Hey Fam!

First I would like to thank Honeysoul for this opportunity. The article you are about to read is about a band that I came across a few months ago. Enjoy!

Quintessence (quin•tes•sence) noun
1. The pure and concentrated essence of a substance.
2. The most perfect embodiment of something.

Their unique mixture of (nu)soul, jazz and Scandinavian cool, found its way into the hearts, ears, and record collections of music lovers and critics alike. Extensive touring has made this band a quintessential part of the music scene today. Know as one of Finland’s coolest bands, Quintessence has performed at rock and jazz festivals alike. In 2003, Quintessence opened for The Roots on the main stage of Finland’s biggest jazz festival, Pori Jazz.

In a Helsinki basement-studio, guitarist Aki Haarla and DJ/Programmer Jouni Helminen asked Emma Salokoski to sing on a couple of tunes. “White Light” EP was first released in 2001on the Dorado label. Soon after, it found its way on the play list of popular DJs such as Gilles Peterson and Trevor Nelson.

What started as a three person project, evolved into a six piece band for live performances. After much shifting and changing to find the right mixture, Quintessence added Mikko Kaakkuriniemi on drums; Heikki Laine on bass; Verneri Pohjola on trumpet; Tuomo Prättälä on keyboards/piano.

In November of 2002, Quintessence released its first full length album “Talk Less, Listen More” on the hip Finnish indie label Texicalli Records. In September of 2004, their sophomore project “5am” was released. The combination of the classic Quintessence sound blended with the soulful sounds of the 70’s and the pulsating sounds of afro-beat lead “5am” to No. 8 on official charts. In April of 2005, “Talk Less, Listen More” was re-released in Britain (and 20 other countries) on the Whatmusic label. In September of 2005, Jupiter Recording re-released “5am”

Both “Talk Less, Listen More” and “5am” can be found on iTunes.

Daniel aka Dan Tha Fan!

This entry was posted on Friday, June 22nd, 2007 at 1:31 pm and is filed under New Music, Soul Discovery. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Or, if you wish, you can find all the posts Dan Tha Fan