THE OFFiCIAL SITE of joakim berghäll

musician, composer, arranger, orchestrator

"He's a master of all the reeds."
- Jazz Weekly

IN THE NEWS TODAY

NEWS  //  SEP 15th, 2022

A HUUUGE concert coming up together with Sointi Jazz Orchestra

On November 3rd, I'll be performing "Turta - Benumbed", a suite for baritone saxophone & jazz orchestra together with Sointi Jazz Orchestra in Tiivistämö, Suvilahti, Helsinki, at 7PM.
A big thing to me since it's 45 minutes of new large ensemble music - which will by the way also be the material on Berghäll Brothers Big Band vol.2, on it's way to be released in 2023.

Sointi Jazz Orchestra is a group of young professionals with a soloist lineup this autumn including Marius Neset, Maja Mannila, Maria Faust, Mathias Eick and myself. Some sort of an MA theme there, coinsidence or not. Anyway, the work, a six piece suite, is a fairly personal one, as it deals with school violence, something I'm a little too familiar with. Some 27 years have passed since I walked on top of The Highest Hill In The World, the road to my upper elementary school, for the very last time. It seems like enough time has passed to let it all out, and it's definitely something that I really needed to do. The result: slightly dark music for sure, but well worth checking out and hopefully at least somewhat comforting to people with similar kind of experiences. Jonne Pitkänen will be in charge of the visuals as we return to the "crime scene", having performed together at the Flow Festival some 12 years ago, in the very same room, with Ville Leinonen and his Majakan soittokunta orchestra. Get your tix:

TIKETTI

New releases!

Joakim Berghäll Dark Roast 006: Edelleen jonossa
RELEASE DATE: NOV. 4th, 2022

In the beginning of November, the long waited Joakim Berghäll Dark Roast 006 debut will finaly be out on my own label Boulder Music Helsinki. Abdissa "Mamba" Assefa mixed, Jaakko Viitalähde mastered and did the lacquer cut, and I produced. There's a presale going on at Bandcamp already, WITH A TASTE OF SOME OF THE DARKEST ROAST TO BE FOUND, a song called "Duromina". Find your combination of integrated taste buds / ear buds pleasure here:

BANDCAMP

Joakim Berghäll: baritone saxophone, bass clarinet, percussion, compositions
Linda Fredriksson: baritone saxophone, bass clarinet
Max Zenger: baritone saxophone, bass clarinet, bass saxophone, contrabass clarinet
Jere Haakana: guitar
Jori Huhtala: bass
Tuomas Timonen: drums

Berghäll Triality: The Antarctic NOW RELEASED
A perfectly sensible sequel to our highly acclaimed debut album, The Arctic.

This time there was no physical release, since it's in Dolby Atmos format and that's actually pretty cool! There can't be many Atmos albums from Finland yet. Personally, I hadn't heard of one on the day of the release in May 2022.

Dolby Atmos seems to have won over even Apple, so it seems that's the way to go, in the near future at least. And I can totally understand why. For the last few years I've been studying 3D audio, just because I think it's super interesting. And I believe that there are many possibilities in it that we don't yet hear. What I personally get out of it is a strong emotional feel, like being surrounded by the instruments in a live situation.

The Dolby Atmos experience would surely be strongest if we all had an extra 50000$ in the pocket and a room to set up all the gear at. But luckily, headphone listening can get you very close too - and actually, this album was mixed with headphones, so it's more or less optimized for a headphone experience as well. I was lucky enough to have the mixes checked at an official Dolby Atmos room at Studio Kekkonen, which revealed a couple of things to consider. But headphones is all you need. And so far, you can only hear it as Atmos if you're a Tidal HiFi Plus subscriber with a compatible listening device (such as a fairly new phone with the latest version of Tidal and probably a quite fresh update of your phone's own software as well), or at Apple Music, with its own requirements.

So it's not super easy just yet! But at a reaching distance, I'd say, and surely something that becomes more and more available in the near future.

On "The Antarctic", Berghäll Triality is:
Joakim Berghäll, baritone saxophone, producing
Kalle Kalima, electric guitar
Kari Ikonen, keyboards
Salla Kozma & Antti Reini, voice

TIDAL
APPLE MUSIC

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ABOUT ME

I'm a freelancer living and working on an island in Helsinki.
I began studying music at the age of three and ever since I've been intrigued by all kinds of instruments and everything that makes a sound. My main instrument is the baritone saxophone, but in different bands and projects I also do play all other saxophones, cello, various kinds of percussion, drums, electric and double bass, guitar and other stringed instruments, piano, keyboards, bass clarinet, clarinet and a bunch of different flutes. After having freelanced professionally for more than 15 years and toured in thirty-something countries I managed to put up my first band(s) as a leader. A trio called "Berghäll Triality", and a sextet "Joakim Berghäll Dark Roast 006". (Find out more in the "bands" section!)

Improvising music in a small ensemble is my main object of affection, but there's so much more out there that interests me, and I consider myself extremely lucky to be able to make a living playing in various settings from free jazz to folk, from Beijing Opera to psychedelic punk. As long as there's something special to it and people are leaving everything onstage, I really don't care which genre is it categorized under. It's all music.

I'm a cargo-bike-riding vegan stunningly aware of all the details in current NHL statistics.
If you want to make me happy, all it really takes is a cup of good coffee.

(photo: Dorit Salutskij)