The Q-Continuum is a funk band, which earned their fame in the 2000’s and fused elements from soul, jazz and hip hop. It was founded around the neo soul-based Quintessence in 2002 and viewed by many as the funkier and groovier variation of it, which could be heard for example as strong p-funk influences in their songs. Both outfits were actively building the present foundation of the Finnish soul-funk-jazz scene and they preceded the bigger success the band members later achieved as solo artists and as part of other lineups.
In the the core of the orchestra you can find the production duo Nestor, which consists of singer and keyboard player Tuomo “Organ Kane” Prättälä and guitarist Aki Haarala, as well as bassist Heikki Laine and drummer Mikko Kaakkuriniemi, who are all members of the Quintessence. On their records and live shows they have been often accompanied by musicians such as trumpetist Verneri Pohjola, trombonist Ilmari Pohjola and singer Emma Salokoski as well as on their latest This Is The Marienhof (2006) album by the vocalists Tommy “Father Metro” Lindgren (Don Johnson Big Band), Paleface, Puppa J and Axl Smith all the way up to a 15-member lineup.
The original idea was to publish only a couple of EP releases, the first one being Organ Kane presents: The Quintessential Grooves Vol. 1 issued in 2003. However, soon there was such an amount of material that already the next year the band extended the recording into a new double album Organ Kane’s Quintessential Grooves. Although the more commercially biased Marienhof album sold more in units and reached the official Finnish album sale charts, their debut is often respected in the local scene as their most remarkable achievement and recognized as one of the modern Finnish groove classics. Love in Fashion EP, issued in 2005, was basically only a selection of a few songs on the album in order to be released on vinyl.
The Q-Continuum reactivated after a long hiatus, when Royal Mint and Texicalli Records released their brand new single “All Night Long” in 2017. The band has also occasionally performed live since that.
Text: Joonas Kervinen / Funky Finland
Photos: Sami Mannerheimo
