Alexi Tuomarila

Alexi Tuomarila started studying classical piano at the age of 6 at the Espoo Music Academy, Finland. As a teenager he was enthusiastic about rock and grunge music before digging deeper into jazz through his father's record collection. In 1993 Tuomarila was accepted to Oulunkylä pop/jazz Conservatory in Helsinki, Finland, where he studied for a year. He continued his studies under Diederik Wissels and Nathalie Loriers at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and earned his Master of Music degree in 1999.

During his studies he formed his Quartet with Nicolas Kummert, Christophe Devisscher, and Teun Verbruggen. In 1999 his quartet won the award for best band and Tuomarila won the prize for best soloist at the "21st Hoeilaart International Jazz Competition" Belgium. In 2001, he received the first prize at the "3rd International Jazz Soloist Competition" in Monaco, and he won the "10th International Tremplin Jazz Competition" in Avignon with his quartet.

The Alexi Tuomarila Quartet also won the first prize at the "5th International Granada Jazz Competition" in Spain 2005.

The quartet recorded and released three albums "Voices of Pohjola" for Igloo Records (Benelux) 2001, the Emma Award (Finnish Grammy) nominee "02" for Finlandia Records - Warner Music Group 2003, and "Runo X" for Edita Cambeya (Spain) 2007.

Alexi Tuomarila Quartet changed the name of the group into Drifter and welcomed Axel Gilain as a bass player/vocalist. Drifter recorded and released the critically acclaimed "Flow" album for Edition Records, UK in 2015.

In 2005 Alexi Tuomarila formed his renowned trio, with Norwegian bassist Mats Eilertsen and Finnish drummer Olavi Louhivuori. The trio has released four critically acclaimed albums: "Constellation" for Jazzaway Records (Norway) 2006, and "Seven Hills" 2013, "Kingdom" 2017 and "Sphere" 2019 for distinguished British Edition Records.

The latest album "Sphere" earned Tuomarila the prestigious Emma award (Finnish Grammy) for "Jazz album of the year".

British BBC Music Magazine gave the album 5 stars and selected it as the "Jazz album of the month" (07/2019)

Alexi Tuomarila played a decade, from 2007 until 2017, with the legendary Polish trumpet player Tomasz Stańko in different kinds of band combinations. Their first concert together was at the 750th anniversary of the city of Kraków.

During 2009-2014 Tuomarila played with Tomasz Stanko Quintet (Jakob Bro, Anders Christensen, Olavi Louhivuori) toured around the world and also recorded the Tomasz Stanko Dark Eyes (Tomasz Stańko album) for ECM Records, 2010,

which reached number 5 in the Polish pop charts.

Between 2015-2017 Tuomarila performed and toured with the Tomasz Stanko NY Quartet in Europe, China and Australia with Gerald Cleaver (musician) and Reuben Rogers

Tuomarila has also shared the stage with i.a. Eric Revis, Thomas Morgan (bassist), Reggie Washington, Joey Baron, Kenny Wheeler, Anders Jormin, Kush Abadey, Nelson Veras, Perico Sambeat, UMO Jazz Orchestra, Eero Koivistoinen, Peter Erskine, Bill Evans (saxophonist) Anders Bergcrantz, Rick Margitza, Maciej Obara.

Emma award category Jazz Album of the year, Alexi Tuomarila Trio "Sphere" Edition Records, UK,

Emma award Nomination, Alexi Tuomarila Quartet "02" Finlandia Records - Warner Music Group

1st Prize at "3rd International Monaco Jazz soloist Competition"

1st Prize at "10th Tremplin International Jazz Competition" Avignon, France, with Alexi Tuomarila Quartet

1st Prize at the "5th International Granada Jazz Competition", Spain, with Alexi Tuomarila Quartet

1st Prize at the "21st Hoeilaart International Jazz Competition" Brussels, Belgium

• Philippe Carles, André Clergeat, Jean-Louis Comolli: Le nouveau forsøk du jazz. R. Laffont: Paris, 2011.

Official website: http://www.alexituomarila.com

Record Label: http://www.editionrecords.com/alexituomarila

Jazz Finland: http://jazzfinland.fi/artist/alexi-tuomarila