News -page consists of current topics and interesting articles about jazz in Finland.
The recently-launched cultural coalition, Jazz City Turku, which has seen three local players – the concert series Flame Jazz, the big band Turku Jazz Orchestra and the Turku Jazz Festival – join forces, has proved this spring that together is better than alone. It now looks more than likely that the tight co-operation will result in the most successful jazz year the city has ever seen.
The supergroup will be taking the stage in a number of cultural centres around Central and Southern Finland this autumn.
Tampere-based record label, Eclipse Music, tries its wings in the sphere of live music by launching a new jazz club in Tampere in autumn 2016. The Eclipse Music Club will offer topical jazz and progressive rock at Tampereen Ylioppilasteatteri, in the heart of the City of Tampere.
Limelighting rising Finnish jazz stars, the July edition of the Summer Jazz Club presents two already-acclaimed young groups: A-P Kauppinen Quintet and trio Katu Kaiku.
Dalindèo releases a video and a remix of the title track of their newest album, the acclaimed Slavic Souls. The powerball of a sextet will be playing their new material at numerous Finnish jazz festivals this summer.
Helsinkians will soon be able to jam along to jazz tunes at the Abattoir (goes by the name Teurastamo in Finnish) on the 22nd of July, as the food culture mecca introduces a new open air music festival by the name of Teurastamo Jazz. The stage will play host to a high-quality line-up of internationally famous jazz artists, with performers hailing from Finland and Italy. During the evening the terraces located alongside Kalasatama will welcome visitors in to taste summery delicacies, from pizza cooked in a wood-fired oven from Naples to Jädelino’s artisan ice cream. Like most of Teurastamo’s communal activities, this event is open for all and free to attend.
The third album, Closure, is a bold, personal statement from the charismatic and adventurous vocalist. On the disc, she is backed by a pack of such A-listing Finnish jazzers as Jukka Eskola, Jori Huhtala and Petri Puolitaival.
Turku Jazz Orchestra's big band arranger class is a course where the students learn the basics of orchestration with composer-arranger Vellu Halkosalmi. The description is in Finnish only. Ask for more info in English from Producer Taija Lähdetie, Turku Jazz Orchestra, info@tjo.fi
There has been a lot of discussion about international market for Finnish jazz in the Jazzpresso series too. Finns are known to be concerned about how the rest of the world sees us, and jazz field isn't any different. Annamaija Saarela is one of the frontwomen for Finnish jazz abroad, and well known figure in the European jazz scene for her work as an agent, and also as the President for Europe Jazz Network. Her Annamaija Music Company leads a new jazz export project called Jazz Finland International. How does she feel about the current pathway to European arenas? Are we marching in waving a blue-and-white flag?
Sipoo's Kalkkiranta plays host to the one-day jazz festival.
