Jazz Finland Live

Tickets €25/€20 + order fee (from €1.50), lippu.fi

Maja Mannila is an impressive young jazz/soul singer, pianist and composer. Together with her group, she plays her own English-language songs, which are a mixture of r'n'b, soul, jazz and gospel music. Having grown up in a family of musicians, Mannila has a firm grasp of music while emphasising the importance of freedom and fun in creating and playing music.

In the future, Mannila is aiming at recording and international gigs both with the band and as a solo artist. Maja has been noticed by the English drummer Richard Spaven and singer Anthony Strong who have asked her to perform with them.

Open event

Tickets 10 €

Laurell & Sun Dog is a collaboration between two Finnish jazz musicians Valtteri Laurell Pöyhönen and Eeti Nieminen. It started casually with a desire to make music and jam. The result is a full length album of original music with guest stars like the great saxophone player Mikko Innanen. It's all based on jamming, even though a lot of editing, mixing and overdubbing has been practised during the making of the album. The music of Laurell & Sun Dog is an exciting soundscape of crunchy beats, playful melodies, dark ambience, horn solos and dreamy synths.

Valtteri Pöyhönen - Keys
Eeti Nieminen - Drums
Eero Tikkanen - Bass
Mikko Innanen - Sax
Janne Toivonen - Trp
Heikki Tuhkanen - Trb

Open event

Tickets 20 €

Bassist and composer Sarah Murcia is a distinctive multi-talent of the French jazz scene. Her career, which started in the Paris music scene at the end of the 1990s, contains a wide variety of experiences. The playing field of the Eyeballing quartet, founded in Murcia in 2017, stretches from electro jazz to alternative pop through fascinating minimalism.

Sarah Murcia, double bass, voice, bass-synth
Benoît Delbecq, piano, e-drum, synth
Olivier Py, saxophone
Francois Thuillier, tuba

Open event

Free entry

Tampere Jazz Happening offers a wide variety of styles and shades of jazz on both sides of the Tullikamari square. This year's country in the spotlight, Germany, is widely featured in the programme. At the opening concert, three younger generation bands present themselves to the Finnish audience. During the weekend, more German groups perform at the main concerts in the Pakkahuone.

As top names from the United States, three American jazz artists of the hip-hop generation take the stage at Pakkahuone: saxophonist Marcus Strickland, vocalist José James and vibraphonist Joel Ross. This time, the furthermost artists arrive from Australia and South Africa. The international line-up is completed by some of the most exciting names in European jazz right now. On Friday and Saturday, six bands are playing Finnish jazz at Telakka. The weekend's late nights end at the Klubi, with performances by London Afrobeat Collective and French-Ethiopian Kutu.

On Sunday, the festival concludes at Telakka, where German trombonist Janning Trumann and his band will play the closing concert.

Spotlight on Germany

19:00 Kira Hummen (DE)
Kira Hummen, voc, vlc, b, g
Karla Lee, voc, synt
Valentin Brummer, dr

20:30 Dudek/Hauptmann/Goller/Berger (DE)
Fabian Dudek, sax
Felix Hauptmann, pno
Ruth Goller, b
Leif Berger, dr

22:00 Salomea (DE)
Rebekka Salomea Ziegler, voc
Yannis Anft, keyb
Oliver Lutz, b
Leif Berger, dr

Open event

Tickets: 15 / 10€

Tuomas Paukku Scription, representing a strong and distinctive vision in Finnish contemporary jazz, is releasing its second album and touring Finland's jazz arenas in November.

Tuomas Paukku Scription's style is rooted in modern jazz impressionism and post-bop, continually discovering new nuances and perspectives even on the outer fringes of jazz expression. The quartet, led by the guitarist from Jyväskylä, is composed of carefully selected top musicians and elegantly interprets Tuomas Paukku's compositions, richly and vivaciously reflecting the guitarist's open-minded interest in music. Scription's music, with its majestic Scandinavian atmospheres and gripping moods, has touched listeners across genre boundaries.

Tuomas Paukku – guitar
Juho Valjakka – piano
Jori Huhtala – bass
Tomi Saikkonen – drums

Open event

Tickets €25/€23
All 9th-grade students from Äänekoski have free admission by presenting the K9 card.

Formed in 2017, the Aurora Hentunen Quintet has swiftly risen to the forefront of Nordic jazz music, becoming one of the most intriguing domestic jazz ensembles. The band, playing modern Finnish jazz, released its debut album, Second Spring, in the spring of 2018, followed by their second album, Frost, in August 2019.

In addition to pianist-composer Aurora Hentunen, the lineup includes trumpeter Joona Kilponen, bassist Veli-Matti Silanterä, and drummer Ville Luukkonen. Formerly a quartet, the band has added saxophonist Ukko Heinonen as a reinforcement. Heinonen had previously collaborated with the band on tracks and performances from their Frost album.

The ensemble actively performs throughout Europe and is currently expanding its activities into big band music. Hentunen has been commissioned to create works for ensembles such as the Lappeenranta Big Band and the Jyväskylä Big Band. The band regularly collaborates with other musicians, allowing room for new influences and tones in their music, constantly seeking new ways to arrange their old compositions and create something new.

In the music of Aurora Hentunen Quintet, the personalities of the musicians are heard as a rich and diverse whole. The mood moves from one story to another, from delicate northern melodies to deep and dark waves, from the chilling Lapland mountains to the bustling streets of Amsterdam. The new music also focuses on experiences brought about by the pandemic and wars, loneliness, and hope.

Concert duration approx. 1 hour and 50 minutes (including intermission).

Aurora Hentunen - piano, rhodes
Joona Kilponen - trumpet
Ukko Heinonen - tenor saxophone, effects
Mikael Saastamoinen - bass
Ville Luukkonen - drums

Open event