Jazz Finland Live

Tickets 22,50 / 33 €

"The music is unlike anything in memory; it doesn't simply alternate worldly assortments of styles but rather creates a new, genre-less, form. Three Seconds | Kolme Toista is spellbinding from beginning to end, and full of virtuoso performances; it is one of the best recordings of 2022." ★★★★½ — All About Jazz (USA)

"Even in our present jazz moment, when the art form is worldwide and vital, albums that come as complete surprises are relatively rare. Three Seconds | Kolme Toista is a stunner. This album is a single, unified, diverse, ove whelming statement." — JazzTimes (USA)

Bringing together an all-star 9-piece ensemble of musicians from Finland, Jordan/Iraq, Palestine, Turkey, Japan and the United States, composer, guitarist and oud player Jussi Reijonen's long-awaited new album Three Seconds | Kolme Toista (Challenge Records International, 2022) draws from the deep pool of influences and experiences of a childhood spent in the Middle East and East Africa as well as 13 years in the United States as an adult.

As Reijonen's expansive new work unpacks, unravels and transcends the interlaced cultural threads within his experience, he builds a sonic world of broad and beautiful proportions, going above and beyond his critically acclaimed debut un | ان. The dynamic interplay of the Finnish, Jordanian, Tanzanian, Omani, Lebanese and American cultures in which he grew up and lived, the ever-present feeling of being welcomed yet never truly belonging, the longing to understand his own identity within this complex and wondrous multicultural and multilingual context, and the disorienting effect of their transient existence on his familial relationships are expressed, explored and stunningly resolved in Reijonen's transcendent suite.

In this concert, Reijonen's nonet will perform Three Seconds | Kolme Toista in its entirety, followed by new arrangements of material from his album un | ان after intermission.

The members of the live ensemble have worked with artists like Danilo Pérez, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Jack DeJohnette, Terence Blanchard, Pepe de Lucía, Ron Carter, Maria Schneider, Angelique Kidjo, Snarky Puppy and Ms. Lauryn Hill.

Jussi Reijonen [Finland] – compositions, arrangements; fretted/fretless guitar, Arabic oud
Hermon Mehari [USA] – trumpet, flugelhorn
Bulut Gülen [Turkey] – trombone
Layth Sidiq [Iraq/Jordan] – violin
Naseem Alatrash [Palestine] – cello
Utar Artun [Turkey] – microtonal piano
Kyle Miles [USA] – fretless electric and upright bass
Keita Ogawa [Japan] – percussion
Zach Mullings [USA] – drums