Jaakko "Jaska" Heinonen from Lahti was one of the founding members (like
famous finnish blues personality Pepe Ahlqvist) of Chicago Overcoat -
a band which was in the middle of the finnish blues boom in the late
70's and early 80's. Chicago Overcoat albums Chicago Overcoat (1978) and
Eyesight To the Blind (1979) were also quite popular in Sweden among
Chicago Blues enthuastics.

Heinonens reputation in Scandinavia and Europe is based on his lead guitar
work in J.Leino & Blues Guys. "Blues Skies" (1991),"Don't Hesitate" (1997) and "From Now On..." (2001) were strong blues records and based on these albums J.Leino & Blues Guys got some cult following especially in Norway and Sweden. There is also one tune - Fenton Robinson's "I Hear some Blues Downstairs" -  on SBA's cd "All that blues from Sweden". Not bad for a finnish band!

Norwegian Bluesguru Geir Hovig and Swedish Blues Master Sven Zetterberg are both fans of the band.  Jaakko Heinonen wrote several new bluessongs for the "From Now On..." cd and that gave him confidence to try his own solo career. And that is what is happening right now.

Jaakko Heinonen has got a specially hand-picked band which consists of his old friend guitarist Jonne Kulluvaara from the Blues Guys and a tough & experienced rhythm section from Helsinki. Bassplayer Käpy Parviainen and drummer Tapo Leppänen have played together for decades. The band performs both Jaska Heinonen's original material as well as some covers by
bluesmen like Albert and B.B. King. But irrespective of which songs Jaakko Heinonen performs, his sophisticated West Side guitar will make the songs his own. It´s the Sound of the West Side - Finnish Style. Listen to All I Can Hear above and enjoy!

Jaakko Heinonen Band on Myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/jaakkoheinonenband