MUSIC Interview
by Neil Atherton

Jimi Tenor’s “Higher Planes”

Known as much for his oversized glasses as his irony-laden, jazz-orchestrated, psychedelic funk music, Jimi Tenor sure is a special kinda guy. Think Joe 90 meets Michael Caine meets Frank Sinatra meets Jarvis Cocker... In his native Finland, where there are “lakes and nature everywhere you go,” his outlandish sense of dress “afforded” him his first taste of notoriety. But the fish soon became too big for his pond: “If you want to do something leftfield or underground,” says Jimi of living in Finland, “you have to go somewhere else. You can’t keep on playing to the same 15 people forever.” So after finding his career at a dead end, he moved to New York and changed his name: “I was playing baritone sax at the time, but Jimi Baritone didn’t sound as good.” Eventually, he heard about Tommi Grönlund’s label Säkhö and set about elaborating the first of a series of electronically-produced, free-jazz big-band records.

Not sure whether this is his seventh album, or not (“I guess I didn’t count”)... However, “Higher Planes” is definitely his first for Kitty-Yo and his second since leaving experimental label Warp. “They kicked me out because I wasn’t making enough money,” remembers Jimi of his former employees. “They wanted me to do more mainstream stuff while everyone else did what they wanted.” So Jimi, fed up with the self-indulgent noodlings of LFO and Autechre, decided to adopt a more accessible, feel-good approach to recording his cosmic-driven, space-age jazz tunes. Or did he? “On this album I did whatever I felt. I never thought it would be less experimental. Maybe I just finally learned how to use the mixing desk!”

Catch Jimi live at the New Morning, Mar 12 (see concert page opposite). His album “Higher Planes” (Kitty-Yo) is out now