Jazz Finland Live
Jazz Finland Festival, Elifantree feat. Olavi Louhivuori (Teemu Viinikainen Trio cancelled),Vintti, Korjaamo, helsinki20.9. At 22:30
Helsinki/Berlin based Elifantree delivers an experimental musical trip on the border between pop and improvised music. Elifantree has performed widely in Europe and beyond during the last few years and has gained a strong reputation as an energetic live act.
Helsinki/Berlin based Elifantree delivers an experimental musical trip on the border between pop and improvised music. This three-piece band combines unique sounds, catchy pop-elements and irresistible grooves and creates a sound much larger and wider than the sum of their parts. Elifantree has performed widely in Europe and beyond during the last few years and has gained a strong reputation as an energetic, unrestrained and constantly surprising live act that has been compared to art works of David Lynch, Charlie Chaplin and Pablo Picasso.
Elifantree has played at festivals such as Akbank Caz Festival (Istanbul), Flow Festival (Helsinki), Pori Jazz, Südtirol Jazz Festival, Ljubljana Jazz Festival, 12Points Festival (Dublin), Jazzahead (Bremen), Jazz Au Cellah (Rabat) and Reykjavik Jazz Festival to mention a few.
Elifantree has released two critically acclaimed albums, Love & Trees in 2010 and Time Out in 2012.
This year they are working on their third album. On stage Elifantree always takes their music to a higher ground so keep your eyes open for upcoming shows and take the opportunity to see them live in action!
In this special concert the band is featured by drummer Olavi Louhivuori (Oddarrang, SUN Trio).
Jazz Finland festival presents:
Elifantree feat. Olavi Louhivuori in Korjaamo's Vintti, Sat 20 September at 10.30 pm.
Anni Elif Egecioglu – vocals, synthesizer, glockenspiel
Pauli Lyytinen – tenor saxophone, effects
Olavi Louhivuori – drums, percussion
Gigs on the same day in helsinki
Elektro GT is like the winter of 2013 in Finland when the band was founded: surprising rays of light in complete darkness, thunderstorms in minus degrees, warm breezes in cold and damp cities. It’s the calmness before the storm. Put all this in the mix and then electrify it, and you have drummer Mikko Hassinen’s latest project, whose debut album comes out on Texicalli Records just on the eve of the festival.
Sure the music of Elektro GT is jazz but it's also strongly flavoured by different kinds of weird electronics and strong beats which makes the music difficult to categorize. And take the musicians for instance; Hassinen has jazz, electronic and classical music background, Louhivuori is a young, stylish jazzman, Rissanen has his roots in classical music, Kämäräinen comes from the rock-jazz scene, and Porra is known from his heavy metal bands and film scores. This is a tough cookie to crumble, and therefore it’s best just to enjoy it!
Jazz Finland Festival, UMO Jazz OrchestraVaunusali, Korjaamo, helsinki20.9. At 20:30
UMO Jazz Orchestra is the only professional orchestra in Finland specialized in jazz and new rhythm-oriented music. The big band of 16 musicians plays about 80 concerts every year in Finland and abroad. The programme varies from jazz to soul and classical music, mixing old and new in surprising way, from children to senior citizens.
Musicians in UMO Jazz Orchestra are some of the best jazz musicians in Finland. UMO is highly appreciated and one of the world’s leading big bands. There are over 100 musicians, composers, directors and artists working with UMO Jazz Orchestra every year.
Jazz Finland Festival, Mikko Innanen & InnkvisitioVintti, Korjaamo, helsinki20.9. At 21:30
Saxophonist, composer Innanen, Seppo Kantonen on synthesizers and Joonas Riippa on drums form the nucleus of Innkvisitio that prepares new material together. Although it is Innanen who suggests new compositions or improvisational vehicles, after that, it becomes a collective effort. The quartet is completed with a second saxophonist who is hand-picked from the international Innkvisitio pool; this time it's Lithuanian Liudas Mockunas.
Mikko Innanen & Innkvisitio is firmly rooted in the history of jazz, yet at the same time it is boldly forward-looking - or "retro-futuristic", as Innanen himself calls it. The listener might hear echoes of Monk, Mingus and Sun Ra, but right from the start it becomes obvious that consciously seek musical areas new and uncharted. Or as Downbeat magazine put it in a concert review: "Think Ornette Coleman in a honky tonk, updated and glazed with dry Finnish wit." The band celebrates its tenth anniversary in 2014 and they have released two albums.
SUN Trio combines different elements together with zest. There are influences to be heard stemming from Finnish roots, jazz traditions and from impressionistic melodies and moods, as well as from names such as Arve Henriksen and Dave Douglas. The music of SUN Trio embraces a fusion of both, a meditative and intense energy.
SUN Trio won the Young Nordic Jazz Comets band competition in 2006 and has worked hard for their success since then. Today the work is paying off, and they head for a festival tour in North America next summer. They release the band’s third album, In The Dreamworld, internationally on Cam Jazz in September, just in time for the Jazz Finland festival.
Jazz Finland Festival, Jussi Fredriksson Jazz WarsVaunusali, Korjaamo, helsinki20.9. At 23:00
The Jazz Wars consist of Jussi Fredriksson’s two four-part compositions where the mood shifts from high-flown battle episodes to more subtle tones. Alongside Fredriksson, there’s the absolute cream of Finnish jazz, with Joonatan Rautio on saxophone, Jukka Eskola on trumpet, Marzi Nyman on guitar, Jori Huhtala on bass and Jussi Lehtonen on drums.
Jazz Wars’ compositions form a whole that references different jazz traditions, while also showcasing each musician's individual musical language and improvisation skills. The original piece opens with a musical battle, that has a cinematic, grandiose feel to it, almost to the point of being naive at times. The second composition has a more philosophical tone and deals with the power of communities and authorities over individuals, and the role of an individual in relation to these two. The dramatic tension carries through the battle episodes' almost overblown proportions to the peaceful ending that leaves more room for free-form improvisation. The Jazz Wars album was release in 2012, and the 60-minute-long epic is now showcased in a shorter form at the Jazz Finland stage.
Jazz Finland Festival, Raoul Björkenheim eCsTaSyVintti, Korjaamo, helsinki20.9. At 23:30
Raoul Björkenheim, born in L.A. in 1956, is undisputedly one of the best jazz guitarists in Finland, though he has spent all his life between two continents travelling between Helsinki and New York all the time. Björkenheim has been an important figure in several groups, such as the legendary Sound and Fury, which was formed together with Edward Vesala.
In 2010 Björkenheim wanted to bring together the two young talents, sax player Pauli Lyytinen and bassist Jori Huhtala, and his long-time partner in crime, drummer Markku Ounaskari. That was the beginning of eCsTaSy, an all-Finnish quartet, with a repertory of swirling polyrhythms in a free-tonal palette. With influences ranging from Korean and African music to contemporary chamber music and free rock, eCsTaSy’s mission is to elevate its audiences with high energy and a dedication to adventurous sound. The quartet released its debut album on Cuneiform Records in February 2014. The record is Björkenheim’s fourth on that label.
Jazz Finland Festival, Timo Lassy BandVaunusali, Korjaamo, helsinki20.9. At 00:00
Timo Lassy is one of the leading artists in the vivid Helsinki jazz scene. The composer and sax player was recently noted as a “Rising Star” in the veritable jazz bible Downbeat, and his quintet ensemble, the Timo Lassy Band, was dubbed “one of Europe’s sharpest bands” by The Sunday Times in the UK. Hot on the heels of the fourth Lassy LP to date, Live With Lassy (Schema 2014), the band has taken their no-bullshit cooking session on the road with remarkable results.
Constantly selling out shows in his native Finland, Lassy is on the verge of becoming a force to be reckoned with on the international jazz circuit as well. Timo Lassy Band includes members of several hard-hitting and well-proven ensembles, most notably The Five Corners Quintet, the most successful Finnish jazz oufit to date and also the alma mater of Lassy himself. Live, the Timo Lassy Band excels in getting into the mood of hard-swinging jazz with gusto galore. The band is brimming with innovation, making this music very much “the art of now”. No gimmicks needed here, this jazz is hot.
Dalindèo is a Finnish jazz-sextet founded and led by composer/guitarist Valtteri Laurell Pöyhönen in 2003. Their music is cinematic jazz in the spirit of Aki Kaurismäki’s rugged perception and a Tarantinoesque vibe of danger and suspense. With musical influences ranging from Duke Ellington's swing jazz to surf-guitars à la Dick Dale, all in a setting inspired by Finnish popular music from the 1950's, Dalindèo have created a contemporary Finnish jazz-style of their own.
In March 2013 Dalindèo released their third album Kallio in Finland on the Suomen Musiikki label. A musical hommage to the Kallio district in Helsinki, it debuted on the Finnish album chart at number 13, one of the highest-ranked jazz albums of all time and stayed on the chart for 6 weeks. The critical response has been unanomously raving, with articles and 5-star reviews in national newspapers and tastemaker-magazines alike.
“5 stars. If i was a film director i would call Mr Pöyhönen right away”
-Soundi Magazine, February 2013
Jazz Finland Festival, We Jazz DJsVaunusali, Vintti, Korjaamo, helsinki20.9. At 20:00
We Jazz DJs keep up the vibe at both venues, Vintti and Vaunusali in between the live bands, and when you see them get ready for their late night shift at Vaunusali, you better put your your best dancing shoes on!
The collective We Jazz DJs evolved from the club night with the same name, initially hosted by club Kuudes Linja, in Helsinki. In addition to their original home nest We Jazz DJs entertain audiences at various jazz happenings in Finland and abroad.
Preferring solid jazz vinyl, this DJ collective treats us to the best picks, old-school and new, throughout the history of jazz, throwing in the odd Latin, soul or mod tune for good measure.
The philosophy of We Jazz is cherishing jazz as danceable music, wrapping the audience in the warmth of rhythm and searching for new, fun approaches to the genre. Today, We Jazz DJs can be encountered spinning records both at clubs and festivals.
