Review

Oiro Pena

Puna

We Are Busy Bodies • 2023

Here’s something I heard in a bar the other day: Jazz is like dining à la carte, you need to take your time and you don’t stuff everything in your mouth all at once. Okay, old man, then tell me why. Oiro Pena is Antti Vauhkonen, who, believe it or not, comes from Finland and therefore plays jazz – the Miles Davis dreamcatcher kind of jazz, to be precise, nice and cool, because Finns are cool. Antti Vauhkonen, who also plays in the excellent group Soft Power, likes to quote him. German sauerkraut is also on the menu regularly, at least it used to be, and of course it’s still there as a so-called influence. 

The same goes for »Puna«, released on the Canadian label We Are Busy Bodies, which has released everything from indie rock to post-punk, but has recently developed a soft spot for jazz. And so the saxophone toots pithily and the piano plays the most beautiful jazz notes and you snap your fingers, precisely because Antti Vauhkonen is on the drums. At some point you think of the old man at the bar: If jazz is music à la carte, then Orio Pena is the cheese platter to accompany the dessert wine. It is not necessary, but you should try it. At least to be able to call yourself a bon vivant afterwards.