Jazz Finland Live

65/50€

14.00 Zoe Rahman Octet (UK)
Zoe Rahman – pno; Gareht Lockrane – fl; Helena Kay – asax; Tori Freestone – tsax; Mark Armstrong – tp; Rosie Turton – tb; Alec Dankworth –b; Gene Calderazzo – dr

The British Zoe Rahman (born in 1971) is a pianist and composer who has received several awards and who has made her own records for more than 20 years – mainly with a traditional combination of pianist, bassist and drummer that is not in short supply anywhere in Europe.

Perhaps this is why we have had to wait a long time for Rahman’s first concert in Finland. And perhaps also because Rahman’s international prominence as an independent music artist has never been ideal – for a very simple reason. All of Rahman’s records has been released, since 2001, by the London-based company Manushi Records, owned by her and focused exclusively on her music.

But now is the right time for the debut concert in Finland, at an interesting stage that has opened up new musical opportunities.

Zoe Rahman arrives at Tampere Jazz Happening with her first large ensemble, which performs compositions from her most ambitious, personal and acclaimed album, Colour of Sound (2023). Zoe Rahman founded her own group of eight musicians a couple of years ago and wanted to finally hear live on stage the sound that she most often imagines when she is composing: for her, the piano is above all an orchestral instrument.

“When I am writing, I’m not just writing for solo piano or trio; there are always other instruments in my head,” Zoe Rahman said in an interview in Jazzwise magazine.

Only half of the octet arriving in Tampere is the same as on the album, but Rahman has assembled it on the same principle – from musicians of different generations who make their own music. The youngest musicians are the 30 something saxophonist Helena Kay and trombonist Rosie Turton, the oldest are the bassist Alec Dankworth and drummer Gene Calderazzo in their sixties, and they are also Rahman’s permanent partners in her piano trio.

15.45 Bushman’s Revenge (NO)
Even Hermansen – g; Gard Nilssen – dr; Tor Egil Kreken – b; Jørgen Brennhovd – sounds

Norwegian drummer Gard Nilssen (b. 1983) has performed in Finland with at least five different ensembles: for the first time in 2014 at Tampere Jazz Happening and most recently at the end of 2023 in Helsinki with both his own acoustic trio and with the 17-member Supersonic Orchestra. But for some reason, Nilssen’s by far the longest-running and most successful lineup has never been here. Bushman’s Revenge was born 21 years ago, and in that time, the group has released 11 albums, the latest being All The Better For Seeing You (2023).

Could it be because of ignorance or their demanding, perhaps even rejected style? 

With its electric guitar, bass and mighty drums, Bushman’s Revenge is not your ordinary jazz band, nor is it a rock band. It doesn’t fall for the traditional jazz rock or rock jazz with emphasis on skills either. Perhaps the power trio has its own style of progressive rock that results from playing their own versions of Black Sabbath, Ornette Coleman, Police and Sun Ran back-to-back. And the name of their album? Never Mind The Botox (2011) of course, which suits the band’s witty style.

Nevertheless, Bushman’s Revenge performs mainly new music of their own, and the group’s newest record has been composed entirely by their guitarist Even Helte Hermansen (b. 1982).  Perhaps that is why All The Better For Seeing You is more compact, restrained and controlled – or maybe the trio wanted to kick off their third decade of existence with a different, surprising twist. If so, they succeeded, as the opening track Halvannen Time – an hour and a half, more than enough makes you double check that you picked Bushman’s Revenge and not Bill Frisell. This bodes well for their first performance in Finland – or unwell, depending on what you are after.

17.30 Kahil El’Zabar Ethnic Heritage Ensemble: 50th Anniversary Tour (US)
Kahil El’Zabar – dr, perc; Corey Wilkes – tp; Alex Harding – barsax; Ishmael Ali – vlc

The first ever Tampere Jazz Happening in 1982 featured seven contemporary bands, one of which was from France and two from the US. In their uplift, the two-day event in November received praise as an “artistically sound opening”, and there was no doubt who the star and the assumed audience magnet was. It was alto saxophonist Arthur Blythe, an avant-garde traditionalist “straight from the hearth of jazz in New York” with his first ever performance in Finland. At the time, the 42-year-old was at the musical peak of his solo career with his exceptional quintet that had both a cellist, a tubist and an electric guitarist.

However, it was the other American group that went down in the history books of the first ever Jazz Happening: Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, who reached even further into the past. Or at least they made their own kind of history, as the ensemble, led by percussionist Kahil El’Zabar (b. 1953), is celebrating a half a century of music-making. Now they will finally return to Tampere Jazz Happening on their extensive anniversary tour – 42 years after their last performance and once again as the headliner on Sunday.

That’s not the only reason why the timing raises expectations, as the last 10 or so years have been the best (at least recording-wise) in the history of the ensemble that has gone through many iterations. It almost compares to their pioneering years in the early 1980s when Ethnic Heritage Ensemble toured Europe actively with one percussionist and two saxophonists and recorded their first albums in Germany (1980), Italy (1981) and Finland (1982), the last one only a week after the Tampere concert.

Ethnic Heritage Ensemble’s Welcome, released by Finnish drummer Edward Vesala’s Leo Records was not, however, an isolated incident, as the ensemble performed in Finland a dozen times over a couple of years. From those days, only El’Zabar remains on board, but it wouldn’t be Ethnic Heritage Ensemble without him. 

Open event

Free admission

Asearch engine will tell you that Bode Wilson is a young American student and wrestler, with broad shoulders and a sturdy neck.

Oh, actually not, the first hit was incorrect. Or maybe not after all, because the Portuguese Bode Wilson, which will close Tampere Jazz Happening on Sunday evening at Telakka, also wrestles – with jazz, improvised jazz to be more specific.

But this particular Bode Wilson is just fiction, a band of three experienced jazz musicians. The saxophonist-flautist João Pedro Brandão (born in 1977), bassist Demian Cabaud (born in 1977) and drummer Marcos Cavaleiro (born in 1980) point out that they play their liberating jazz primarily as a collective, as one man. “Our music is based on friendship, respect and listening, dialogue, conversation and debate.”

So far Bode Wilson has released three albums, the first one in 2014 and the latest, Aether, in 2022. It was recorded under the open sky in the ruins of an old Portuguese chapel surrounded by stone walls. The idea was that this environment would become part of the music, part of Bode Wilson’s improvisations. What will happen at Telakka, the band surrounded by its historical walls of red bricks? The ceiling is pretty low, but maybe you can refer to it as some kind of local chapel of live music.

Open event