No less a jazz-fusion deity than Mahavishnu Orchestra leader/Miles Davis sideman John McLaughlin has praised Finnish jazz guitarist Olli Hirvonen, so you know he’s the real deal. The Brooklyn-based Hirvonen—who won the Montreux Jazz Guitar Competition in 2016—plays in a style reminiscent of another Scandinavian fusionist: Norway’s excellent Terje Rypdal. Hirvonen’s tone ranges from icy pointillism to dense clangor, with his fleet fingers finessing rococo filigrees in elegant compositions that will dazzle fans of forward-thinking jazz and prog rock. His virtuosity urges along songs with surprising swerves and thrusts, as exemplified by the 2019 album Displace. by Dave Segal