EPISODE

Nice to see this Finnish guitarist added here. Nowadays Jukka Hauru is best remembered, at least by common Finns, as a music critic. His career as a musician - active mainly in the late 60's and the 70's - had an emphasis on being a session/live guitarist for several groups and artists. In the early 70's he also was a producer for a brief period (notorious for rejecting the future-classic prog band Haikara; in the end he only produced the Kalevala debut and his own debut!). Later he composed some songs for e.g. KOM Teatteri. Hauru's solo ouput consists of two albums only, Information (1972) and this one released by Love Records in 1975. Both are instrumental fusion comparable to Frank Zappa or Mahavishnu Orchestra. It's sad how few people, apart from the critics, noticed his albums at the time, maybe because Jukka Tolonen (Tasavallan Presidentti, solo) was THE guitar hero back then.

The opening track 'Enema Syringe' is a groovy, lively, fast-paced piece. At first it seems to focus self-poignantly on Hauru's guitar skills, but the whole group is totally involved, and also synths have solo moments. 'When I Met My Wondergirl' lives up to its charming title as a dreamy and romantic composition. These two tracks feature the bass legend Pekka Pohjola and the saxophone legend Pekka Pöyry. 'Waltz Bourgeois' contains lots of saxes played by Teemu Salminen. This is my least favourite; it attempts to be witty and humorous without really taking off.

The whole B-side was composed earlier than the A-side, ie. in the autumn of 1973, after the military takeover in Chile. As one can guess, the music is more 'serious' and complex, especially in the 12½-minute 'Episode (Santiago 11.9. 73)'. Sonically it sometimes reminds me of early Pekka Pohjola albums such as Pihkasilmä Kaarnakorva or Harakka Bialoipokku. 'Elegy (for Victor Jara)' is a beautiful, moody piece in a slow tempo, starring bright guitar and electric piano sounds. 'Goodbye Pinochet' is the shortest track at three minutes, and easy to enjoy by any listener who likes jazz.

Episode is not a faultless masterpiece, but it's a strong work with excellent musicianship, and the music has good balance between technics and emotion. The album was re-released on vinyl in 2016.

Uber-talented guitarist Jukka Huaru is back with, unfortunately, his only other album as band-leader/featured soloist and composer. The sound and collaborators' inputs are much more cohesive on this album.

1. "Enema Syringe" (5:45) what opens as a full minute of displaying MAHVISHNU ORCHESTRA fire turns RETURN TO FOREVER at 1:20 with the introduction of the MiniMoog. At 1:45 then it sleakly slides over into pure JAN AKKERMAN territory before morphing magically into LARRY CORYELL and then GEORGE DUKE to JOE ZAWINUL-led WEATHER REPORT for the finish. The accompanying bass, drums, and keyboard playing is nothing short of miraculous! Amazing! Even if it is a bit imitative and even plagiaristic, this is pure Jazz-Rock Fusion perfection! (10/10)

2. "When I Met My Wondergirl" (8:52) beautiful and spacious LONNIE LISTON SMITH-like Cosmic Music with some awesome JAN AKKERMAN-like tone and feeling up top, mixed with the piano, sax, and bass (this latter grâce à the addition of Pekka Pohjola). The exposition takes a long time of stop-and-go before finally settling down into a fairly straightforward flowing "ballad" in the fourth minute. Just following the work of the two bass players is pure bliss-- such a humbling joy! (19/20)

3. "Waltz Bourgeois" (4:20) interesting near-avant garde music of not-so melodic but more harmonically-conscientious musical constructs. This is closer to true jazz and the future avant waves of Jazz/Jazz-Rock than any of the other songs on the album. (8.875/10)

4. "Episode (Santiago 11. 9. 73)" (12:37) Now we are definitely in advanced WEATHER REPORT territory, complete with some excellent Wayne Shorter-like soprano sax and Heikki Virtanen's Jaco-like bass thrumming. Even the percussion play sounds like Acuña/Alias/Badrena trio and the clavinet and other keys like Joe Zawinal. The only thing that sounds different is Tomi Salminen's drum play, which sounds far more Lenny White. But then Jukka's lead guitar work sounds so much like that of NOVA's Corrado Rustici. Great, rich Fender Rhodes sound from Jukka Linkola--which peaks with the awesome solo in ninth minute. This is then followed by a great LARRY CORYELL-like guitar solo. I love this Latinized song! Just when it sounds like it's drawing to a close in the eleventh minute, the military drums and droning low-end piano chord-pounding keep it going so that Jukka and Teemu can play out for another minute. (23.5/25)

5. "Elegy (for Victor Jara)" (4:11) here we get a cross between Al Di Meola and Jan Akkerman in guitar style and support sound palette performing a lovely little lushly-surrounded Spanish acoustic guitar [iece that eventually goes electric guitar in its second half (not unlike Jan's "Soft" and "Hard Vanilla" songs on Focus' Mother Focus album). (9.3333/10)

6. "Goodbye Pinochet" (3:05) more Latin-infused high-speed Jazz-Rock Fusion of the Chick Corea kind, even to the degree of Jukka Linkola's keyboard play and the excellent play from the rhythm corps, though Jukka's guitar play here sounds more like the Toto Blanke side of Jan Akkerman or even a little of Al Di Meola's plucky-muted stuff. A great, peppy, tightly-coordinated song! (9.5/10)

Total Time 38:50

I can understand reviewers who disparage Jukka's conformity to the styles and sounds of the course that "standardized" (Third Wave) Jazz-Rock Fusion artists had taken, but I cannot help but extoll the amazing compositions and performances exhibited through this extraordinary lineup of musicians on this record. And, yes, Jukka's creativity on his 1972 debut was so high and so individualistic, but I am much happier with the overall orchestration and sound engineering of these compositions than those of Information. This is what "peak" Jazz-Rock Fusion should sound like!

A/five stars; a masterpiece of fully-formed, superlatively-engineered Third Wave Jazz-Rock Fusion. I feel so lucky to have been allowed to know this music!