CD Review: Dave Lindholm & Otto Donner - More Than 123

Year: 2011

Style: Jazz - Funk - Rock - Blues

Label: Tum Records

Musicians: Dave Lindholm - vocals and guitar; Otto Donner - conductor; Manuel Dunkel - tenor and soprano saxophones; Markku Veijonsuo - trombone; Pepa Paivinen - baritone sax and flute; Tero Saarti - trumpet and flugelhorn; Riitta Paakki - piano; Ulf Krokfors - double bass; Mika Kallio - drums.

Tracks 4 &7 only: Tom Bildo - alto horn; Miska Miettinen - alto horn; Petri Keskitalo - tuba; Mikko Heleva - hammond B3 organ.

Vocalist/Guitarist Dave Lindholm
& Composer/Producer
"More Than 123"
Otto Donner 

CD Review: The line up of musicians and the assortment of instruments fused into this band, leap right out as if to state that this is no ordinary date; that this is "more than just 123." And it is! It is a band and a vocalist that take you to deep emotions you've only felt from the outside; but this time, you're taken on the inside; and the feeling is riveting and unforgettable.

Guitarist, vocalist, lyricist Dave Lindholm and conductor/arranger/composer/producer Otto Donner, are regarded as two giants of Finnish jazz, rock and blues scenes. "More Than 123" certainly adds to their legend with its deep, well selected hues of prodigiously dispensed, timeless, classic, rough-around-the-edges jazz, rock and indispensable blues.

Dave Lindholm opens the date with a musical deep tissue massage (Why I Smile Again), oozing with down reaching, sagacious charm, reminiscent of legendary jazz trombonist/vocalist Jack Teagarden. His vocal effect is what singer Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly (With His Song)" describes. He gets under your skin like an irresistible warning voice; and taking matters into his own hands, compounding the agony is Manuel Dunkel,  blowin' with gutsy, fatalistic, film noir tenor chops that simply cut you off emotionally at the knees.

Try as the band might to ease the pain, with Tero Saarti's uplifting trumpet (Oh, Don) and band's steady, pulsing rock, propelled by Dunkel's soaring tenor (I'm Right), as soon as Lindholm's gravel-encrusted, emotion-seeking voice gets hold of the lyric; it's all over; there is that light feeling of deja vu, and the wish that this voice was somewhere close the last time you gambled with love, and lost.

The band has its own unique ability to turn on and dispense its select brand of dense pathos (Where You're Walking Now), and Lindholm, never one to miss an open invitation to "kill you softly," employs the bluest section of his guitar's fret to drive you deeper inside a raw emotion. Once inside, you find yourself drowning in deep, collecting pools of mood indigo (True Life) while the band plays in dirge-like procession behind Linholm's 'down and out' blues riffs. At key intervals, Markku Veijonsuo's trombone and Tero Saarti's trumpet break through your absorbed consciousness like stealthy cracks of sunlight through an overcast, with just enough of a lift to keep you from giving up the ghost.

This is a band of rich rhythmic tapestries and styles which all come together on (I Know My Boulevard); there is the sound of the Texas rock of ZZ Top; the New Orleans jazz flavor in Saarti's muted trumpet; Willie Nelson's uniquely appealing, one of a kind, 'on the road' lyrical witticism in Lindholm's delivery, all supported by the ensemble's funky, aromatic Memphis R & B, slow-cooked BBQ groove.

"More Than 123" is a compilation of the work of top jazz musicians aided by the stunning talents of Dave Lindholm and Otto Donner. It is Lindhold's voice that endows the work with the raw emotional appeal that evokes passions that are sometimes unnerving, at times surprising, but always exciting. Dave and Otto have achieved with this CD what true artists strive for: To lay bare the spirit, hopefully change it for the better, and fully entertain.

Track Listing: Why I Smile Again; Oh, Don; I'm Right; Where You're Walking Now; True Life; I Know My Boulevard; Lucky Johnny's Gone.

Recorded by Esa Santonen at Karelia House in Tammisaari, Finland
Mixed and mastered by Esa Santonen and Otto Donner at DER Tammisaari, Finland

Produced by Otto Donner
Executive Producer: Petri Haussila