Aili Ikonen & Tribute to Ella is a sextet paying homage to one of the greatest vocal stylists and improvisers of all time, Ella Fitzgerald, and to the songs she loved.

The group’s debut album, Aili Ikonen & Tribute to Ella, is the first album in Finnish jazz history whose focus is solely on the music popularised by ”The First Lady of Jazz”. The recording, released in April 2013, met with critical acclaim. The band has gained a reputation for their classy live performances all over Finland, with the dazzling Aili Ikonen on the vocals. Ikonen has been praised as one of the few true scat-improvisers in Finland, thus following the footsteps of Ella, one of her biggest models.

Bassist and bandleader Mikko Pellinen's new arrangements, played by a number of rising young talents, lend the evergreen tunes an exciting, contemporising twist. The repertoire, including mellow ballads, bebop pieces and warm Latin rhythms, swings on smoothly with two horns boosting the hard-swinging rhythm section and giving this elegant act its final polish.

ed. Annamari Innanen 11.3.2014