Alexi Tuomarila is to return for three dates in November following on from the release of the pianist’s latest album Seven Hills in April. The Finnish pianist, who measures the angles of his solos as accurately as a surveyor with a theodolite might is also well known in Belgium having studied and lived there and where his wider reputation gained ground, has had his ups and downs, though, as a fickle major label built him up and knocked him down in his early days before Tomasz Stańko, a great appreciator of piano talent, brought him into the fold to record Dark Eyes in 2009.

Seven Hills, relating in its title to Lisbon, not the more obvious Rome, is increasingly, as the album develops, imbued with the spirit of Bill Evans, and it’s a feeling that grows and grows like a rhapsody. With Tuomarila on the record are bassist Mats Eilertsen who’s also a member of Tord Gustavsen’s ensemble, and ex-Stańko drummer Olavi Louhivuori (Oddarrang), plus Lisbon-born guitarist André Fernandes, who’s not touring, on a couple of tracks. The dates are Turner Sims, Southampton on 19 November, Four Bars, Cardiff on 20 November, and London Jazz Festival at the Pizza Express Jazz Club, Soho, on 21 November.

Alexi Tuomarila, above Photo: Edition