This collaboration “project” came forth from the solo outings of Finnish top bassist Jan-Olof Strandberg (born in 1956, he listened to the likes of The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull and Black Sabbath as a young teenager, and picked up abass at age 14 to fool around with his friends; he then studied music at the Pop-Jazz Conservatoire in Helsinki, and pursued music studies at Helsinki's Music Conservatory, switching to upright bass; it was then that he was introduced to Miles Davis' album In A Silent Way...which left an impression that would colour his musical life from then on) whom did his first “professional” gig playing bass for Rock legend Rauli Badding Somerjoki...in 1975!
Since then, many important groups and events happened which shaped Jan-Olof to the kind of musician he is today. From 1975 to 1980, he was active with Funky President (released a single and maxi-single for Kompass Records in 1979), and during that time he also played with Kosmopojat (including Esa Kotilainen and Ilkka Rantamäki, the band made a recording in 1978 for radio distribution, toured Finland and Sweden – With Rantamäki, Jan-Olof made another radio recording session in 1980, and the duo continued to release 4 albums). Between 1981 and 1983, Jan-Olof played with Steel City (which recorded a couple of singles & performed on a couple of tv shows). With Abdel Kabirr, Jan-Olof recorded his first full-length album (which was released in 1983). Next up, were the bands Pepe Ahlqvist (which performed between 1983 and 1987, playing one tour through Poland in their last year) and Bianca Morales & FF (active between 1984 and 1986, the band released a couple of singles and the full-length Our Party – issued through Polarvox). More currently, Jan-Olof was active with Paul Jackson Funk Attack (band which did a couple of gigs in 2003, but never recorded), The Fusion Project (project led by Simple Minds drummer Mel Gaynor – released the 2006 album Code Name: The Fusion Project through Musea; Jan-Olof was a member with the band from 2005 to 2007), and Timeline (active since 2007 and still going, a Prog Rock band with '70s spirit).
In 1995, Jan-Olof released his first solo album At The Music Box. It was followed up by 1997's Great Moments, 2000's Illustrations, and 2003's The Electric City. Then he came up with the “Strandberg Project” idea, meant as a collaboration for musicians from different musical genres, to bounce off ideas to each other, and as such create music...also through the means of improvisation...which usually turned out quite different than the original ideas. The first album under the Strandberg Project monicker was 2005's Strandberg Project feat. Paul Jackson (yes, “that” bass legend), and Made In Finland is a natural continuation from that!
Along for the ride on this album are both more recent and older friends, including drummer/ co-producer Kimmo Pörsti (on all tracks - see Paidarion), keyboardist Kimmo Tapanainen (on all tracks - see, also, Paidarion), saxophone player Risto Salmi (on 7 of the 9 tracks - see...of course, Paidarion), bass legend Michael Manring (on 5 tracks, he also had a guest role on Paidarion's second album)...and then, the guitarists... Well, first let's admit that the track “The Magician's Departure” is actually off the Paidarion album (review posted at same time), and on it plays Jaan Jaanson (both guitar and extra keyboards). Guitarists on the newer Strandberg material include Matias Kupiainen and Petteri Hirvanen. They team up on the album opening “Crossover”, then the latter plays on “Past And Present”, while Kupianen contributes to “Yes, This Is It!”and “Two Sisters”...which indeed means that 4 tracks are without àny guitar at all! Oh...almost forgot : one Jan “Jysky” Strandberg (looks young enough to be Jan-Olof's son)contributes additional bass on “Two Sisters”...meaning that, besides the keyboards and guitar, you get no less than three bass instruments played on that one track. Considering the players involved, and the earlier comments (that Miles Davis, you know), expect an instrumental Jazz Pop album with some (softer) Prog Rock undercurrents...of the highest qualities!
The DVD part of this album now, features different aspects of the Strandberg Project. First of all, there's a slightly heavier aspect, with 3 videos (“Tom's Nurses”, “Dominique”, and “Undercover” making for just under 47 minutes of material), recorded in the studio with original Strandberg Project members Jukka Gustavson (on the keyboards), Sami Virtanen (guitar) and Rami Eskelinen (drums). Then there's a “The Documentary Project”, recorded in 2011 following some concerts done with Paul Jackson. Essentially what you get is a look into Jackson's career, with live footage from the mentioned concerts interspersed in the 39-minute interview. Well, that ain't quite true, because the last 4 ½ minutes Paul and Jan-Olof bring a nice double bass track. Eventually, there's some extra video material (tracks “Talk”, “Rainy Day” and “One More”, good for some 14 minutes of unannounced bonus material), with Jan-Olof playing off his bass against drums played by one Niklas Lindholm.
When you look at the rating, I won't need to tell you that I am quite heavily into this!