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- Juki Välipakka made his jazz-debut with his own band at 1995 and awoke immediate interest with some critics as a rarity in Finland, a male jazz-singer. Since then he has been nominated the best male singer in Finland at years 1996-99 and 2001-2004 by the magazine Jazzrytmit critics poll. - Some mp3 samples of Juki's music
Juki & Round 5 - Round 5 (more info in english / finnish): Välipakka's new band, and nowadays his main vehicle in the area of jazz-music, has in it's lineup talented Finnish top-players who already have taken their places in the field of Finnish jazz. They are: pianist Riitta Paakki, bassplayer Antti Lötjönen, drummer Joonas Riippa, and guitarist Tuomo Dahlblom. The band continues to perform both jazzstandards with their own arrangements, and Välipakka's original compositions.
Ad Lib Quintet - This far his only recording, "Jump", has been made with Ad Lib Quintet, the band he formed with hungarian-born pianist/composer László Süle. The repertoire of Ad Lib Quintet consists of both Süle's and Välipakka's compositions. The range of styles in their compositions is very wide, but the music could be described as modern cross-over jazz with influences from latin, classical, funk and be-bop, and, though with roots in tradition, it has it's own flavour. Their first record "Jump",released 10.3.2001, got excellent reviews in the Finnish music-press.
Backbone - Juki's rhythm 'n blues-band "Backbone" has performed regularly since 2003 with Dr. Feelgood -material. Now they are also doing the material of their own. Besides of being a singer in this band Juki also plays harmonica and guitar. The other guys in the band are Jouni "Londe" Siitari (guit.), Antti Saukko (bass) and Jarkko Salonvaara (drs.). Backbone website
Other material - Juki has made songs for his own jazzbands, lyrics for Timo Roiko-Jokela's compositions, and both finnish and english pop/rock material of his own. A new demo of this finnish material has been made spring 2004. He continues to work on these materials with new bands. Hopefully new gigs will be in near future; some of this new english material was already performed on his gigs in London, May 2004.
- Music for theatre has also been composed: "A trace of the sun on your face", 1993, "Burnt", 1997, "Surroundings", 1997, "Surroundings: Landscapes (A pilgrimage into a city)", 2000 were dancetheatre-productions coreographed by Inka Välipakka, video by Anna Alastalo. "The Home of The Sun" was a piece for children, written by Hannu Lehtinen.
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