Mike Koskinen -

Heikki Koskinen — aka Mike Koskinen — is a Finnish trumpeter, composer, and bandleader active in the Finnish jazz scene since the late Sixties. He recorded with Soulset, Eero Koivistoinen, Seppo Paakkunainen, and led his own ensembles for Yleisradio broadcasts in the early Seventies. As a bandleader, Koskinen recorded the 1976 album Sunwebs for Love Records.

Background

Heikki “Mike” Koskinen was born Nov. 15, 1945, in Finland. By the late 1960s, he gigged as a Helsinki trumpeter and studied to be an engineer; he qualified in 1971 as a diplomi-insinööri.

Soulset added Koskinen in spring 1969 for their Finnlevy split album Nykysuomalaista – Contemporary Finnish. On Nov. 23, he joined Wigwam and saxophonist Eero Koivistoinen in the orchestra for Hair at Svenska Teatern in Helsinki, where the production continued through the 1969–70 winter season.

Koskinen played trumpet on 1970/71 albums by the Eero Koivistoinen Music Society (For Children) and Seppo Paakkunainen (Plastic maailma). He also joined bassist Teppo Hauta-aho in Kalmiston Klangi with trombonist Mircea Stan, saxophonists Pekka Pöyry and Seppo Paakkunainen, and drummer Edward Vesala. The sextet recorded for Yleisradio in Helsinki on Sept. 29, 1971.

Koskinen began studies at Berklee College of Music in Boston in the mid-1970s and maintained Finnish engagements across the same period. He led the Mike Koskinen Orchestra for a Feb. 20, 1973 Yleisradio broadcast from Liisankatu Studio with trombonist Mircea Stan, reedists Juhani Aaltonen, Seppo Paakkunainen, and Pentti Lahti, pianist Olli Ahvenlahti, bassist Teppo Hauta-aho, and drummer Edward Vesala. A Koskinen septet returned to the Yleisradio studio in autumn 1974 with Pekka Pöyry and Eero Koivistoinen among the expanded reed section.

Koskinen returned to Finland by 1975 and assembled a recording group around Pöyry, pianist Vladimir Shafranov, bassists Heikki Virtanen and Pekka Sarmanto, and drummer Reino Laine. The musicians recorded Koskinen compositions at Finnvox Studios in November and December with additional appearances by Juhani Aaltonen, Pentti Lahti, Ilpo Saastamoinen, and Make Lievonen. The resulting program became Koskinen’s first album for Love Records, Sunwebs.

Discography: