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TUM Records
In a market increasingly saturated with independent labels, all claiming novelty, youth and innovation, Haussila
In a market increasingly saturated with independent labels, all claiming novelty, youth and innovation, Haussila's perspective is refreshing. His speech is as assured and flows with the same logic and enthusiasm as the music he releases. "I see a parallel between my label and an American label started by another lawyer, smiles Haussila. "If ESP was founded to document Albert Ayler, I started TUM to give Juhani Aaltonen the first albums to feature his own music in 20 years.
![](http://www.tumrecords.com/pics/trio.jpg)
Aaltonen's approach to his instruments may provide clues to an overarching TUM sound. The question of label aesthetic can prompt more empty words from over-enthusiastic rhetoricians, but all Haussila had to say was that he wanted the releases to sound as good and to be of as high a quality as possible. Yet, immersion in the TUM catalog exposes a staggering diversity of sonic approach, of orchestral array, from the contemplations of exploratory duos to to the musings of larger electronically augmented ensembles; the results often embrace as much history as they do timbre. Bassist Ulf Krokfors and keyboardist Iro Haarla's Penguin Beguine dips into '70s fusion, the title track a wonderfully bottom-heavy hypnogroove with layers and washes of constantly morphing sound overtop, courtesy of what the TUM site simply labels "Haarla's different keyboards .
![](http://www.tumrecords.com/pics/011_cover.jpg)
Contact with 20th century European music may have accounted, in part, for such dynamic diversity; it is a tempting proposition to examine geographical divides when coming to terms with the TUM catalog, as its roster comprises a growing number of Americans, but the Ilmiliekki Quartet's second offering, Take It With Me, straddles the line between composition and improvisation with similarly intriguing dexterity. The stunning trumpet work of Verneri Pohjola drives the group into post-Bill Dixon territories, the space and pointillism associated with that veteran composer also evident, especially in the quietly epic "Askisto . Its achingly beautiful ballad-like refrain fragments into a huge vista of space, sparsely populated by breathily 'fluty' trumpet and vaguely non-Western percussion.
![](http://www.tumrecords.com/pics/012_cover.jpg)
Assemblage, documentation and presentation set TUM apart and the list of veterans will grow with coming releases: Billy Bang, Roscoe Mitchell, Sam Rivers and Archie Shepp being four prominent American artists to be featured. By no means only devoted to preceeding generations, Haussila promises more to come from Mikko Innanen, one of Finland's finest young saxophonists already featured on three TUM releases, and from guitarist Raoul Björkenheim, whose second album for TUM will be its next release as of this writing. It will be exciting to watch this cosmopolitan label continue to grow and thrive.
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