Jazz Finland Live

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Manala Afterwork Jazz is a weekly Thursday jazz club in the heart of Helsinki.

Open event

Roope Kantonen is a jazz drummer, composer, and educator who was awarded the title of Jazz Musician of the Year 2022 by Jazzmuusikot ry. He holds a master’s degree in jazz music from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. Having moved from the Netherlands to Finland in 2021, Kantonen has performed on twelve albums and played with numerous ensembles not only in Finland but also across Europe. He is a familiar face in the Helsinki jazz scene, particularly as the host of the jazz jams at Sörkan Ruusu.

With their debut album Introducing, Roope Kantonen 3 presents a fresh new voice in the Finnish jazz landscape. The work takes the listener into a distinctive world where freedom, sensitivity, subtlety, and strong dynamic interplay merge. The trio’s unique sound is built upon the absence of a harmonic instrument and the eccentric timbre of the bass clarinet. The group draws inspiration from both traditional jazz and modern, experimental musical languages. Introducing consists of original compositions by each of the trio’s members, ranging from deep, meditative moments and intense improvisation to rhythmic playfulness.

The bass clarinet is played by Max Zenger, known from Kaisa’s Machine and UMO, while the double bass is handled by Juuso Rinta, who has played with Hector Lepe Quartet and Tuomo Uusitalo Trio.

This concert is special as the trio will be joined by a distinguished guest, the Dutch bass clarinettist, composer, and philosopher Joris Roelofs.

Joris Roelofs began studying clarinet at the age of six and added the saxophone to his repertoire at twelve. At sixteen, he performed the clarinet theme in Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue as a soloist with Orkest van het Oosten. Between 2003 and 2018, he was the lead alto saxophonist in the Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw and spent five years as a musician in the Vienna Art Orchestra. Over the years, he has collaborated with numerous jazz luminaries, including Brad Mehldau, Lionel Loueke, Jeff Ballard, and Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, as well as recently with UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra.

After earning his master’s degree from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam in 2007, Joris moved to New York, where he recorded seven albums under his name, including his debut Introducing Joris Roelofs (2008). His latest release, Rope Dance: Light-Footed Music for All and None (2021), received five-star reviews from De Volkskrant and BBC Music Magazine.

As a composer, Joris has written music for a wide range of ensembles, from solo bassoon to big bands and symphony orchestras. He currently works as the coordinator of the jazz clarinet department at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, where he also teaches and gives lectures on the relationship between music and philosophy. In addition to his work as a musician and educator, he is pursuing a Ph.D. on Nietzsche, improvisation, and the concept of freedom and is a member of the international Nietzsche research group in Stuttgart, Germany.

Joris Roelofs: bass clarinet
Max Zenger: bass clarinet
Juuso Rinta: double bass
Roope Kantonen: drums

Photos: Roope Kantonen – Teemu Kekkonen, Juuso Rinta – Olli Sulin, Joris Roelofs – Hielke Grootendorst,

The concert is supported by City of Helsinki, Svenska Kulturfonden and The Finnish Music Foundation.

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Free entry

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Blending jazz, Middle Eastern music, and global folk traditions, Ilkka Arola Sound Tagine will perform across Finland on the Jazz Federation Tour this April. The band will present their newly released fourth album, Adventures in the Now, bringing energetic and vividly colorful music to audiences. The tour kicks off on April 8th in Lahti, followed by stops in Jyväskylä, Savonlinna, Raahe, and Espoo.

Ilkka Arola Sound Tagine released Adventures in the Now album (Flame Jazz Records) in March 2025. In his latest work, bandleader and trumpeter Ilkka Arola draws inspiration from psychedelic ethno-jazz fusion of the 1970s as well as Turkish disco from the same era. Arola has long dreamed of creating a funk-driven album with Sound Tagine, and the time has finally come. The new material bursts with energy, sweat-inducing rhythms, and rich sonic landscapes.

“Ilkka Arola Sound Tagine always uses the ingredients needed at the moment—embracing possibilities in the spirit of the theme, while effectively avoiding any sonic congestion.”
-Mika Roth, Desibeli.net

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