Heikki Sarmanto Quintet. Counterbalance. New Release

Heikki Sarmanto Quintet’s Counterbalance reissued on vinyl for the first time ever in February 2025 The pioneer of Finnish Modern Jazz, Heikki Sarmanto together with his brother Pekka Sarmanto, Juhani Aaltonen, Lance Gunderson, and Craig Herndon released the album Counterbalance in 1971 under the name Heikki Sarmanto Quintet. Originally released on vinyl and later reissued on CD, Svart Records finally brings Counterbalance back on the market as it was originally intended, on wax.

Heikki Sarmanto studied music at the Berklee College in Boston in the late sixties, which is where he assembled his group Heikki Sarmanto Serious Music Ensemble. The group connected young, creative musicians from Finland and America - Heikki's brother Pekka Sarmanto (bass), Juhani Aaltonen (flute, saxophone), Craig Herndon (drums), and Lance Gunderson (guitar). Heikki himself took up a Fender Rhodes keyboard, not yet a common instrument in Scandinavia. The young quintet wanted to question the accepted norms in music, on which the choice of band name was a comment. "Serious Music Ensemble is a comment on the cultural status quo of the time, as the term 'serious music' was used to refer to the western classical tradition only.

As if no other music would be worth of serious thought - and African-American jazz was the last thing to be taken seriously", recalls Sarmanto. Serious Music Ensemble lived for a couple of intense years and performed on Sarmanto's albums Like a Fragonard (1971) and Counterbalance. Counterbalance presents Sarmanto’s exquisite skills both as a composer and pianist. The album features a warm, harmonious fusion of jazz, rock, and elements of Finnish folk music, using both electric and acoustic instrumentation.

Counterbalance is available on Svart exclusive purple/white/black marble vinyl, limited transparent green vinyl, and classic black vinyl. Includes liner notes by Adam Brauch and Heikki Sarmanto.