can't even compare the two, and one shouldn't.
Chicago represents one kind of system of culture,
whereas Jyväskylä represents another, and it's one I
enjoy a lot. The city where I went to university was
quite similar to JKL, 80,000 people with a large university.
In a smaller city, you see the people that are part of the
culture on the street, and it makes the culture feel like
its somehow closer to you and that you could even be a
part of it. This feeling of participation is one that I feel
gets lost these days, the distinctions between audience
and artist have grown too large.

13. You wrote a lot of great articles about Tampere Jazz
Happening 2003. Have you visited any other Finnish Jazz
Festivals? Comments on them?

I caught Summer Jazz last year. There definitely a lot of
variety, but one of the most interesting was the meeting
between the English players, Chris Batchelor and Rob
Townsend, and the Jyväskylä players. I think more meetings
like that would be really good for jazz festivals, local and
international players meeting and spontaneously interacting,
with very little rehearsal. In general, I always like the side
stages at festivals more, where more adventurous music is
happening.

The Vapaat Äänet series run by Charles Gil, while not a
festival per se, is a great idea, exposing audiences from
both countries to new acts.

14. You write also for The Wire. What are your topics in
that magazine? What are your plans for AAJ and writing
in general?

Again, Finnish music has been my focus with the Wire.
My first piece was a review of the Tampere festival, which
appeared in the Feb 2004 issue. In June there should be a
second article about the underground improvisation scene
that has been developing in Helsinki, Tampere and Turku.

Writing for the Wire is a new development in my career,
and one that I am quite excited about. Because it's a
print magazine, there are different considerations - such
as space, writing style, audience - that differ from writing
for the Web.

Internet writing should allow readers to get information
much more quickly because the Web readers are more
impatient, often skimming more than reading every single
word. I am still trying to develop distinct styles for the
two forms. Hopefully the Wire will allow me to write longer
pieces.

In general, I just want to continue sharpening my writing
skills and my ear, and find new things to hear and new
ways to express them. Not being a musician both limits
and frees me when writing. I can't always analyze the
music technically, so I have to look for other ways to
describe what I hear, which broadens my picture of
what the music means.

15. And finally, what is your personal top five of the
Finnish jazz albums?

In no particular order, and likely to change…

Samuli Mikkonen + 7 henkeä
Iro Haarla + Pepa Päivinen: Yarra Yarra
Edward Vesala: Satu
Kari Ikonen: Karikko
Tomasz Stanko: Balladyna (OK, only one Finnish player,
but Vesala's drumming gives so much shape to all the
pieces!

© 21.5.2003 kysymykset ja kuvat Suomijazz/Pentti Ronkanen

All About Jazz
Matt Wuethrichin esittely AAJ:ssa

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