Kerkko Koskinen is an awarded Finnish composer, who has previously worked with the chart-topping leftfield pop ensemble Ultra Bra. Koskinen has always been intrigued by big orchestras and his first recording for Ricky-Tick Records, “Agatha” was a logical step towards this direction. It has influences from Lalo Schifrin, Gil Evans and Igor Stravinsky but the result sounds very much like certain Mr. Kerkko Koskinen. Koskinen recently teamed up with The Five Corners Quintet, when he composed and arranged the score for the National Theater’s play “Othello”. The result brings to mind Miles Davis and his score for the French crime movie “Lift to the Scaffold” (1958). Jazz critic Phil Johnson described Davis’ score as “the loneliest trumpet sound you will ever hear, and the model for sad-core music ever since. Hear it and weep”. That’s pretty much the case with Koskinen’s “Othello” too. Powerful, yet delicate and touching jazz “noir”.
