Jussi Reijonen

Born in Rovaniemi, a small town on the Arctic Circle in northern Finland, fretted/fretless guitarist and 'udist Jussi Reijonen truly is the product of a world with few frontiers. Having grown up moving back and forth between Finnish Lapland, the Middle East, and East Africa, and currently living in Boston, Jussi has spent his life soaking up the sounds, scents and shades of Nordic, Middle Eastern, African, and now American culture, all reflected in his music.

Along his path, Jussi has worked – as bandleader, sideman, composer or arranger – with numerous front row artists both in and outside his native Finland, and has performed extensively in Finland, Sweden, Latvia, Germany, France, Lebanon and the United States. After relocating to the US in 2008, he has had the honor of performing with the likes of renowned jazz drummer Jack deJohnette, flamenco cantaor legend Pepe de Lucia, Spanish multi-Grammy-award-winning producer and flamenco guitarist Javier Limón, Palestinian oud/violin master Simon Shaheen, fretless guitar pioneer David Fiuczynski, Turkey’s gypsy clarinet legend Hüsnü Senlendirici, and Lebanese nay virtuoso and multi-instrumentalist Bassam Saba, to name a few.

Through his work with his own Quintet – featuring Utar Artun on piano, Bruno Råberg on acoustic bass, and Tareq Rantisi and Sergio Martinez on percussion – Jussi has been chasing his muse; tracing the various branches of his roots, he has started to become profiled more and more as the quintessential modern world musician. With the Quintet as his main forum for exploring his own voice as composer, arranger and instrumentalist, he has been working to combine his myriad influences into his own unique musical handwriting, and is currently preparing to release his much-anticipated debut album un in September 2012.

In addition to his various musical projects, Jussi is currently pursuing his Master’s degree at New England Conservatory in Boston, studying with Simon Shaheen and pianist Ran Blake.