Teppo Hauta-aho was a past master at creating colourful and player-friendly pizzicato pieces for players of all ages and abilities.

Kampi & Kompi, composed in 1996 and revised in 2000, are two contrasting pieces which are lively and rhythmic with a jazz feel and drive.

Two Pieces for TDR, composed in 1995/96 and dedicated to Thierry Dominique Roggen are in Latin-Jazz and Swing styles. Aimed at the progressing bassist and remaining in bass clef throughout, these would be ideal teaching and also recital pieces for the young bassist.

Two for Ray is dedicated to the memory of the jazz legend Ray Brown and was composed in 2003. Two short pieces, lasting less than a minute each, contrast jazz and contemporary styles in music which would be suitable for any audience or occasion.

Pizz-Aria 1 (1996) is an extended rhapsody full of melodic and lyrical charm alongside effective musical and technical challenges. Using more than a two octave range, with the occasional opportunity for improvisation, this is an exciting piece with rhythmic energy and drive contrasting a slower introduction and brief but effective coda.

Reviews:

“These are fine performance pieces which allow the play to explore many possibilities of pizzicato playing while advancing their technique in this area. They are suitable for all but the most elementary levels and their varying lengths enable them to slot neatly into most programmes.” [Double Bassist]

“This set of advanced concert studies moves on from Teppo’s first collection of pizzicato pieces, and contains many more technical challenges. Of the four titles within, half have two separable movements, thus giving six possible performance pieces. Some are explorations in improvisatory style; others in developing rhythmic patterns. Some are jazz-based (two being dedicated to the late Ray Brown). The set concludes with an extended etude using many double stops. In some ways Pizzicato Pieces 2, although harder overall, complements the first volume by providing a wealth of material to support the learning and performance of advanced pizzicato technique.” [ESTA News & Views]

Finnish composer and bassist Teppo Hauta-aho was the most prolific bass composer of our time and since the 1970s composed almost 300 works for double bass – spanning the entire range of standards from beginner to virtuoso.

Teppo Hauta-aho was born in 1941 and studied double bass with Orvo Hyle and Oiva Nummelin in Finland, and František Pošta in Prague. He played with the Helsinki Philharmonic between 1965 and 1972, and the Finnish Opera Orchestra from 1975 to 2000. He was an active recitalist, both classical and jazz, gave more than 300 recitals with his duo partner, Carita Holmström, and was at the cutting edge of modern improvisation – performing with leading improvisers throughout the world.

Finnish composer Harry Wessman writes: “As a composer, Teppo Hauta-aho has always been his own teacher, basing his technical knowledge on his wide practical musicianship as an orchestral player, chamber and jazz musician. It would not be an exaggeration to claim that he was the jazz bassist most in demand in Finland in the 1970s, and a few of his works are pure jazz compositions. But the compositional techniques and musical means used in the majority of his works originate in an unusual openness for any devices. Along with modern techniques, his source of inspiration includes all the previous stylistic periods in European music, impulses from Oriental music and, of course, jazz. His own instrument, the double bass, has profited especially from his rich inventiveness in finding new means to conjure forth unusual sounds from the instrument, and in applying them in an artistically meaningful and striking way.”

Hauta-aho’s music has been performed extensively in Finland and abroad, notably in America, Britain, Germany, France, Czech Republic, Soviet Union, Australia and Switzerland. His most famous work Kadenza (1978) has achieved cult-like status, is recognised universally as a 20th-century classic, and is the most performed contemporary work for double bass.

Teppo Hauta-aho died in Helsinki on 27 November 2021 at the age of 80.