Jazz Finland Live

In the first Monday Night at Koko concert of spring 2014 UMO Jazz Orchestra digs deep into the work of composer and arranger Bob Brookmeyer (1929-2011) under the baton of conductor Kari Heinilä. The concert features timeless jazz for a large orchestra from one of the industry’s most important trendsetters, who has influenced greatly on such contemporary top composers as Maria Schneider, Kenny Werner and Jim McNeely.

Born and raised in Kansas City, Brookmeyer’s style echoes the rhythms of The Count Basie Orchestra even though he represents the next generation of composers and always had his eye on the future. Kari Heinilä, the conductor of the concert, says that ”Brookmeyer always had his other foot firmly in the past and the other one in the future”. Examples of refining tradition in to something new will be heard in the concert, as UMO plays arrangements of standars like Saint Louis Blues (W.C. Handy) and Skylark (Hoagy Carmichael) in addition to Brookmeyer’s original compositions.

Brookmeyer, who played the rare valve trombone as his main instrument, took an interesting approach on solistic improvising in his compostitions and arrangements. The traditional idea of a musician playing a solo and an accompanying orchestra is turned upside down.”In Brookmeyer’s music, solos work in a way as a background for background”, Heinilä explains and continues: ”Instead of being a separate chance for a musician to show their talent, a solo serves the composition itself and is an organic part of it”.