Sofia Laiti

[comtal]

Biography
Singer and recording artist Sofia Laiti was born in Lapland, the unique society in the northernmost arctic area of Finland. Since early childhood, she had a strong desire to use her voice to entertain. “My mother and father told me I was singing as soon as I could talk!”

As a teenager, Sofia studied classical music in the Music Conservatory at Kuopio, in the east of Finland, paying close attention to great classical vocalists. Here, she developed a solid musical foundation upon which to build her career.

With this background, Laiti evolved from classical to jazz, and made her move to Helsinki, the music capital of Finland. Throughout the 1980's, she made a significant impact there, winning major prizes and grants, with distinguished appearances at top clubs and festivals such as the Pori Jazz International.

In 1991 - reversing the trend of Scandinavian-bound jazzmen like Dexter Gordon - Sofia moved to New York, aided by a grant from the State Music Council of Finland. She has since led ensembles at such venues as Birdland, The Village Gate, Visiones, The Squire, The West End Cafι, Tavern on the Green, and the Cornelia Street Cafι, as well as at Trumpets in New Jersey, and Blues Alley in Washington, D.C.

Her debut album, “Manhattan Memories”, was recorded in New York in 1989 for Finnish Columbia Records. Saxophonist Scott Robinson, pianist Larry Ham, bassist Ray Drummond and drummer Klaus Suonsaari joined her in a program divided between compositions by Kivikataja and standards on which Sofia put her inimitable stamp.

In 1994 she released her U.S.deput recording “Inspira”, on the Midnight Sun Music label. Backed by John Hicks on piano, Craig Handy on tenor sax, Essiet Essiet on bass and Cecil Brooks III on drums, her vocalism was praised as “powerful” by Cadence and “charismatic” by Jazziz.

Sofia's 1996 album “The Midnight Sun Will Never Set” produced by Houston Person, featured Person on sax, James Weidman on piano, Essiet Essiet on bass and Mark Johnson on drums. Praising the “deep lilt of her voice” and her “dark, exotic sound” Cadence declared: “Sofia Laiti is maturing into a classic jazzpop chanteuse.”

Ms. Laiti's latest recording, “You Don't Know Me,” just released in early July 2004 was again produced by Mr. Person on the Midnight Sun Music Production label. The album features Mr. Person on sax, Larry Ham on piano, Leon Dorsey on bass, and Vince Ector on drums. The album includes not only American standards such as “I'm a Fool to Want You,” and “The Way We Were,” but also such international titles as “La Vie en Rose” and “Desafinado,” as well as a Finnish favorite, “Ranskalaiset Korot.” Willard Jenkins compares Ms. Laiti's delivery of the powerful, “If You Go Away,” to that of Marlene Dietrich “in her artistry,... sense of drama, always tasteful, never overwrought.” The album clearly demonstrates Ms. Laiti's growth as an artist. At once more intimate and more worldly, more refined and more earthy, her seductive, lightly accented voice draws you into a new musical dimension.

Asked what took so long between recordings (The Midnight Sun Will Never Set 1996 and You Don't Know Me 2004) Sofia now married with a young child, stated,” Sometimes it's good to be quiet. Even when I wasn't performing I was singing and playing piano at home. I knew I would come back when the timing was right.” The call came and she's back in the game.

While critics cite the “smokiness”, “lushness,” and sultry glow” of her voice and the “smoothness” and “elasticity” of her phrasing. Sofia herself has best captured the secret of her appeal: “I naturally use my whole heart and soul when I sing. I think an audience loves to hear it - the communication of feeling through song.”

You Don't Know Me (2004)
Midnight Sun Music Production