Pöyry became interested in jazz music at school and began studying the violin and clarinet.

The mid-1960s, he had his own quartet with pianist Eero Ojanen, bassist Teppo Hauta-aho and drummer Reino Laine.

They performed at the 1966 Pori Jazz Festival and were joined by the Norwegian-Finnish singer Pia Skaar to form a quintet.

In a 1969 interview, Bill Evans described the quartet's performance (although couldn't remember the name) at the 1969 Montreux Jazz Festival, where they won[1] as "marvelous" and "highly professional".

He also performed in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Cuba, the Soviet Union, Britain and the United States with other bands.