Finland-based pianist Mika Pohjola and New York City percussionist Kyle Struve perform a concert of traditional and modern music. Hear why Finnish jazz has plenty of design.

Mika Pohjola is a Finnish-born jazz pianist and composer, who resides in Stockholm, Sweden. He lived and worked in New York City from 1995 to 2012, and produced about thirty albums and toured with his ensembles in Europe, Americas and Japan. He has played with Miguel Zenón, Chris Cheek, Rigmor Gustafsson, Antonio Sanchez, Jeff Ballard, Fernando Huergo, Ben Monder and several others. He is one of the most prolific Scandinavian jazz musicians in his generation. Pohjola is also a Steinway & Sons distinguished artist since 1997 and a Major Visiting Artist at Berklee College of Music since 2006. He now teaches at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and runs a record label, BlueMusicGroup.com, for which he also works as a mastering engineer.

Kyle Struve is a jazz drummer and percussionist based in Brooklyn, NY. After graduating from Lawrence University in 2001 with a degree in Percussion Performance, he moved to NYC to study with John Riley at the Manhattan School of Music. While completing a Master’s Degree in Jazz Studies, Struve began freelancing on the straight ahead and original music scenes, performing with Marcus Strickland, Walter Blanding Jr., Jaleel Shaw, Dave Binney, and others. He also performed and recorded with the Brooklyn indie band Heavy Rescue. Since 2012, he has played field drum and drumset with the indoor/outdoor street band Asphalt Orchestra. He is also in collaboration with his wife, photographer and multimedia artist Elizabeth Leitzell, on a series of short videos. Subjects include the process of hiking a drumset up a small mountain for an improvised performance, and the recording of a multitrack piece based around a homemade marimba constructed from 2x4 boards.