★Svart
The Front Is Breaking
More magic from the Finnish jazz scene from the 1970's, recorded originally for the Love label. Eero Koivistoinen 1976 album features great musicians such as Olli Ahvenlahti, Pekka Pohjola and others. Black vinyl edition with gatefold cover.
Labyrinth (2Lp+7
For this heavy duty reissue of Koivistoinen’s 1977 album we went back to the original multitrack tapes and discovered a heap of alternate takes that were left unmixed at the time. Koivistoinen selected the best and most interesting alternate versions of each track and a new, fresh mix was prepared specifically for this release. The first LP in this package is the original studio album (Love Records 1977), remastered for vinyl at Finnvox. The second LP contains the alternate takes, and there’s ev…
Based On A Novel
Svart Records is proud to reissue Olli Ahvenlahti’s first three LPs. This is his third and most difficult to find album, Based on a Novel. Olli Ahvenlahti’s first albums were issued by the independent company Love Records which then went bankrupt in 1979. Otto Donner, one of the founders of Love Records and the power behind the scenes of Bandstand and The Poet, decided to form a new recording company, Ponsi. The doors were once again open for Olli Ahvenlahti to enter the studio. Ponsi was, howev…
Veskunoita
Actor/singer/flautist Vesa-Matti Loiri's third album 'Veskunoita' (1973) delves deeper into the kind of vocal jazz-pop which he mastered on his second record, 'Vesku Suomesta', but with a more light-hearted approach. During the recordings Loiri was joined by a host of well known Finnish jazz and rock musicians. This is the first ever reissue of this title of which original copies are almost impossible to find.
Nykysuomalaista - Contemporary Finnish
It seems bizarre that this LP’s original copy was pressed in such low numbers in 1969 that it has become an unusually expensive and wanted collector’s item that hasn’t been repressed on vinyl (and never released on CD) until now. Soulset were, after all, in the late 1960s one of the most popular pop groups in Finland. Their recorded legacy is relatively short, and when this split LP was released, Soulset were already about to call it a day. Here Soulset perform five fine cuts of jazzy Fenno-soul…
Etiquette
Black vinyl, edition of 300. Svart Records presents the first vinyl reissue of the first solo album by Juhani Aaltonen, a rarity since its original release in 1974 on Love Records. Saxophonist and flautist Juhani “Junnu” Aaltonen is a living legend among Finnish jazz musicians, having also performed stints with rock groups such as Tasavallan Presidentti. Encouraged by the ubiquitous Edward Vesala, with whom Aaltonen recorded several albums over the years, he ended up in the recording studio as …
The Poet
Olli Ahvenlahti's a poet on the keys – one of the most soulful players in the 70s Finland scene, heard here on one of his greatest albums ever! The record's got a glowing grace that's really wonderful – part CTI-inspired electric fusion, without as much jamming as other European work of the time – but also an album of rounder, warmer tones – recorded with a slightly larger lineup that includes Eero Koivistoinen on tenor sax, and lots of great percussion at the bottom! Tunes have a subdued approa…
3rd Version
3rd Version is Eero Koivistoinen's seventh album and finds him in the company of other excellent Finnish musicians: pianist Heikki Sarmanto, guitarist Jukka Tolonen, bassist Pekka Sarmanto and drummer Reino Laine, plus American drummer Craig Herndon. Except for Tolonen, who is mostly associated with jazz-rock fusion due to his membership in the legendary Finnish bands Tasavallan Presidentti and Wigwam, the rest of the players are all pillars of the Finnish modern jazz scene and all are vi…
Valtakunta
350 copies on clear viny, 8-page, 30 x 30 cm size booklet, with Finnish and English biography and Liner Notes (by Juha Henriksson), and with CreditsThe master of Finnish jazz and all-around composer Eero Koivistoinen turns 70 on January 13th. Svart Records celebrates the occasion by reissuing his first ever album, Valtakunta, on vinyl. Originally released on Otavan Kirjalliset Äänilevyt (a book publisher) in 1967, the album has since then only seen a very limited CD reissue in the 90s, and has b…
Eteenpäin! Vorwärts!Forward!Antauen! 1966-70
A 6xLP box comprising the entire discography of Eteenpäin! Records, the first Finnish record label and also the first to release music from outside the mainstream, including experimental and totally weird styles. Includes tracks by legendary artistst such as Sperm, M.A. Numminen, J.O. Mallander, Rauli Somerjoki, Markus Allan, Pepe Willberg, Tommi Parko, Baby Grandmothers, Nalle Puh Big Band and many others.
The classic Eteenpäin! Period consists of only 14 seven inch records (one of them in…