Jimi Tenor
Illustration — Jimi Tenor Jimi Tenor (born Lassi O. Lehto, 1965) is a Finnish composer and a musician. His artist name is a combination of an instrument and a childhood nickname: the girls next door called him Jimi because of a likeness to Jimmy Osmond. Tenor found that irritating, but the name stuck for life.
Also recorded as Lassi O. T. Lehto,
Jimi Tenor
Gergely Csatari · IMG_8391JimiTenor · CC BY-SA 2.0
- Full name
- Lassi Osmo Tapio Lehto.
- Born
- 1965. · Lahti.
- Nationality
- Finland.
- Occupation
- composer, saxophonist, flautist, keyboardist, record producer, singer, film director and musician.
- Fields
- electronic music.
- Languages
- Finnish.
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Documentary connections
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
gnd · 1329344251 · wikidata · Q1389182 · wikipedia · Jimi Tenor
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
The documentary record
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Institutions cited
Bibliothèque nationale de France · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Complete reading chain (JSON)In this article
Music
Music
The last name comes from tenor saxophone, which is Tenor's main instrument.
Tenor started his career in Jimi Tenor & His Shamans playing industrial music. The group was inspired by the Italian futurist Luigi Russolo, Japanese drumming ensembles and industrial noise music. His band Jimi Tenor & His Shamans released its first album in 1988. Having disbanded Jimi Tenor And His Shamans, the artist embarked on a solo career in the early 1990s, recording his debut work "Sähkomies" on rudimentary equipment in a small New York apartment. The album was released in 1994 on the Finnish imprint Sähko that also issued Tenor's sophomore work "Europa" a year later, expanding on the ideas articulated on the first disc. On the back of a performance at the Love Parade in Berlin, Jimi Tenor scored his first hit with "Take Me Baby", entering the charts and signing a deal with the seminal electronic label Warp Records. Three albums were released on Warp: "Intervision" (1997), "Organism" (1999) and "Out Of Nowhere" (2000). 2003 Jimi Tenor Big Band toured around Europe playing more than 50 gigs in one stretch. Jimi Tenor has since collaborated with Umo Jazz Orchestra, Tv and Radio Orchestra of Croatia, Dachau Big Band, Metropole Orkest and with the avant-garde big band Flat Earth Society. 2011 Jimi Tenor made an album with Tony Allen called "Inspiration Information". After the release Jimi Tenor and Tony Allen toured extensively in Europe. Jimi Tenor recorded three albums for Sähkö Recordings with a Berlin based Afrobeat band named "Kabukabu": "Joystone" (2007), "4th Dimension" (2008), and "The Mystery Of Aether for Kindered Spirits" (2012). In 2009, he covered an Elektroids song for the Warp20 (Recreated) compilation album, as well as having his song "Paint the Stars" covered by Hudson Mohawke. Blending jazz, synthesizer sounds, afrobeats and drum machine dubs, Jimi Tenor created a distinctive sound often resembling free-fowing, sporadic sketches, with a touch of the absurd. As a soloist Jimi Tenor has appeared mostly as a flute player, also saxophone. Jimi Tenor does frequent guest appearances and has been featured on records of Nightmares on Wax, Malla and Dalindeo. During his years composing, he has released albums on Sähkö Recordings, Warp Records, Kitty-Yo record labels, Philophon, Bureau-B and Timmion. He has released more than 15 solo albums and collaboration albums with UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra, Tony Allen, Edward Vesala, Kabukabu, Freestyle Man, Jori Hulkkonen. Nicole Willis, Timmion Records (Soul Investigators), Maurice Fulton, Khan Of Finland, Lary 7, DJ Sotofett.
Documentary record
Jimi Tenor (born 1965) is described as a composer, musician and singer in the authority records of the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Life
Life
Tenor was born in Lahti, Finland. He has talked in multiple interviews about his childhood and ski jumping with other children as a hobby. Jimi Tenor has lived in Berlin (1990), New York (1991-1994), London (1999-2000), Barcelona (1996-1999, 2001-2004) and Helsinki (2009-).
Jimi Tenor Band =
Jimi Tenor Band =
• Selenites, Selenites!; Digital/CD/LP (2025, Bureau B)
Jimi Tenor and his Shamans
Jimi Tenor and his Shamans
• Total Capacity of 216,5 Litres; LP (1988, Euros) • Diktafon; CD/LP (1989, Poko Records) • Mekanoid; CD/LP (1990, Poko Records) • Fear of a Black Jesus; CD/LP (1992, Bad Vugum)
Solo
Solo
• Sähkömies; Digital/CD/LP (1994, Sähkö Recordings) • Europa; Digital/CD/LP (1995, Sähkö Recordings) • Intervision; Digital/CD/LP (1997, Warp) • Venera; EP/CD, (1998, Warp) • Organism; Digital/CD/LP (1999 Warp/Sire Records) • Out Of Nowhere; Digital/CD/LP (2000, Warp) • Cosmic Relief; Digital/EP, (2001, Sähkö Recordings) • Utopian Dream; Digital/CD/LP (2001, Sähkö Recordings) • Higher Planes; Digital/CD/LP (2003, Kitty-Yo) • Beyond The Stars; Digital/CD/LP (2004, Kitty-Yo) • ReComposed by Jimi Tenor; Digital/CD/LP (2006, Deutsche Grammophon) • Live in Berlin; Digital (2007, Kitty-Yo) • Saxentric; Digital/CD/LP (2016, Herakles Records) • Order of Nothingness; Digital/CD/LP (2018, Philophon) • Metamorpha; Digital (2020, BubbleTease Communications)
With Abdissa Assefa
With Abdissa Assefa
• Itetune; LP (2011, Temmikongi)
With Kabu Kabu
With Kabu Kabu
• Sunrise; EP/CD (2006, Sähkö Recordings) • Joystone; Digital/CD/LP (2007, Sähkö Recordings) • Mystery Spot; 7" (2008, Sahco Records) • 4th Dimension; Digital/CD/LP (2009, Sähkö Recordings) • Mystery of Aether; Digital/CD/LP (2012, Kindred Spirits)
With Tony Allen
With Tony Allen
• Inspiration Information Volume 4; Digital/CD/LP (2009, Strut Records) • OTO Live Party; Digital/CD/LP (2018, Moog Recordings Library)
With Lary 7, Mia Teodoratus; Soft Focus
With Lary 7, Mia Teodoratus; Soft Focus
• Soft Focus; Digital/LP (2013, Sähkö Recordings)
With Nicole Willis; Cola & Jimmu
With Nicole Willis; Cola & Jimmu
• Soul Makeover; as Nicole Willis, Digital/CD/LP (2000, Sähkö Recordings/Puu) • Be It; as Nicole Willis, Digital/CD/LP (2004, Sähkö Recordings/Puu) • Enigmatic; as Cola & Jimmu, Digital/CD/LP (2013, Herakles Records) • I Give To You My Love And Devotion; as Cola & Jimmu, Digital/CD/LP (2014, Herakles Records) • My Name Is Nicole Willis; as Nicole Willis & UMO Jazz Orchestra, Digital/CD/LP (2017, Persephone Records)
With Nicole Willis & The Soul Investigators (As also Jimmy Tenor)
With Nicole Willis & The Soul Investigators (As also Jimmy Tenor)
• You Better Change/Raw Steaks; 7" (2003, Sahco Records) • If This Ain't Love (Don't Know What Is)/Instrumental; 7"/Maxi/WL/CD (2005/2007, Timmion Records/Above The Clouds/Differ-Ant) • Keep Reachin' Up; Digital/CD/LP/Cass (2005/2006/2007/2008, Timmion Records/Mit-Wit Records/P-Vine Records/Light In The Attic/Above The Clouds/Differ-Ant) • My Four Leaf Clover/Holdin' On; 7" (2006, Timmion Records) • Feeling Free/Instrumental; 7" (2006/2007, Timmion Records/Above The Clouds) • Tell Me When/It's All Because Of You; 7" (2013, Timmion Records) • Tortured Soul; Digital/CD/LP (2013, Timmion Records/P-Vine Records) • Paint Me In A Corner/Where Are You Now; 7" (2015, Timmion Records) • Happiness In Every Style; Digital/CD/LP (2015, Timmion Records) • One In A Million/Instrumental; Digital/7" (2015, Timmion Records) • Let's Communicate/Instrumental; 7" (2015, Timmion Records)
With Nicole Willis featuring Tony Allen
With Nicole Willis featuring Tony Allen
• All For You/Touching; 7" (2015, Sahco Records)
With Myron & E with The Soul Investigators
With Myron & E with The Soul Investigators
• Broadway; Digital/CD/LP (2013, Timmion Records)
With The Soul Investigators
With The Soul Investigators
• Vulture's Prayer/Bad Viberations; 7" (2015, Timmion Records) • Soul Groove; Digital/CD/LP (2015, Timmion Records)
With UMO Jazz Orchestra
With UMO Jazz Orchestra
• Mysterium Magnum; Digital/CD/LP (2015, Herakles Records) • My Name Is Nicole Willis; Digital/CD/LP (2017, Persephone Records)
With Tapani Rinne
With Tapani Rinne
• Suburban Sax; Digital/CD (1991, no label)
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
2000
Jimi Tenor - Live At Tavastia Club, Helsinki 21-12-2000 digitised by Internet Archive.
2000
Jimi Tenor - Live At Tavastia Club, Helsinki 21-12-2000 (2000) is digitised and catalogued by Internet Archive.
Films
Jimi Tenor has filmed a science fiction film Nuntius with Jori Hulkkonen. As Tenor and Hulkkonen constantly change the script, it can only be seen as a live performance, since Hulkkonen and Tenor play the soundtrack live. In "Sähkö the Movie", Jimi Tenor documented the early era of Sähkö records, Ilpo Väisänen, Keith McIvor (aka JD Twitch), Tommi Grönlund (founder of Sähkö records), and Mika Vainio.
Documentary record
Jimi Tenor was born in 1965.
Discography
=
Primary material
Documents and archives
authority file
- Gemeinsame Normdatei 1329344251, Aulos (Zusammenstellung, Jimi Tenor).
General reference · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
- VIAF cluster 29729726 for Jimi Tenor, aggregating national library name authorities.
General reference · OCLC
Institutional database
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q1389182: Jimi Tenor
Scholarly · Wikimedia Foundation
reference work
- “Jimi Tenor”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
With Willie West & The High Society Brothers
• Lost Soul; Digital/CD/LP (2014, Timmion Records)
References ==== External links
References ==== External links
• – official site * • Jimi Tenor & His Shamans fanpage (archive)
Helsinki
deepskyobject
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Jimi Tenor, revision 1352564563 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.jimi tenor : tenorvision : bio. www.jimitenor.com.
- 2.Walters, John L. Jimi Tenor, Jazz Cafe, London. The Guardian. 21 September 2004. 0261-3077.
- 3.Spencer, Neil. Pop: Jimi Tenor. The Observer. 24 September 2000. 0029-7712.
- 4.Walters, John L. Reviews; Jimi Tenor. The Guardian. 19 September 2000. 0261-3077.
- 5.Clarke, Betty. Jimi Tenor Big Band, Jazz Cafe, London. The Guardian. 17 March 2003. 0261-3077.
- 6.As Jimi tells Gilles Peterson in BBC Radio 6 Music
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
Institutional database
Wikidata, structured authority record Q1389182: Jimi TenorWikimedia Foundation
Institutional witnessauthority file
Gemeinsame Normdatei 1329344251, Aulos (Zusammenstellung, Jimi Tenor).Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Secondary witnessauthority file
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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