* En anglais uniquement
Finnish pianist, harpist, and composer
Iro Haarla is a classically trained musician with a bent toward atmospheric modern creative and chamber-style jazz. Born in 1956,
Haarla studied piano and composition at Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy and was headed toward a career as concert pianist before meeting drummer/bandleader
Edward Vesala in 1978.
Haarla put her solo career on hold and embarked on a romantic and creative partnership with
Vesala, whom she eventually married. For two decades,
Haarla collaborated with her husband on arranging and developing his own compositions especially with his Sound & Fury ensemble with which she recorded several
ECM albums. Also during this time, she began learning how to play various instruments including the harp, koto, accordion, and analog synthesizers, all of which she became adept on. After
Vesala's death from heart failure in 1999,
Haarla embarked on a solo career, releasing the album Penguin Beguine on Tum Records in 2005. She followed up with the quintet album
Northbound featuring trumpeter
Mathias Eick, saxophonist
Trygve Seim, bassist Ulf Krokfors, and drummer
Jon Christensen on
ECM in 2006. In 2010, she appeared on the trio album Heart of a Bird with bassist
Krokfors and saxophonist Rasmus Korsstrom. In 2011,
Haarla returned to her
ECM quintet for the album Vespers. ~ Matt Collar