Juhani Antero Aaltonen, born on December 12, 1935, in Kouvola, Finland, is a Finnish jazz saxophonist and flautist. He began his professional career at the end of the 1950s, playing in a sextet led by Heikki Rosendahl. Aaltonen studied flute performance at the Sibelius Academy and Berklee College of Music. Returning to Finland, he settled in Helsinki and worked as a session musician. In the late 1960s, he formed a duo with Edward Vesala and played with Tasavallan Presidentti for their first album Tasavallan Presidentti. Aaltonen's debut solo album Etiquette was released in 1974. He joined the New Music Orchestra in 1975 and collaborated with notable artists such as Thad Jones, Mel Lewis, Arild Andersen, and Peter Brötzmann throughout the 1970s and 1980s. In 1983, he rejoined Tasavallan Presidentti for recording and touring. Aaltonen's album Mother Tongue, released in 2003, subsequently won a Jazz-Emma in Finland in 2004.
