Tapani Rinne (born February 2, 1962) is a Finnish musician, composer, record producer and sound designer, who is known for his experimental and innovative style with the clarinet and saxophone.
[1] Rinne is most widely recognized as the foreman of the pioneering Finnish electro jazz group RinneRadio, but he has an established solo career with several albums of his own, too.
His eccentric mix of trad jazz, fragile ambient soundscapes and hard-driving techno, hip hop and drum’n’bass beats in the group RinneRadio has paved the way to stardom both nationally and internationally.”[4] Tapani Rinne has been an avid student of clarinets and saxophones since the age of eight.
He started his musical career in the sax section of the Pori Big Band in 1974 and studied clarinet at the prestigious Sibelius Academy in Helsinki between 1981 and 1986.
Musically they are all ambient-based, while the fourth Radioton album from 2019 was described as a dive directly into the deep layers of minimal ambient creating a breathlike soothing soundscape brainstorming with only a bass clarinet and effect pedals.
[8] The reputation of RinneRadio as something radically new was cemented with the albums Dance and Visions (1990), Joik (1992), Unik (1994) and Rok (1996) pushing the ever-evolving group into fervent exploration of new soundscapes beyond jazz, drum & bass, ambient and techno.
The trio does not perform concerts in the traditional form as their rare appearances are about composing new chill hop sounds while simultaneously creating a work of art.
In the early days of his career he collaborated with respected jazz musicians such as Edward Vesala and Raoul Björkenheim with guest appearances on each other's albums.
[23] Collaborations with Finnish multi-instrumentalist and percussionist Teho Majamäki led Tapani Rinne to record experimental albums Inside the Temple in 2012 and Under The Ground in 2015.
The first one was recorded inside holy places in India, and the latter in the newly blasted rock tunnels of the railroad built to connect the center of Helsinki to the Vantaa airport.
[24] In 2020, Tapani Rinne collaborated with Helsinki-based electronic music artist Aleksi Myllykoski by playing saxophone on the minimalist, melancholic and introspective album Dark Days.
[26] Using the alias TR, Tapani Rinne has collaborated with popular Finnish EDM artist Janji on several tracks, such as “Milky Way Stars” in 2014, which has garnered millions of listens on various stream services.
[27] With RinneRadio, Tapani Rinne has collaborated with several artists, including Pan Sonic’s synthetist Mika Vainio and world renowned dance producers such as Jaakko “JS16” Salovaara and Jori Hulkkonen.
[28] In the 1980s, Tapani Rinne played tenor saxophone in the Finnish band The Bullworkers, which fused many elements from rock to rhythm & blues, jazz and popular music, for some years until founding and focusing on RinneRadio.
[35] Rinne also composed music for the Finnish documentary film Angel of the North, which premiered in 2017 and was directed by the French director Jean Michel Roux.
[38] Wimme & Rinne and RinneRadio were responsible for compositions in the experimental short film Eatnanvuloš lottit (Maan sisällä linnut) by Finnish-Sámi director Marja Helander in 2017.
[53] RinneRadio played live music as the guest stars when Helsinki-based Dance Theater Hurjaruuth performed their Winter Circus show of 2006 in Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, Italy.
[54] As a sound designer, Tapani Rinne has composed ambient soundscapes based on live instrumentation, many times in collaboration with Tuomas Norvio, for radio plays and programs of Finnish Broadcast Company YLE.
[55] One of these plays directed by Huhtamäki, Hänen täytyy olla erilainen – Balladi Hallin Jannesta, was announced as the winner in Prix Italia Awards in 2011 for the overall quality among radio documentaries.
One of these was the environmental art installation with Pia Ilonen, Ilkka Paloniemi and Annina Holmberg titled Kuiskausten puutarha in January 2000 in the Sinebrychoff park in Helsinki.