Poet

Born 6 August 1949, Olli Ahvenlahti is a Finnish pianist, composer, and conductor and has been one of Finland's leading Jazz artists since the 70s. He has recorded with several artists including UMO Jazz Orchestra. There was a small group of very talented jazz musicians in Finland during the 70s, of which Ahvenlahti was one of the key players. His band consisted of the cutting-edge musicians of that decade, including Markku Johansson, Bertil Strandberg and Pekka Pöyry. The groove of the 70s dancefloor jazz made an impact on the Finnish jazz scene and the track 'Grandma's Rocking Chair' is viewed as a highlight of that era. Featured on the original pressing in 1976, the track was picked up by legendary US house producer Kenny Dope when he sampled the track for his record 'The Illout'. Most likely the track was taken from a "Finnish Jazz 66-75"-bootleg album. That conclusion comes from "The Illout" drum fill, which is sampled from another track from the same bootleg (Matti Oiling's "Oiling Boiling", from "Happy Jazz Band"-album, Finnlevy SFLP 9508, 1970). "Boiling Oiling" is Dope's re-worked beat track. Since the 1990 Contest, Ahvenlahti has been the Finnish conductor at the Eurovision Song Contest and worked for the Finnish radio and television company YLE.