# Kaj Backlund

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Kaj_Backlund
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Kaj_Backlund.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaj_Backlund
> Source revision: 1348092058
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

**Harry Kaj Olof Backlund** (24 February 1945 – 25 December 2013[1]) was a Finnish [jazz](/source/Jazz) trumpeter, [composer](/source/Composer), [arranger](/source/Arranger), [bandleader](/source/Bandleader), [theorist](/source/Theorist), and one of the founders of the [Helsinki](/source/Helsinki) Pop & Jazz [Conservatory](/source/Music_school) and the Jazz Department of [Sibelius Academy](/source/Sibelius_Academy). He was also one of the founding members of [UMO Jazz Orchestra](/source/UMO_Jazz_Orchestra). He was a contemporary music education pioneer in Finland and a long-running senior [music theory](/source/Music_theory) teacher in [Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences](/source/Helsinki_Metropolia_University_of_Applied_Sciences).

Backlund started playing [trumpet](/source/Trumpet) at the age of seven in a youth brass band led by his father, at the Church of Paavali in Helsinki. At 14 years of age, he founded his first big band, which also included Paroni Paakkunainen, [Teppo Hauta-aho](/source/Teppo_Hauta-aho), Eero Ojanen, [Pekka Pöyry](/source/Pekka_P%C3%B6yry), and [Juhani Aaltonen](/source/Juhani_Aaltonen). Later, Backlund had to take a day job as an assistant accountant, but was able to participate in the [Jyväskylä Arts Festival](/source/Jyv%C3%A4skyl%C3%A4_Arts_Festival) in 1966 and 1967, where [George Russell](/source/George_Russell_(composer)) was teaching. He started to get work opportunities as a [session musician](/source/Session_musician) from [Yle](/source/Yle) Radio Dance Orchestra and UMO Jazz Orchestra.

In the beginning of the 1970s, Backlund started to arrange [Toivo Kärki](/source/Toivo_K%C3%A4rki)'s songs. Backlund helped found the Oulunkylä Pop & Jazz school (later Helsinki Pop & Jazz Conservatory) and planned the first [curriculum](/source/Curriculum) of the Sibelius Academy Jazz Department.

Kaj Backlund's sons Jari, [Jukka](/source/Jukka_Backlund), and Tapio are all musicians.

## Selected discography

**As composer and arranger**[2]

- Pori Big Band – *Pori Big Band* (1974)
- UMO – *Our Latin Friends* (1976)
- Studio Big Band – *No Comments – Finnish Big Band Jazz* (1977)
- Kulttis Workshop – *Kulttis Workshop* (1988)
- Various artists – *Julkaisemattomat vol. 8* (2001)

**As trumpeter**

- UMO, Thad Jones, and Mel Lewis – *[Thad Jones, Mel Lewis and UMO](/source/Thad_Jones,_Mel_Lewis_and_UMO)* (1977)
- [Eero Koivistoinen](/source/Eero_Koivistoinen) – *Wahoo!* (1973)
- [Edward Vesala](/source/Edward_Vesala) – *[Nan Madol](/source/Nan_Madol_(album))* (1974)
- [Heikki Sarmanto](/source/Heikki_Sarmanto) – *Everything Is It* (1972)

## Bibliography

- *Improvisointi Pop/Jazz-musiikissa*. Helsinki: Musiikki Fazer 1983. ISBN 951-757-108-9

## References

1. ["Trumpetisti kehitti jazzin opetusta - jazz - Ihmiset - Helsingin Sanomat"](http://www.hs.fi/ihmiset/Trumpetisti+kehitti+jazzin+opetusta/a1389244575031) [The trumpeter who developed jazz instruction] (in Finnish). *hs.fi*. 10 January 2014. Retrieved 10 April 2014.

1. ["Kaj Backlund Discography at Discogs"](http://www.discogs.com/artist/310374-Kaj-Backlund). Discogs.com. Retrieved 10 April 2014.

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Kaj Backlund](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaj_Backlund) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaj_Backlund?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.