Jazz Finland Live
Jazz for Kids: Oona Mattsson & Riitta Paakki,Vuotalo, helsinki13.5. At 18:00
Oona Mattsson & Riitta Paakki
Jazz for Kids is a series of high-quality jazz concerts for everyone from babies to grandparents! Professional musicians perform their work at child-friendly volumes in the easily accessible spaces of the City’s cultural centres.
The musicians of the newly formed Luotsi band, alto saxophonist and flutist Oona Mattsson and pianist Riitta Paakki, will perform a fascinating selection of Finnish jazz originals and their own compositions to celebrate the Jazz in Finland 100 anniversary year. With both familiar and less-heard gems for jazz audiences, interpreted in a contemporary way, the focus of the concert is not only on history but also on the future.
Oona Mattsson has performed with many well-known Finnish jazz musicians, both in big bands and smaller ensembles. Her playing can be heard on recordings such as the albums released by Kanvas and Siina Suutarinen in spring 2025. Riitta Paakki is an acclaimed jazz musician, composer and bandleader who received the Finnish Jazz Federation’s Yrjö Award in 2019. She has released seven albums with her own bands.
The duration of the event is 45 minutes. The band will perform for about 35 minutes, after which the audience can come greet the musicians and see the instruments.
Oona Mattsson – saxophones and flute
Riitta Paakki – piano
Free admission!
The Jazz for Kids operating model of the Finnish Jazz Federation and City of Helsinki Cultural Centres is based on the concert series of the same name, which has been organised at the Espoo Cultural Centre since 2015 in cooperation with Espoo Music Institute’s pop/jazz line Ebeli. The concept was developed by Ebeli, the pop/jazz line at Espoo Music Institute.
Gigs on the same day in helsinki
PEKKA TOIVANEN QUARTET & JENNY ROBSON - ANDANIA BLUESCafe Carusel, helsinki13.5. At 18:30
PEKKA TOIVANEN QUARTET & JENNY ROBSON
Free entry, voluntary entrance fee
Rytmihäiriöklubi: Joonatan Henriksson QuintetJuttutupa, helsinki13.5. At 19:00
James Carter Organ Trio (US) - Coltrane: A Centennial SupremeG Livelab Helsinki, helsinki13.5. At 20:00
James Carter Organ Trio (US)
Tickets 50€
Saxophone virtuoso James Carter arrives at G Livelab with his Organ Trio and the program "Coltrane: A Centennial Supreme." The concert features a tribute to John Coltrane, born 100 years ago.
"Music and life do not separate" says saxophone virtuoso James Carter, "my elders have taught me that music is a culture and a way of life."
Detroit native Carter shared his childhood home with five musically inclined siblings in "a house filled with all manner of sounds, from The Beatles to Funk and Hendrix." At the tender age of seventeen the young prodigy shared a stage with the great Wynton Marsalis and at 23, released his landmark debut album JC On the Set, hailed by many as the arrival of a new Jazz master. Over the decades that followed, Carter has cemented his reputation as one of this generation's most charismatic and versatile soloists, boasting collaborations with Lester Bowie, Julius Hemphill, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Kathleen Battle, Frank Lowe & Saxemble, the World Saxophone Quartet and Wynton Marsalis among other Jazz greats.
James Carter - Saxophones
Gerard Gibbs - Hammond B-3
Alex White - Drums
