Born in Kotka, Finland, in 1975, Rissanen was playing piano at six, and the euphonium by the age of nine. He took up the trombone at 14 and at 16 was admitted to the Sibelius Academy classical piano and jazz music courses. His most recent award is his Jazz trombonist Diploma, which he received along with his silver trombone from this teacher, Jiggs Whigham, the at the Hanns Eisler Collage of Music. In 1996-97 he lived and worked in germany as a sub and copyist for the RIAS Big Band, cinducted by Whigham. He worked with, among others, Beat'n' Blow, Mark Goldsbury, Thomas Holm, Jim Mcneely, Palle Mikkelborg and Jeanfrancois Prins. He has performed at many major festivals, mostly in Finland. As a composer, he won the second prize at the Hessischer Rundfunk's Open Big Band Composer's Contest in 1996, and as a trombonist he won the Frank Rosolino Scholarship Competition 1998.
(1999)