Tõnu Naissoo Electric Trio "Different Directions" LP
The popular Estonian jazz pianist Tõnu Naissoo has finally realized his lifelong dream of recording a jazz trio album with only electronic keyboard instruments. Accompanied by his synthesizers and two of the best Estonian jazz musicians Tõnu began recording in the autumn of 2019 at the legendary Linnahall studio that he had booked for that purpose several years in advance. The new tracks he composed for the album flow from jazz-rock to smooth jazz, lingering briefly on the frequency of free jazz.
Tõnu Naissoo has performed and recorded different styles of jazz music with different groups. He is mostly known for his acoustic piano trio albums but his heart belongs to jazz-rock, e.g. his favourite group is a U.S jazz fusion band Weather Report. Although Tõnu has collected synthesizers and other electronic keyboard instruments for years (he was the first Estonian to own Rhodes Mark I electric piano and Micromoog synthesizer) he hadn’t used them much for recordings of his favourite music style.
Jazz trio has always been Tõnu Naissoo’s favourite configuration. He performed with his first trio at Tallinn Jazz Festival of 1967 when he was only sixteen. There he was accompanied by older musicians whom his dad Uno Naissoo had introduced to him. Through the years he has performed and recorded with a variety of musicians. He chose to record the current album with two of the finest jazz musicians of the new generation: drummer Ahto Abner and bass player Mihkel Mälgand. Tõnu admits to having being impressed by Mihkel Mälgand’s bass guitar collection that introduces rock flavoured sound instead of the traditional double bass. Tõnu has also partnered with Ahto Abner on several occasions earlier. Tõnu says that the contribution of both musicians has had a profound effect on the final version of his new album.
The current album was recorded in the Linnahall studio. Linnahall is the gigantic harbour-side concert hall opened in Tallinn back in 1980. Part of the basement of the hall was converted into a state of the art recording studio that featured the latest technology of the 80s and thus became the most sought after studio amongst Estonian musicians of the time.
For those with preference for electronic music, the main attraction of the studio were the modern synthesizers. In the 1980s Tõnu himself used this studio to record the soundtracks for about 50 films and documentaries and 20 TV and theatrical productions. The local group Kaseke also used the studio to record their album “Põletus”, where Tõnu participates as a guest keyboardist for one of the tracks.
The studio is still active today and according to the musicians it appears to transport them decades back in time. On this album Tõnu plays the studio instruments Rhodes Mark II Stage 73 electric piano and Hohner Clavinet E7 keyboard.
Tõnu Naissoo was born in Tallinn in 1951. His dad Uno Naissoo was a renowned composer, who encouraged Tõnu to take an interest in jazz and improvisation. Tõnu started taking piano lessons at the music school when he was 8, and by the age of 15 he had already begun participating in local jazz orchestra and dance music band. He presented his jazz music compositions at the international Tallinn Jazz Festival of 1967 in Tallinn when he was only 16 years old. The next year he was given an opportunity to record his own album. In 1970 that album became the first Estonian jazz album to be released by Melodija on 10” record. He spent many years of 1970s as the keyboardist for the local pop group Laine. From the late 1970s onwards he has dedicated himself fully to jazz music. In 1980 Tõnu and his trio recorded the album "Turning Point" that was released by Melodija in 1981. During the past 30 years, he has recorded around 30 albums that have been released in Estonia, Japan and Russia. Most of his earliest recordings have been reissued in recent years by Jazzaggression Records. He has co-operated with other musicians on numerous LPs, e.g. ensembles Collage and Synthesis and composer Uno Naissoo and guitarist Tiit Paulus. Other noteworthy examples include a 7" and an LP of the instrumental group Kaseke that also include three jazz-rock compositions by Tõnu Naissoo. “Different Directions” feels like Tõnu Naissoo’s ’missing piece’ album from the 1980s. It will be a worthy addition to Tõnu Naissoo’s and Frotee’s discography.
FRO011 LP tracklist:
A1 Blue Rider 5:41
A2 Expedition 7:56
A3 Lazy Day 6:36
B1 Lovely Moments (True Love) 5:38
B2 Harvest Time 6:16
B3 Lucky U 6:50
FROCD2 CD tracklist:
1 Blue Rider 5:41
2 Expedition 7:56
3 Lazy Day 6:36
4 Tricky Path 7:18
5 Lovely Moments (True Love) 5:38
6 Harvest Time 6:16
7 Lucky U 6:50
Tõnu Naissoo - Rhodes, Clavinet, Moog, Prophet
Mihkel Mälgand - bass guitars
Ahto Abner - drums, electronics
Recorded at Matrix Studio, Tallinn, Estonia on September 9 & 10, 2019
Recorded and mixed by Indrek Patte
Mastered by Simon Francis
Design by Jan Tomson
Listen: Tõnu Naissoo Electric Trio "Blue Rider"
Olev Muska "Laulik-Elektroonik" LP
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"Laulik-elektroonik" LP by an ex-pat Estonian musician Olev Muska is the new release of Estonian archival label Frotee Records. The compilation subtitled as "Explorations in Estonian Electronic Folk Music - The First Years, 1979-1983" brings together all Muska's Estonian-themed songs recorded prior to his debut album from 1985, "Old Estonian Waltzes". It includes previously unreleased material and tracks from limited edition tapes and 7" single. For its 10th release, Frotee has expanded its scope and is now also offering insights into quality music by Estonians all over the world. Olev Muska was born to a family of expatriate Estonians in Australia. From 1979 onwards he recorded unique versions of Estonian folk songs on various electronic music instruments at his home studio. As Muska was into contemporary experimental music and also bored with the conservative take on Estonian culture prevalent in the activities of the Australian ex-pat community, he decided to combine these two influences to create his unique brand of electronic Estonian folk music. As Muska had access to more advanced musical equipment, he achieved a level of quality in his arrangements that would not have been possible in Soviet Estonia. He managed to create surprisingly amazing Estonian minimal wave with his group Elektrio but wasn't ashamed to make medley of Estonian themes with cheesy-sounding small Casio synthesizer either. His early versions of some folk songs, like "Kaera-Jaan" or "Saaremaa", are less crazy than on his debut LP and as such a welcome addition to Frotee's collection of balearic sounds. Although Muska was not a stranger to the contemporary Australian underground music scene, he continued to record with a couple of close friends and performed only at local Estonian events. Thus Olev Muska has been a well kept secret amongst Estonian music fans, one that remained entirely unknown to Australian record collectors until Chris Bonato from Left Ear Records introduced "Old Estonian Waltzes" LP to a wider audience. Left Ear Records has now licensed "Karjapoisi lugu" off the 1985 LP for their Australian underground music compilation "Antipodean Anomalies". Hopefully both of these compilations will help to bring more recognition to Estonian musical genius in Australia!
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Sven Grünberg "Anima 1977-2001" LP
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Estonian archival label Frotee is honoured to welcome Estonian electronic music pioneer Sven Grünberg to its discography. Frotee releases a 24-track compilation featuring Grünberg's work for 10 animated films and 1 puppet-play, all music is previously unreleased on any physical format. Therefore, the release of "Anima 1977-2001" can be considered as a notable contribution to the acclaimed soundtrack composer's discography that hopefully cheers up the audiences who have been waiting for this issue to be released. Regardless of the fact that he still continues writing and recording music for films, the latest recording, that was included to this compilation, was made in year 2001. The selected tracks cover a full musical spectrum from electronic music to more classical works of Sven Grünberg. He has never put out any of his musical pieces that are strictly ‘experimental’, even though he can be introduced as the first composer in Estonia, who has been using electronic soundscapes in his music already since mid-70s. However, synthesizers were always mixed with natural instruments. On this compilation you can hear both ideas that pull off as fully fleshed-out and complete compositions to some excerpts or more rough ideas he would re-use later on for bigger works. For example using organ or wordless scat vocals for “Linalakk ja Rosalind” become later known as his main trademarks that he also used on his first solo album "Hingus" as well on the soundtrack of a sci-fi feature film “Dead Mountaineer's Hotel” based on a novel written by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. Grünberg has masterfully chosen 24 tracks for this compilation to make the album sound as a whole. First side can be described more as 'electronic' and 'experimental', including sounds from late 70s to 1980s guiding the listener from Estonian children’s film "Naksitrallid" title theme to more rhythmic theme from "Klaabu kosmoses". Grünberg’s music has some noticeable parallels with the early Berlin School of electronic music, but he certainly adds his own twist to it. On some earlier tracks, you can also hear interesting and unique sounds produced by hand-built synthesizers. Second side introduces Grünberg’s more classical approach to film music. It reveals why he is still recognized as one of the best film music composers in Estonia. Most tracks on this side have been recorded after 1992, but you'll also find here his first soundtrack work from 1977, that surprisingly also fits among his more recent work. Grünberg always paid full attention to the subject of each film he worked on, never losing his focus while playing around with sound and experimenting with composition. It was always the content, that dictated the form, not the other way around. TRACKLIST: A-side: 1 Naksitrallide avamäng 0:45 B-side: 1 Lunapark 2:21 Composed and played by Sven Grünberg Supported by Eesti Kultuurkapital Cat. NO: FRO008 |
Tintura "Liisa pehmes süles" 7''
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Estonia’s premiere record label, Frotee surprises with a brand new single by contemporary Estonian group Tintura. The group consists of beat maker Lauri Täht and folk musician Karoliina Kreintaal. The pop masterpiece "Liisa pehmes süles" finally gets the much needed vinyl treatment, the melody and the song features elements of hip-hop, traditional Estonian folk and features samples from an old Estonian jazz lp. Flip it and you have the instrumental. A-side "Liisa pehmes süles" 3:48 Music: Lauri Täht, Karoliina Kreintaal, Taavet Niller, Tiit Paulus Master: Bert Prikenfeld P+C Frotee 2016 |
Valgusesse compilation LP
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The sound archive of Estonian Public Broadcasting which is also known as the Estonian Radio phonoteque holds recordings of Estonian cultural history on both analogue tapes and in digital form. During the Soviet times, the Estonian Radio studio was one of the few places where pop musicians could record music. A large number of the original tapes which were recorded in the two Estonian Radio studios during several decades have been preserved and there is a lot of material there which has never made its way to vinyl records, CDs or cassettes. That is why the Estonian Radio archive plays an important role in discovering Estonian pop music. A1 Kooli-prii “Päikeselaik” 1981 Music by Bob Wilson Before the girl band of young classmates changed their name to Elektra, they gave a few performances under the name Kooli-prii. One of their surviving recordings from that time is called “Päikeselaik” (“Sunspot”) which is actually a rendition of the gospel soul song “Light the Light” by the band Seawind from Hawaii. The head of the band Märt Hunt wrote the Estonian lyrics. A2 Kristi Tammik “Haldjalaul” 1974 Music by Raivo Tammik, lyrics by Kristi Tammik Raivo Tammik can be considered to be one of the two best Estonian jazz pianists of the 1960s and 1970s. His band released two modal jazz 7’’ singles under Melodija. In addition to jazz, Tammik also wrote pop music for several famous singers and the lyrics for his songs were always written by his wife Kristi Tammik. Fortunately, the Tammiks also recorded a few songs together. Even though Kristi had never received any tuition, her singing is beautiful and sincere. A3 Sven Kullerkupp “Fiesta” 1990 Music by Sven Kullerkupp Sven Kullerkupp is a younger generation piano player who was founding member of Villu Veski’s ensemble, which later changed its name to Avicenna. The band was the first one to record the Latin-American influenced jazz-rock piece “Fiesta” in 1987. This Balearic smooth jazz version is from the year 1990, played together with Mati Põllu who proposed the idea to record this song. A4 Salamander “Kui mu kõrval käid” 1986 Music and lyrics by Enn Vain The only bits of information available about the most authentic Estonian yacht rock band Salamander are a couple of recordings in the Estonian radio archive with the names of the authors. B1 Eesti Raadio estraadiorkester “Ma ootan sind” 1979 Music by Leon Ware, Arthur Ross The Estonian Radio pop music orchestra was the group consisting of professional musicians working under Estonian Radio which recorded compulsory material. The jazz musicians in the band used this opportunity to also record music of their own liking. Under the guidance of the best saxophonist in Estonia Lembit Saarsalu, they recorded this version of Marvin Gaye’s song “I Want You”. Saarsalu actually found the song on a Gato Barbieri album “Caliente!” B2 Tornaado “Seitse” 1979 Music by Karl Bartos, Ralf Hütter Tornaado has become a legend with its instrumental cycle “Regatt” but the band also recorded several vocal songs. The most intriguing of these is a rendition of the song “Das Model” by the German electro group Kraftwerk. As the story goes, the bass player Mart Telliskivi wrote the Estonian lyrics to the song and played the melody at a rehearsal. The group then proceeded to make a reggae version based on this, without the other band members ever having heard the original. They did not have any synthesisers or drum machines so Mart sang the song through the phaser pedal to create a cosmic effect. B3 Tiit Aunaste “Valgusesse” 1986 Music by Tiit Aunaste Tiit Aunaste became interested in electronic music very early on and he was one of the first people in Estonia who composed music on a computer. He met Igor Garšnek who lent him his synthesiser Korg Polysix. Experimenting on it resulted in the song “Valgusesse“ (“Into the Light“). Igor invited him to the Estonian Radio II studio where they recorded the song on an 8-track recorder. A few years later, the two friends started the band Data. B4 Radar “Kui mind kutsud sa” 1977 Music by Sergei Pedersen, lyrics by Heldur Karmo The group Radar, which became famous due to its instrumental fusion LPs in the 1980s, was brought together by the famous singer Jaak Joala. The group recorded its first songs in 1977 for the New Year’s show to welcome the year 1978. Sergei Pedersen’s jazz-pop song “Kui mind kutsud sa“ (“When You Call Me“) was sang by the composer himself. Later on, Joala decided to rerecord the song, adding a piano accompaniment and singing it himself. This is the song which made it to Radar’s first 7” but the first version has never been released. By the way, the synthesiser which can be heard in the song was home-made because factory-made instruments were not locally available at the time. Master: Simon Francis P Eesti Rahvusringhääling 1974-1990 |
Velly Joonas "Stopp, seisku aeg!" 7''
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Velly Joonas plays a very important role in the history of Estonian soul music. Even though nowadays we categorise her as a bohemian bard, she is cited in Estonian culture magazine Kultuur ja elu in 1977 as saying that she is dreaming of the life of a soul singer who performs at large stages. Fortunately for us, she recorded some cover versions of soul classics in Estonian. A-side: Velly Joonas & Vstretša "Stopp, seisku aeg!" (Jim Rafferty / Velly Joonas) B-side: Velly Joonas & Pirita "Käes on aeg" (Eugene MacDaniels / Velly Joonas) Master: Brandenburg Mastering Layout: Bassein |
Heidy Tamme / Tiit Paulus "Suvi" 7''
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“Suvi” means summer in Estonian. This is the time for which Northern people yearn and to which they dedicate songs. “Suvi ei jää” (“Summer Doesn’t Stay”) is a little known song from Heidy Tamme’s repertoire. The song is a rendition of Roberta Flack’s song “What a Woman Really Means” which was given new lyrics, which eloquently describe the summer season and its brevity, from one of the most prolific Estonian lyricist Heldur Karmo. Heidy Tamme is a well-known and beloved Estonian pop singer. Her repertoire can be divided into two groups. Firstly, there are the pop songs which Estonians have loved and enjoyed on radio, television and vinyl for years but she has also recorded chamber-like music with blues and soul influences which is closer to her own heart. The soul song “Suvi ei jää” with its mellow jazz arrangement fits well into the latter more timeless category of her oeuvre. Heidy Tamme initiated the recording of this song herself but the arrangement was created by the jazz guitarist Tiit Paulus. Paulus worked in the Estonian Radio orchestra like many other jazz musicians, and pop singers who recorded in the radio studio often asked for their help. As a guitarist, Paulus might be known for playing jazzfunk on the 7” singles by Jaan Kuman’s instrumental ensemble or for his later more pensive jazz recordings, like on his LP “Tiit Paulus ja sõbrad” from 1979. “Selle suve laul” (“This Summer’s Song”) is a song which Tiit Paulus is very proud of and the song has been recorded several times with different line-ups. The solo recording from 1987 would have been lost in the annals of history if Tiit hadn’t mentioned it to a music aficionado decades later. Paulus apparently recorded some songs on radio with his new guitar but he wasn’t satisfied with the results and asked the tapes to be destroyed. The sound engineer, however, didn’t do as he was told. A-side: Heidy Tamme „Suvi ei jää“ Written by R. MacDonald, W. Salter B-side: Tiit Paulus „Selle suve laul“ Written by Tiit Paulus Mastered by Frank Merritt at The Carvery Photo by: E. Kask P Eesti Rahvusringhääling 1982, 1987
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Elektra "Keegi" 7''
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Elektra started out in the middle of the 1960s as a female vocal group with a fluctuating line-up which was accompanied by different instrumental groups. In the end of the 1970s, pianist Aarne Saluveer became the head of the backing musicians and his friends Agu Tammeorg, Meelis Punder and Jaan Karp joined the band. During this period, Elektra performed together with the college girl band Kooli-prii which Kadri Hunt, who was the daughter of Elektra’s conductor Märt Hunt, had formed together with her classmates. By 1981, the Kooli-prii girls had replaced the former singers of Elektra. Kadri Hunt loved songs with Afro-American influences, which she heard from radio or the few records she could get her hands on. Kooli-prii played these songs at their concerts and soul singer Marju Kuut taught them voice placing. The girls went to a school which focused on English teaching so they sang in English at their concerts but they had to get the lyrics translated in order to avoid problems with recordings. In 1981, Elektra recorded only a few disco songs but that was it because the number of music studios in Tallinn was very limited. For example, the Estonian Radio studio where they could record with 8-track tape recorders was vacant only during the nights. “Keegi” with the original title “You Might Need Somebody” was based on Randy Crawford’s interpretation of the song which was released the same year – the original was a yacht-rock song performed by Turley Richards. The original version of “Meid kaasa muusika viib” called “Jump To The Beat” was made famous by the teenage singer Stacy Lattishaw. During the next few years, disco music went out of fashion in Estonia and the repertoire of the band became more popular to match the musical taste of the keyboard player. In addition to that, Kadri Hunt became the only singer. In 1985, Elektra released its only record – a 7” EP – and their music had become completely distanced from black music. A-side Keegi 4:50
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Väntorel LP
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Väntorel was the most unique Estonian band in 1971 which can be clearly felt in the recordings which were made in the autumn of the same year. Their psych pop music was too underground to be featured on officially released records. Väntorel’s original name was Keldriline Heli (“Cellar-like Sound”). The name was inspired by Brian Epstein book “A Cellarful of Noise” and the band’s rehearsal space in the cellar of Tallinn University of Technology. The band was formed when Andres Valkonen, from Pärnu, and Andres Talvik, from Tallinn, who had both played in beat bands at school, met in the summer of 1970. Talvik brought his former bandmates – the drummer Tiit Plaks and the guitarist Härmo Härm – to the first rehearsal. Valkonen’s friends from Pärnu came along too – the singer Lagle Alpius and the guitarist Viljar Rähn. The bass player Ants Rand was found through a newspaper advertisement. Keldriline Heli played mostly original songs and their repertoire strived towards being more serious than that of an ordinary Estonian beat group. Valkonen was already known for writing songs with surprisingly complex composition. His music was influenced by, for example, Vanilla Fudge or “Sgt. Pepper”, legendary LP by The Beatles. Wah-wah and fuzz pedals constructed and Estonian-made organ Retakord modified by Härmo Härm helped band to achieve their dream sound. Härm also built amplifiers because purchasing decent equipment was incredibly complicated at the time. They tried to avoid romantic undercurrents in their lyrics and sometimes Valkonen used ideas borrowed from everyday conversations in their texts. The rebellious stance and growing popularity of Keldriline Heli caused problems with the authorities. After two crowded concerts in the spring of 1971, the band was not allowed to perform anymore and their practice room was taken away. The use of their “underground” name was also prohibited. Despite all that, the psychedelic lifestyle of the condemned band members and their fans never went further than wearing colourful clothing, long hair and expressing themselves in a slightly louder way. The band started calling themselves Väntorel (“Barrel organ”) because their song “Ma olen nahktiibadega väntorel” (“I am a barrel organ with leather wings”) had become a kind of anthem for the band. All summer they performed at dance parties around country. In September, Väntorel managed to record several songs. 11 tracks were recorded in the Composers’ House in one take – the music was recorded all together and the vocals were added the next day. The second recording session took part in the Estonian Television building. All in all, Väntorel recorded 14 original songs and a cover version of “El Condor Pasa”. Unfortunately the original tapes of these recordings were left in the manager’s cupboard when he went to the army. When he returned, the tapes were nowhere to be found. Due to a shortage of tapes, they were probably erased. Constant persecution by the authorities created stress among the band members and short-lived Väntorel ceased to be in the end of 1971. A 1 Loodus (A. Valkonen/A. Talvik) 4:31 B 1 Julgus (A. Talvik/A. Talvik) 3:13 Lagle Alpius – vocals Recorded at Composers House by Enn Laidre and at Estonian Television by Olavi Soomre, Tallinn, september 1971 Front photo taken at Keldriline Heli concert, 26. february 1971 Restored and pre-mastered by Lauri Liivak Licensed courtesy of Andres Valkonen
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Jaak Jürisson LP
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Jaak Jürisson (born in 1956) finished Tallinn Music High School in 1974. He continued his studies in Tallinn Conservatory which he graduated with a degree in composition in 1979. Jürrisson sang and played keyboards in several pop bands during the 1980s. In 1980-83, he was a member of the group Kontor which was partially a joke band. In 1985, he joined the pop-disco group Monitor. Both bands released a 7” single to which Jürisson contributed as a musician and composer. In addition to all that, he released a four-track 7” solo single in 1984 where he plays and sings his own songs together with the best Estonian musicians of the time. The music on his solo single can be defined as complicated pop music with prog-rock influences. Jürisson’s instrumental tunes never made it onto a vinyl record. Even though Jürisson sang several pop music hits in the 80s, he gave up singing but remained active on the music scene. Nowadays, Jaak Jürisson enjoys writing music for theatre and film. The instrumental tunes presented on this album were recorded based on archive material in the Estonian Radio studio in 1990. The author himself remains tight-lipped when talking about these songs, he does not even remember being in Estonia at the time. He claims that the reason behind recording these tunes was that he had just gotten a new synthesizer, probably a Korg, and he wanted to test it out and record some demonstrational songs as quickly as possible. He never had any greater ambitions for these tracks which rarely made it out of the recording session and were never played at concerts. Three years later, four songs from this session were used when Jaak Jürisson took part in the Estonian Television show “Ahvatlev ettepanek” (“Attractive Proposal”) where he played them “live”. After that, these smooth jazz (or new age or fusion) songs were forgotten. Jaak Jürisson holds classic music in great esteem. Most of all, he is interested in theatrical music, that’s why he enjoys also progressive rock. A-side 1. Laste mängutuba (5:20) B-side 1. Väike paanika (3:14) Composed by Jaak Jürisson © Frotee 2014
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Tornaado Instrumentaaltsükkel "Regatt" 10''
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In 1978, everyone in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, was talking about the approaching Moscow Olympics because the sailing regatta was going to be held in their hometown! A recently formed band saw it as an opportunity to attract more attention and decided to write sailing-themed music. The creative leader Valdur Lehtla even named the band after the sailing class “Tornado” (“Tornaado” in Estonian). According to another legend, however, the name was adopted from his red Jolana Tornado guitar. Be as it may but during the next two years, the songs from their instrumental cycle "Regatta" (“Regatt” in Estonian) were played on both radio and television and even in other countries of the Eastern bloc. Nevertheless, these tunes have remained unreleased. Valdur Lehtla and Jaan Rello were neighbours. Valdur’s father was a technology aficionado who built radios for the boys in the beginning of 1960s with which they could listen to Finnish radio shows. The boys were fascinated by the fresh Western music heard on the radio. Valdur wanted to play in a band of his own and found like-minded people in the factory where he worked. By the spring of 1963, they became one of the first Estonian rock’n’roll bands. Jaan also hung out with them and even appeared on the stage from time to time. Despite that, the neighbours started their first band together only after Valdur returned from the army in 1969. Merkuur (“Mercury”) played music for dancing in the culture club and their repertoire consisted mainly of cover versions of songs by Western pop and rock groups of the time. In 1973, Merkuur received a performing ban because their horn section was too loud. Everyone else stayed at home but Rello remained active in several bands until he was kicked out of the recently founded band Vitamiin (which became a popular group later on). This happened in the spring of 1978. Jaan Rello had gained experience in managing a band, he knew how to organise concerts and how to get studio time in the radio studio. He told Lehtla that they should start playing together again. They spent the entire summer of 1978 writing songs for their new group, Tornaado. Lehtla had a 4-track tape recorder at home which they used for recording numerous demos which they brought to the rehearsal room for other musicians to try out and comment on. Usually Lehtla composed all the songs but Rello and later also the bass player Mart Telliskivi and the drummer Harri Klemm often added something of their own. Their songs were influenced, first and foremost, by Lehtla’s taste in music - he liked rock’n’roll, jazz, jazzrock and reggae. While writing their songs, the men listened to different kinds of music but they never wished to copy anyone directly and always tried to retain their originality. “Regatt” was greatly influenced by George Duke’s fusion albums from mid-70s but Tornaado’s unique fusion also blends together Jimmy Cliff, Donna Summer, George Benson, and Chuck Berry, among others. “Regatt” was Tornaado’s first instrumental cycle which was recorded in 1979. Some of the tunes were recorded with the Estonian Radio studio bus from their rehearsal room and others in the Estonian Radio studio. After the Olympics, they started recording their cycle “Tallinn” but they only managed to complete two songs. By that time, Heino Möldre on the keyboards had joined the band. Later on, the percentage of songs with vocals in their repertoire started to increase. In 1982, the second singer Veera Mehilane joined the band to accompany the first singer Andi Muskat. In 1983, Tornaado got an opportunity to release a vinyl record under Melodiya, the only record company in the Soviet Union. This was very unexpected for the band and instead of instrumental tunes, they decided to include their latest pop hits on the vinyl. In addition to that, their 7” single is of very low quality and it did not sell well. In 1985, the bass player Mart Telliskivi left the band. The others tried to keep the band alive but it broke up the next year. Despite that, many of the members continued to make music. Tornaado – Instrumentaaltsükkel “Regatt” A-side B-side Valdur Lehtla - guitar All tracks written by Valdur Lehtla © Frotee 2013
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Keeris "Öö ja päev" 7''
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In order to find original Estonian yacht-rock, one has to turn his ears towards the coastal towns. Local musical groups have always performed for the pleasure of the inhabitants and guests on the stages and in the pubs in the popular resort town Pärnu. One of the most interesting groups during the 1980s was definitely the mellow pop-music ensemble Keeris. Recorded at Eesti Raadio Studio, Tallinn 1982, licensed from ERR, released courtesy of Jaan Laur. Previously unavailable in any format. Limited edition, 300 copies A-side: B-side: Ülo Valtenberg - bass Art director: Jaan Laur Remaster by Lynn Petrin @ Ebony Cuts SHOPPING BASKET OUT OF STOCK!
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