Jukka Haavisto

Juhani "Jukka" Haavisto (born June 5, 1930, Alajärvi, Finland) is a Finnish musician with the honorary title of music councilor. He has also worked as an entrepreneur in advertising business from 1959 to the 1990s, when he retired. However, he is perhaps best known for his work as a songwriter and for having played the vibraphone and the accordion in numerous bands.

Jukka Haavisto passed the matriculation exams in Kauhava in 1948 and studied to become a teacher, graduating from the Jyväskylä Pedagogical Institute in 1956. He worked in the advertising agency SEK from 1959 to 1968, in the end as the person in charge of liaisons. After that he worked in the advertising agency Artifex as the vice-CEO until 1978. He founded his own advertising agency PRAX in 1975, and worked there in the capacity of CEO and chairman.

Haavisto was one of the founders of the Association for the Promotion of Finnish Popular Music in 1994. He acted as its director until 2004. The association launched a virtual museum (www.pomus.net) in the internet in December of that year.

Haavisto has received the following awards and prizes for his services to Finnish jazz and popular music:

• 1995 The Andania Prize of Jazz Finland
• 1995 The Louis Armstrong Award of Classic Jazz Association (Finland)
• 2000 Prix ELVIS of the Elvis Association (Finland)
• 2007 honorary title of music councilor
• 2010 Archive feat of the year for groundbreaking work for the national heritage in the fields of jazz and popular music

Haavisto’s sons Janne and Olli are well-known musicians in Finland and even internationally. Janne has played in J. Karjalainen & Mustat Lasit, Laika & The Cosmonauts, and Olli has played in J. Karjalainen & Mustat Lasit, Freud Marx Engels & Jung and with Mikko Kuustonen and Tuomari Nurmio. His daughter Susanna Haavisto is a singer and an actress.

• Carmen (1945–1949)
• JH quintet (1950–1951)
• Martti Nummi sextet (1952)
• Pihlajamaan Pelimannit (1952–1953)
• LL quintet (1954–1955)
• Jorma Weneskoski orchestra (1956–1962)
• Happy Swing Band (1978–)
• Haavisto Swingers (1990–)
• Western Swingers (1998–)