Foggy Notion: Jimi Tenor & Band

Finnish musician and composer Jimi Tenor celebrated his 60th birthday on stage in Hamburg in 2025 - and also recorded new music there with his band. The result was the Jimi Tenor Band's first album, "Selenites, Selenites!", recorded in the spring of 2025 at Tobias Levin's Electric Avenue Studio and Lauri Kallio's Kiikala Center of the Universe Studio Complex.

Tenor, known for his unique blend of lounge jazz, acid techno, afrobeat, electronica and spiritual jazz, has collaborated with Tony Allen, the UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra, Kabukabu and Freestyle Man, among others, over the course of his career.

During the pandemic, Tenor was looking for new musicians in Helsinki; since rehearsal rooms were taboo, the first a cappella rehearsals took place in his kitchen. The band - Eeti Nieminen, Heikki Tuhkanen, Ekow Alabi Savage, Lauri Kallio and Jimi Tenor - subsequently played numerous live shows, but only now released their debut.

The recording sessions began in a remote studio house in Kiikala, where Kallio's parents provided the band with local food. This was followed by further sessions in Hamburg. As most of the tracks had already been tried and tested live, the eight songs were often recorded in just one take. Shine All Night" also features Tenor's second collaboration with Florence Adooni, the queen of Ghanaian Frafra gospel.

"Selenites, Selenites!" shows a playful band that creates a raw, immediate Afro-jazz sound - an energetic, cross-genre album that brings the stage right into the living room.