Born in Helsinki Finland on January 19, 1970, Iiro Rantala is a jazz and classical pianist who has been involved with numerous acts including Trio Töykeät, Big Bad Family, SaloRantala Soi, and others. He studied at the conservatory in 1983 and specialized in pop and jazz. At the same time, he took private lessons from Seppo Kantonen. He composed music for the group Ikivirheät while performing in the Big Bad Family orchestra, who released their self-titled debut album in 1988. That same year, he began attending the Sibelius Academy and formed the Trio Töykeät. Rantala and the trio toured Europe, won awards in Belgium, and released their debut album Päivää in 1990. Following a stint at Manhattan School of New York in 1990, Rantala studied classical piano for three years and formed the group Tango Kings with accordionist GIl Goldstein. He continued working with Trio Tökeät while also recording with the Tapiola Sinfonietta (2006’s Concerto for Piano and Concerto in G♯ΔA♭), the Iiro Rantala New Trio (2008’s Elmo), and others. He also recorded a string of solo albums including Lost Heroes (2011), My History of Jazz (2012) and the John Lennon-inspired My Working Class Hero (2015). He worked with Pekka Kuusisto, Jukka Perko, Michael Wollny, Leszek Mozdzer and others. More releases included How Long Is Now? (2016) with Lars Danielsson and Peter Erskine, Good Stuff (2017), My Finnish Calendar (2019) and Playing Gershwin (2020).
