In 1981, young Pohjola entered the Helsinki cathedral boy choir, Cantores Minores under the direction of the German immigrant, Heinz Hofmann.
His early classical influences were Claude Debussy, Edvard Grieg and Johann Sebastian Bach, and some Finnish prominent composers, such as Aarre Merikanto.
Pohjola was introduced to the music of Art Tatum, Charlie Parker and Oscar Peterson by his father, who played his large record collection at home.
His senior recital included his first recorded adult compositions, after which he was invited to join STIM, the collecting society for songwriters, composers and music publishers of Sweden.
It was at Berklee where Pohjola met several of his performing and recording collaborators of the 1990s and 2000s, among them Jill Walsh, Johanna Grüssner, Fernando Huergo, Matt Penman, Bruno Råberg, Roberto Dani and Mick Goodrick.
Pohjola performed in the late 1990s at New York clubs Blue Note, Birdland, the Five Spot, Smalls, The Jazz Standard and Visiones.
The success of Landmark led to further cooperation with Grüssner, and the first recording of the entire catalog of the original Moomin music songbook by Tove Jansson and Erna Tauro.
His earliest vocal partners included Rigmor Gustafsson and Lisa Werlinder, and in the Boston-period Johanna Grüssner, with whom he recorded an extended release Swedish Traditional Songs (2006).
Other albums with Pohjola credited as the mixing and mastering engineer include It's About Time by Terry Clarke, Jim Hall, Joe Lovano and Greg Osby and Duende by Alvaro Is Rojas.