Kalle Kaartinen

Kaarlo Uolevi Kaartinen was born in Helsinki on 5 September 1930. His interest in music began at home, where his father played the mandolin, and in 1947 his mother bought him his first clarinet. Inspired by the swing of Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw, he studied classical technique with the Italian born teacher Cosimo Sgobba in Töölö and later at the Sibelius Academy and the Helsinki Conservatory.

During national service with the signals regiment at Riihimäki he played with fellow conscripts including the accordionist Veikko Ahvenainen. After returning to civilian life he worked for a time at Professor Vilho Väisälä's radiosonde company and studied engineering, but music won out.

Kaartinen's first professional engagement was with Åke Sjöblom's band. He moved through Kalevi Hart's band to Erik Lindström's orchestra, where he switched from clarinet to tenor saxophone, playing a Selmer instrument ordered from France that he kept for the rest of his career. He went on to play in Jorma Weneskoski's quartet and in the bands of Jaakko Salo, Lasse Liemola, Erkki Ertama, Olavi Virta and Raimo Virtanen.

He then moved into film and advertising, first at Finlandia Kuva and then at Pekka Kotkavuori's Filmitalo Oy, where he was production manager and conductor. He later ran his own company, Cinevox, until 1990. Known as "Jingle-Charles", he said he had written music for around 500 to 600 commercials from the 1960s to the 1990s, including "Ajatar on Forumissa" and "Suomen suosituin riisi on Risella". He also voiced advertising slogans with his low voice, such as "Raid tappaa talossa ja puutarhassa". Two of his compositions reached the leading places in Finnish Eurovision selections.

After giving up business in 1990 he built a home studio, arranged music for short films and returned to performing, appearing regularly at jam sessions.

Kaartinen lived in Helsinki. He was remembered by colleagues for his humour and sense of style, and he described his youthful clarinet playing as the cornerstone of his life, bringing him both memorable work and lifelong friends in music. Few other details of his private life were made public.

Kalle Kaartinen died in Helsinki on 5 November 2026, aged 96. His death was reported by the Finnish jazz magazine Jazzrytmit on 6 November 2026. No cause of death was made public, and no funeral details had been published at the time of writing.

Kaartinen is remembered both as a respected jazz reedman of Finland's postwar dance band and jazz era and as a pioneer of Finnish advertising music, whose jingles became part of everyday life for several generations. In 2003 he received the Finnish Jazz Legend award, number five in the series, at the Imatra Big Band Festival.