November 11, 2006 was a very emotional evening. After almost 20 years together and thousands of concerts worldwide, the Finnish Trio Töykeät around pianist Iiro Rantala performed live for the last time. For Rantala it was both an end and a departure. For as difficult as it was to disband what was probably the most influential, but certainly the most humorous piano trio in the Finnish jazz world, he was able to try out a wide variety of line-ups from then on - in jazz, classical music and occasional excursions into rock and pop. Rantala's ACT debut Lost Heroes in 2011 heralded something like his second international career. This was followed by further solo and duo albums, spectacular piano summits with Michael Wollny and Leszek Możdżer, among others, as well as orchestral recordings with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and members of the Berliner Philharmoniker. Rantala wrote a complete Christmas Oratorio for the choir Cantores Minores and the opera Die Zaubermelodika for the Komische Oper Berlin. He has also made several musical programmes for Finnish television and currently produces his own podcast, Algoyrtmi, about European jazz.
But the trio topic has never let go of Rantala since the end of Trio Töykeät and now, almost 20 years after its end, it is time for the Iiro Rantala HEL Trio. Rantala says: "I'm very happy that I tried so many different things after Trio Töykeät. But just before the pandemic, I had a couple of gigs with bassist Dan Berglund and drummer Anton Eger. It was a very promising start. Since then, I had dreamed of starting a trio again. But Dan was far too busy. Anton Eger then recommended Conor Chaplin, with whom he had been playing in Marius Neset's band for a long time. It's always good when the bassist and drummer are already well-rehearsed. Both are travelling a lot, but it worked out and I'm very happy about it.
The Iiro Rantala HEL Trio, named after the Helsinki airport from which Rantala's musical endeavours usually start, sounds new and familiar at the same time, with Rantala indulging in nostalgia rather casually: "Anton Eger heard Trio Töykeät as a child together with Marius Neset at the Molde Festival. It was one of their first jazz concerts and they were real fans. When we started the Iiro HEL Trio, Anton, who knows an enormous amount of repertoire, really wanted to play the Trio Töykeät pieces Gadd A Tee and Met By Chance. I then thought that after two decades that was fine. We changed them a bit, one is now called Tee Four Three, the other Cabaret Perdu." Liberty City, a little-played but much-appreciated piece by Jaco Pastorius, reflects Rantala's love of American funk and soul. The piece sits naturally alongside original compositions like Stockholm Syndrome, in which Rantala plays with the typical melancholy of Scandinavian jazz in a tongue-in-cheek yet deeply felt way.
It is the contrasts that make the Iiro Rantala HEL Trio so appealing. As a pianist, Rantala often captivates with great lightness and ravishingly supple lines. And then he transforms himself into a humorous rummager in the piano who can powerfully unfold pathos. He has something baroque in his demeanour, his playing is full of relish, so that it only takes a few notes and the audience is already on his side of musical enjoyment. On the other hand, Anton Eger, with his irresistibly delicate playing fuelled by a wide variety of styles, and Conor Chaplin, with his weighty yet agile grooves on the bass, bring their very own idea of sound and design to the music. And so the HEL Trio is not a nostalgic back-to-the-roots project: "For me, music should always go forwards," says Rantala. His restless, almost hyperactive approach, his urge to try things out and surprise his audience time and time again and his ability to play a wide variety of genres and styles authentically while always sounding like himself make him an exceptional figure among European pianists. And the Iiro Rantala HEL Trio's Tough Stuff is a further milestone on his richly varied journey of discovery.
