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Jimi Tenor (born Lassi Lehto) is a Finnish singer and multi-instrumentalist residing in Barcelona
(Spain), also
painter and photographer, who plays kitsch music to a techno beat with an
approach that is the musical equivalent of Andy Warhol's pop art.
Tenor sings (often in a sexy falsetto) mocking everybody from soul to glam.
The idea is intriguing but the albums are (at best) uneven. Tenor's best work
is by far on singles.
The Shamans were Tenor on sax and vocals accompanied by a combo
of trumpet, guitar, bass and drums.
They released Total Capacity of 216,5 Litres (Euros, 1988),
Diktafon (Euros, 1989),
Mekanoid (Euros, 1990)
and
Fear of a Black Jesus (Euros, 1992)
before Tenor decided to move to New York.
Eventually Tenor returned with a new sound and a new persona, somewhere in
between
Lydia Lunch's Queen Of Siam and David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust.
Or, better, somewhere between Barry White and Prince:
Sahkomies (Sahko, 1994 - Warp, 1999)
is a funny mixture of big-band jazz, mellow soul and orchestral pop.
The movie soundtrack Europa (Sahko, 1995 - Warp, 1999) boasts
an expanding instrumentation
His first mature album, Intervision (Warp, 1997), shows the artist
progressing on what will become his trademark features:
falsetto singing in Can't Stay With You Baby,
trumpet and sax in Outta Space,
funk and jazz in Wiping Out.
The album features his masterpiece, the
synthpop novelty Sugardaddy, that manages to steal the attitude from
Cramps and Suicide.
The EP Venera (Warp, 1998) prepared for the more refined sound of
Organism (Warp, 1999), possibly his best album. Tenor croons like a madman and delivers the
comic and anthemic disco of
Year Of The Apocalypse and Total Devastation
with the same impeccable and ostentatious composure of the
Love Of Life Orchestra.
Tenor increases the doses of jazz (My Mind, City Sleeps)
and soul (Sleep), while surveying the field of
1960s tv soundtracks (Xinotepe Heat).
And he has added one trick to his unfashionable repertory:
Quincy Jones' jazz flute solos.
Tenor's soul obsession exploded on Out Of Nowhere (Warp, 2000), on which
he often impersonates Curtis Mayfield. Accompanied by a
60-piece Polish orchestra, Tenor revises his routine and gives new meaning
to everything he has recorded before.
Hypnotic Drugstore grafts a psychedelic raga on his glam-funk shtick.
Blood On Borscht takes on folk music and opera with
heavy metal grandeur.
Paint The Stars decomposes Broadway's show music.
Night In Loimaa warps exotica.
And Spell quotes Superfly.
While not everything shines, Tenor's artsy ideology turns several tracks into
stylistic puzzles.
Tenor is also involved in more serious (avantgarde) projects like
Impostor Orchestra and City Of Women.
As Impostor Orchestra, he released Heliopause (Sahko, 2000), a
Sun Ra tribute.
Utopian Dream (Sahko, 2001)
is less ambitious than its predecessor, more self-contained and less
arranged. It also boasts some of his most bizarre takes on kitsch music
(Utopian Dream, New World). When it works,
this is amusing post-modern art. Too bad half of the disc is sheer filler,
lounge crooning that sounds improvised in the studio.
(It includes a new version of Paint The Stars).
Higher Planes (Kitty, 2003) refines the same ideas of the previous
albums, perhaps in a lighter, simpler vein
(Cosmic Dive).
Even more predictable was Beyond The Stars (Kitty, 2004), despite the
cosmic theme of the title-track.
Tenor then turned to Afro-funk-jazz on Joystone (Ubiquity, 2007),
featuring
trumpeter Jukka Eskola and saxophonist Timo Lassy with
the West African rhythm section Kabu Kabu (three Fela Kuti alumni),
and
on Inspiration Information Vol 4
(2009), a collaboration with legendary Fela Kuti's drummer Tony Allen.
Kabu Kabu helped him again on
4th Dimension (2009) and
Mystery of Aether (2012),
whereas jazz percussionist Abdissa Assefa was his partner on
Itetune (2011).
Tenor formed Cola & Jimmu with US-born singer Nicole Willis, a project
documented on
Enigmatic (2013) and
Give To You My Love And Devotion (2014).
They then resurrected the Soul Investigators, that had recorded
Keep Reachin Up (2005), for
Tortured Soul (2013) and
Happiness in Every Style (2015).
After Dub of Doom (2013) with Icelandic reggae band Hjalmar,
Tenor penned the Sun Ra-influenced mysterious space jazz
of Exocosmos (2013).
He recorded Mysterium Magnum (2015) with
veteran Finnish big band UMO Jazz Orchestra.
His jazz phase culminated with Saxentric (2016).
The keyboard-heavy
Order of Nothingness (2018), in a trio with
percussionists Ekow Alabi Savage and Max Weissenfeldt,
steered decisively towards the dancefloor.
He also collaborated with Freestyle Man (deep-house producer Klas Lindblad) on the EPs Sleepover (2017) and Are We It? (2019), basically preludes
to
Metamorpha (2020), a collaboration with
house producer Maurice Fulton, an album of silly
instrumental disco-pop but containing one of the gems of his career:
the flute-driven jam The Duel.
Aulos (2020) is an album of
orchestral Latin-funk music a` la
Kid Creole And The Coconuts
and bizarre prog-rock a` la
Frank Zappa (Ten Dimensions).
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(Translation by/ Tradotto da Andrea Marengo)
Jimi Tenor è un cantante e polistrumentista finlandese
residente a Barcellona (Spagna), nonché pittore e fotografo, che suona musica
kitsch su pulsazioni techno con un approccio che è l'equivalente musicale della
pop art di Andy Warhol. Tenor canta (spesso con un falsetto sensuale) imitando
svariati artisti soul e glam.
L'idea è intrigante ma gli album (nei momenti migliori) non
lo sono altrettanto. I lavori migliori di Tenor sono di gran lunga contenuti
nei singoli.
Gli Shamans erano composti da Tenor al sassofono e alla voce
e un piccolo complesso di tromba, chitarra, basso e batteria. Pubblicarono
Total Capacity Of 216,5 Litres (Euros, 1988), Diktafon (Euros, 1989), Mekanoid
(Euros, 1990) e Fear Of A Black Jesus (Euros, 1992) prima che Tenor si
trasferisse a New York.
A volte Tenor tornava in scena con nuove sonorità e una
nuova identità ispirata in qualche modo da quelle proposte su Queen Of Siam di
Lydia Lunch e Ziggy Stardust di David Bowie.
O, per meglio dire, da Barry White e Prince: Sahkomies
(Sahko, 1994 – Warp, 1999) è una divertente miscela di orchestra jazz, soul
languido e pop orchestrale.
La colonna sonora del film Europa (Sahko, 1995 – Warp, 1999)
vanta una strumentazione estesa.
Il suo primo album maturo, Intervision (Warp, 1997), mostra
l'artista progredire in quelli che saranno i suoi marchi di fabbrica: cantato
in falsetto su Can't Stay With You Baby, tromba e sassofono su Outta Space,
funk e jazz su Wiping Out. L'album presenta il suo capolavoro, la novelty
synthpop di Sugardaddy, che ruba l'attitudine ai Cramps e ai Suicide.
L'EP Venera (Warp, 1998) anticipava il suono più ricercato
di Organism (Warp, 1999). Tenor urla come un folle sprigionando gli inni disco
music di Year Of The Apocalypse e Total Devastation con la stessa compostezza
impeccabile e ostentata della Love Of Life Orchestra. Tenor incrementa le
quantità di jazz (My Mind, While City Sleep) e Soul (Sleep), esplorando nei
terreni delle colonne sonore televisive degli anni sessanta (Xinotepe Heat) e
aggiungendo un trucco al suo repertorio fuori moda: brani di Quincy Jones per
flauto solista.
L'ossessione di Tenor per il soul esplose su Out Of Nowhere
(Warp, 2000), nel quale impersona spesso Curtis Mayfield. Scortato da
un'orchestra polacca di sessanta elementi, Tenor revisiona la sua routine dando
nuovo significato a ciò che ha registrato in precedenza. Hypnotic Drugstore
innesta un raga psichedelico nella sua vena glam-funk. Blood On Borscht si
cimenta nella musica folk e nell'opera con la maestosità dell'heavy metal.
Paint The Stars decompone la musica da spettacolo di Broadway. Night In Loimaa
distorce l'exotica. And Spell cita Superfly. Benché non tutto brilli,
l'ideologia artistica di Tenor trasforma numerose tracce in puzzle stilistici.
Tenor è anche coinvolto in progetti (d'avanguardia) più
seri: quali Impostor Orchestra e City Of Women. Heliopause (Sahko, 2000), un
tributo a Sun Ra, venne pubblicato con il nome d'arte Impostor Orchestra.
Utopian Dream (Sahko, 2011) è meno ambizioso del suo
predecessore, più indipendente e meno arrangiato. Esso vanta anche alcune delle
sue riprese più bizzarre nella musica kitsch (Utopian Dream, New World). Quando
compone, egli si diletta con l'arte post-moderna. Peccato che metà del disco
sia puramente riempitiva, il cantato lounge sembra improvvisato in studio. (Il
disco include una nuova versione di Paint The Stars).
Higher Planes (Kitty, 2003) raffinava le stesse idee degli
album precedenti con una vena forse più semplice e leggera (Cosmic Dive).
Ancora più prevedibile era Beyond The Stars (Kitty, 2003),
se si esclude il tema della title track.
Tenor si convertì più tardi all'afro-funk-jazz su Joystone
(Ubiquity, 2007), assistito dalla sezione ritmica Kabu Kabu ( composta da due
ex alunni di Fela Kuti).
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