Heikki Sarmanto Serious Music Ensemble’s Like a Fragonard reissued on vinyl for the first time ever

The pioneer of Finnish Modern Jazz, Heikki Sarmanto together with his brother Pekka Sarmanto, Juhani Aaltonen, Lance Gunderson, and Craig Herndon released the album Like a Fragonard in 1971 under the name Heikki Sarmanto Serious Music Ensemble. Originally released on vinyl and never before reissued since, Svart Records finally brings Like a Fragonard back on the market in October.

Heikki Sarmanto studied music at the Berklee College in Boston in the late sixties, which is where he assembled his group Heikki Sarmanto Serious Music Ensemble. The group connected young, creative musicians from Finland, America and Czechoslovakia - Juhani Aaltonen (flute, saxophone), Craig Herndon (drums), Lance Gunderson (guitar), and George Mraz (bass). Heikki himself took up a Fender Rhodes keyboard, not yet a common instrument in Scandinavia. The young quintet wanted to question the accepted norms in music, on which the choice of band name was a comment. "Serious Music Ensemble is a comment on the cultural status quo of the time, as the term 'serious music' was used to refer to the western classical tradition only. As if no other music would be worth of serious thought - and African-American jazz was the last thing to be taken seriously", recalls Sarmanto. Serious Music Ensemble lived for a couple of intense years and performed on Sarmanto's albums Like a Fragonard (1971) and Counterbalance (1971).

"Following his graduation from Berklee, Sarmanto returned to Finland, with Gunderson and Herndon following suit. Since Mraz opted to stay in the US and Aaltonen already returned to Finland earlier, Sarmanto had four members of his quintet in place. Mraz was replaced by Sarmanto's brother, bassist Pekka Sarmanto to complete the quintet’s line-up.

Like A Fragonard, recorded on September 14, 1971, was the third album released by Sarmanto, this time under the Serious Music Ensemble moniker. Recorded just three months after its predecessor Counterbalance, this album was to be the first giant step in Sarmanto's exceptional musical journey. In contrast to his earlier recordings, which consisted of separate and unrelated musical themes, this is the first time Sarmanto, the composer, undertakes the task of producing a concept album, which consists of a series of compositions connected by one common idea. The result becomes a Jazz Mass, a novel idea, which Sarmanto would pursue again in the future.

For this recording Sarmanto expanded the quintet to a sextet with the addition of female vocalist Maija Hapuoja. Blessed by an angelic voice, exceptional vocal range and incredible sensitivity as well as profound understanding of literary heritage, Hapuoja proved to be an ideal partner for Sarmanto's musical ideas and they were destined to cooperate in many future projects. Her approach to Jazz vocals is similar in many respects to the work of British singer Norma Winstone, one of the greatest Divas of vocal Jazz. The vocal parts are stunning and the instrumental work exceptional, inspired and elegant. Aaltonen's flute flies like a bird in the sky and Sarmanto's Fender Rhodes sounds often like church bells. The overall effect is simply unforgettable, moving and awe inspiring.

Like a Fragonard offers a brilliant view of early modern Finnish Jazz at its best, taking the essence of Jazz spirit and combining it flawlessly with other musical sources to create a perfect amalgam. It remains untouched by the tides of time, being a true classic."

-Adam Baruch

Like a Fragonard is available on a limited pressing of 350 copies on vinyl and 300 copies on CD, containing an insert with liner notes by Adam Brauch and Heikki Sarmanto.