Blues Section (1967 - 1968)
Blues Section was a pioneering band in Finnish rock music who, during their brief career, managed to leave behind them a lasting legacy, not only with some memorable tunes of their own but also paving way for the future, when more bands and musicians, even a whole music scene, followed in their footsteps.
The band was started in spring 1967 by guitarist Hasse Walli (1948-) and bassist Måns Groundstroem (1949-). Blues Section took their initial cues from John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers and Jimi Hendrix whose May 1967 concert in Helsinki had astonished also local musicians.
Blues Section found an inspired vocalist-songwriter from the British expat Jim Pembroke (1946-2021), formerly of The Pems. For Blues Section's first line-up, drums were played by Edward Vesala. He was replaced by Raimo "Raikka" Rautarinne, before the band finally settled themselves in for Ronnie Österberg (1948-1980). The up-and-coming saxophonist Eero Koivistoinen (1946-) added jazzy flavour to Blues Section’s musical arsenal.
Helsinki’s record label Love Records, founded by Christian Schwindt, Atte Blom and Otto Donner, represented a totally new and progressive way of thinking in Finnish music. Blues Section became their first major act. Love Records’ house producer/jazz musician/composer Otto Donner would greatly influence the band with his vast musical knowledge.
Blues Section soon became Finland’s biggest band, also doing gigs in Sweden, where they played among all at Stockholm's legendary clubs Filips and Gyllene Cirkeln. Blues Section's live sets had loud amplifiers and smoke bombs, and featured songs from Hendrix, The Bluesbreakers, Cream and The Yardbirds. Unlike most of their peers in Finnish commercial pop scene, Blues Section also wrote their own material.
Blues Section also did some film songs (for the directors Risto Jarva, Jaakko Pakkasvirta and Timo Bergholm) to Otto Donner’s or Eero Ojanen’s compositions, with such vocalists as Kirka Babitzin or Pepe Willberg. Love Records briefly (but in the end unsuccessfully) had plans to turn Ronnie Österberg, “the band’s pretty face”, into a pop star in his own right, so Blues Section also provided music for Ronnie’s two solo singles.
Obviously, the frenetic pace of gigging and recordings started to take its toll on Blues Section because their first album was also to remain their only actual LP. The rest (e.g. Some of Love and Blues Section 2) are merely compilations featuring non-album singles, film songs and one-off tracks, all from 1967-68.
In spring 1968 Måns Groundstroem left the band in order to concentrate on his studies. He was replaced by jazz bassist Pekka Sarmanto (1945-).
The 7” single Semi-Circle Solitude b/w Cherry Cup-Cake Twist (Love Records LRS 1014) was released in September 1968. Backing vocals were provided by Sinikka Sokka, later of Agit Prop. Both songs were featured on Jaakko Pakkasvirta’s 1969 short documentary film Eläköön nuoruus! (“Long Live Youth!”), commissioned by Postipankki bank group, featuring Blues Section’s live performances, the “happening” style of audience participation and fictional “behind-the-scenes” dialogue from the band members.
Then it was Jim Pembroke’s time to leave Blues Section. Another British expat, Frank Robson (1946-2024), formerly of Mosaic, took Pembroke’s place as a singer. The next Love Records 7” single, Faye b/w Sun of Love featured Robson’s vocals. It seemed Blues Section would soldier on, but the rest of the band members also had too much on their plate.
Eero Koivistoinen was in high demand as a jazz musician and was to release his excellent Valtakunta ("Kingdom") solo album (with Walli, Österberg and Pekka Sarmanto among the players) in December 1968, and he had already left the band in the summer of that year. Also Pekka Sarmanto had to serve his obligatory time as a conscript in Finnish Army.
Blues Section finally split in autumn 1968. After the official split, though, Blues Section was briefly reunited, for the gig filmed for Pakkasvirta's Eläköön nuoruus!, on the 23rd of September, 1968, at Helsinki International Student Club, that was located at Lönnrotinkatu 29. There was also one more gig at Helsinki's N-Club, 25 September, 1968.
It can be argued that Wigwam, a new band started by Ronnie Österberg and joined by Jim Pembroke a bit later, took up where Blues Section left off. At the same time another big name in Finnish progressive rock, Tasavallan Presidentti, was starting out with the former Blues Section members, Måns Groundstroem and Frank Robson. (Eventually Groundstroem would join Wigwam’s mid-1970s line-up.) Hasse Walli later played with the folk-prog ensemble Piirpauke. Eero Koivistoinen and Pekka Sarmanto are both now well-established names in Finnish jazz.
Three Blues Section reunion gigs were seen in 1996, with the line-up of Pembroke, Groundstroem, Robson, Walli, Koivistoinen, and Vesa Aaltonen on drums.
Blues Section @ Wigwam page
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