Impressions, Improvisations and Compositions

The standard piano is a limited instrument, with each key tuned to a pitch exactly the same distance from its neighbours. As a result, it can’t play most of the variations that we can hear, or the microtonal scales that are common in traditional Arabic music, for instance. Fascinated by this puzzle, Finnish keyboardist Kari Ikonen invented a device that temporarily allows any piano to play Arabic scales (maqamat) and other micro-intervals, dramatically widening its palette of expression. This bridge between East and West allows the instrument to embrace music from across the Mediterranean and beyond. On this solo album, Ikonen draws on his rich history of collaborations, including with Beninese singer Noël Saïzonou, US saxophonist Lee Konitz, Canadian trumpeter Ingrid Jensen and Armenian bassist Ara Yaralyan, with whom he recorded Bollywood songs and free jazz. His Belgian-French band Orchestra Nazionale della Luna, meanwhile, splices together swing, bansuri and synthesizers.

Here Ikonen expands the piano’s voice by strumming, plucking and striking its strings to evoke the sounds of the zither and the Japanese koto. None of this comes off as gimmickry though, thanks to his strengths as a pianist and composer. The only non-original is Wayne Shorter’s ‘Pinocchio’, while ‘Trance Oriental’ is a reworking of an older Ikonen tune. It brings to mind Tunisian oud player Anouar Brahem’s combinations of maqamat and piano jazz – and a dream that these two might join forces some day.