Antti Lötjönen

Antti Lötjönen (b. 1980) is, simply put, one of the key figures in the current Finnish jazz scene. Lötjönen has also earned a reputation as a first-rate bassist outside of his home country, testament of which was the invitation to tour with jazz greats Jeff "Tain" Watts and Kurt Rosenwinkel on a European headline trio tour in late 2018. He is known as a solid and highly creative musician, and the audience might remember him best from groups such as The Five Corners Quintet, 3TM, Verneri Pohjola Quartet, Aki Rissanen Trio, Mikko Innanen Autonomus, Ilmiliekki Quartet and Timo Lassy, to name but a few. His name in the lineup has come to mean that the band in question is one step closer to reaching their musical goals, whatever they may be. Lötjönen released his debut album as a leader on Helsinki's We Jazz Records in 2020. ‘Quintet East’ documents Lötjönen's current main working band and an important platform for his compositions. In addition to Lötjönen, the quintet features Verneri Pohjola, Mikko Innanen (Koma Saxo), Jussi Kannaste (3TM) and Joonas Riippa. Their live shows have become noted events in the scene, and the story continues in February 2023 with the follow up, ‘Circus/Citadel’ (We Jazz Records), that sees Lötjönen take things up a notch, especially as a composer and a bandleader.