Tenors Of Kalma

***“In the beginning there was the idea of creating a mixture of the music from Kraftwerk and Sun Ra Arkestra”, grins Kalle Kalima and Jimi Tenor specifies: “I wanted to do something like free jazz, Kalle something with sequencers and electronics." At first it seems like a role reversal. If you associate Jimi Tenor with very different, but always more pop and funk oriented projects, while Kalle Kalima has so far been noticed primarily as a lateral thinking jazz guitarist. But Tenor is not only a concept artist, accomplished keyboardist, singer and Afrobeat lover, but also a saxophonist and flutist. “All tenor saxophonists are probably at least secretly inspired by Coltrane,” speculates Jimi Tenor, “and I also love the style and compositions of Pharoah Sanders. In addition, Sun Ra has been one of my passions since the early nineties. Ultimately, however, I think that James White and Fela Kuti had the greatest influence on my saxophone playing. I'm more interested in vibe than technology." The originally targeted counterpoint to free improvisations, i.e. the clear sound architecture of Kraftwerk, shifted towards herb and psychedelic rock during the studio sessions. "We worked very intuitively and recorded many parts of the pieces live," says Kalle Kalima. "Sometimes we just started playing and I turned on the tape machine," confirms Jimi Tenor, "Kalle's approach is certainly a bit more technical and intellectual than mine, which creates a nice tension." Electronic passages now seem rather playful, sometimes the spirit seems to be Holger Czukay's Can to blow through analog synthesizer motifs. Tenor and Kalima oscillate between instrumental pieces and songs in an idiosyncratic way, also processing contemporary influences. They cleverly abstract imaginary DJ scratches on their keyboards and guitars, abduct supposedly familiar sounds into unknown territory. The decisive factor for the diversity and atmosphere of the album was “that we could develop the music in Jimi's home studio in Helsinki without any time pressure,” says Kalima.