Trumpet player and composer Verneri Pohjola is one of the most distinguished musicians in the vibrant scene of Finnish jazz. He first became known as a member of a hip club soul band Quintessence and Ilmiliekki Quartet that won numerous awards including the prestigious Teosto Award for original compositions on their debut ‘March of The Alpha Males’ (2003, TUM Records) and the first place in the Young Nordic Jazz Comets ensemble competition.
Pohjola quickly became well established in Finland and received the Pori Jazz Musician of the Year Award in 2004. In 2017 he was awarded the Yrjö Award, the highest national jazz award in Finland. He has been working with international musicians such as Anthony Braxton, Jeff Ballard, Anders Jormin, Sylvain Rifflet, Pablo Held, Pascal Schumacher, Stefan Pasborg and others.
His solo debut album ‘Aurora’ was released in 2009 (Texicalli Records) and re-released internationally in 2011 by ACT. The album received a lot of excellent press reviews both nationally and internationally. His second international album Ancient History (2012, ACT) also received excellent press coverage internationally. Pohjola was signed to his current recording contract in 2014 with UK based Edition Records and his album Bullhorn was released in 2015. Bullhorn gained a lot of brilliant recognition among both critics and audiences and was rewarded as the Best Jazz Album of the Year in Finnish Emma Gala.
His further releases on Edition records include Pekka, an album that features the music of his late father, legendary bass guitar virtuoso Pekka Pohjola, and Animal Image, a duo effort of Pohjola and drummer Mika Kallio. His most recent album The Dead Don’t Dream was released in May 2020.
Verneri has recorded three albums for Eclipse Music thus far. Two of those are with Pauli Lyytinen Magnetia Orkesteri (I in 2017 and Hypnosis in 2020) and one with the Finnish jazz supergroup Mortality in 2019.