Album Notes

Midnight Sun weaves together Koskinen's signature sound, a blend of jazz and Latin arrangements, rooted in the sounds of his native Finland. Spanning three decades, Midnight Sun offers listeners the latest musings from this innovative musician.

Reviews:
"MELLOW BUT HARD HITTING FINNISH - AMERICAN JAZZ ...
The rhythm section was quite fabulous. Koskinen's relaxed and easygoing authority seemed to conjure up a creative atmosphere that drove the whole band."
Jukka Hauru, Helsingin Sanomat,Helsinki

"A Jazz star from Finland, trumpeter Mike (Heikki) Koskinen,... played a most impressive set at Bajone's... melodic ballads, strong-rhythmed bop standards and touches of funky stuff too. And what a glorious tone and firm command of his horn."
Philip Elwood, San Francisco Examiner

Heikki "Mike" Koskinen is an award winning recording artist, composer, and educator currently living in San Francisco. Chosen in "Rytmi" magazine critics polls as Finland's top jazz trumpet player in the Seventies, he left his native land to study jazz at the renowned Berklee College of Music in Boston. Koskinen is the recipient of several Finnish composing grants, recorded several albums, and won awards as an innovative music teacher. Koskinen's main instrument these days is the piano. Besides performing in the Bay Area he teaches in the San Francisco school system, writes music for films, and produces the radio program, "Studio Finland."

Excerp from CD liner notes:

This CD weaves together many dreams and ideas over the course of a musical journey which took me from Finland, via Boston, to San Francisco. The Finnish songs on this CD grew out of my arrangements for the weekly Kaleva All Stars rehearsals at the Finnish Kaleva Hall in Berkeley, which gave me a chance to experiment with fusing Finnish folk and popular elements with American Jazz and Latin music.

On the recently recorded tracks of this CD I was honored to work with two wonderful musicians, woodwind player Steve Heckman and Latin percussionist Michael Spiro. Steve was one my first San Francisco musical associates and I still enjoy his passion and unique sound. Michael's deeply felt and expert contribution lifted this music onto another level. On these tracks I see myself as a musical "painter," extending the creative process from recording individual tracks into rearranging, mixing, and processing. Having used computers and electronic instruments as musical tools ever since the mid 80's, I now find myself once again drawn to acoustic sounds.

The last four CD tracks are earlier recordings that feature my live bands as well as my trumpet playing and composing from the early 80's. Although these recordings are technically less than perfect, they do capture the emotional essence of my musical concepts.