When the Finnish pianist Iiro Rantala debuted on ACT, Lost Heroes promptly won him Germany's two most important and prestigious jazz awards, Echo Jazz and the German Record Critics Award. By then he was hardly an unknown quantity to European audiences, having come to international attention with his Trio Töykeät, formed in 1988 and wound-up after some ten CDs in 2008 (their second CD even made it into the Finnish Top 40). During that time his bravura piano style had won him more standing ovations than most jazz musicians enjoy in a lifetime. One of the most technically accomplished pianists in jazz today, his mischievous sense of humour has always provided a lifeline for audiences to cling to as they are swept along by performances that were customarily brilliant but often stunning. Rantala makes all look so easy; he loves the grand gesture and if sometimes this did not translate so well on recordings, it missed the point that he certainly did in live performance, where the essence of what he did was fully realised. For a pianist who can play the whole history of the jazz piano as an introduction to some poor, unsuspecting standard, a journey around the influences that makes him tick is an irresistible invitation. Rantala is a big man in every sense of the word, yet the subtlety of his light touch on Bach's ‘Aria/ Goldberg Variation No. 1’ that begins his piano odyssey is remarkable. Bach proves to be the unifying element in Rantala's jazz history, with six Goldberg improvisations recurring at regular points throughout the album. Yes, providing a musical essay of his jazz history allows his eclecticism to run riot, but then there are few who can claim this to be a virtue, and from the exuberant stride of ‘Liza’ to his mysterious ‘Caravan’, where he is joined by Polish violin virtuoso Adam Baldych, or from his tongue-in-cheek solo on ‘September Song’ to a moving ‘Danny's Dream’, Rantala sweeps you on in an album that turns out to be more joyous celebration than history lesson.