News -page consists of current topics and interesting articles about jazz in Finland.
Turku Jazz Orchestra will open its autumn season celebrating jazz legend Clark Terry's anniversary year on Wednesday 2.9. at Linnateatteri, when the dazzling trumpet player Jukka Eskola performs as a guest soloist. The concert will also be streamed live on Facebook.
This topic feels challenging to write about now when there is hardly any movement from Finland to abroad. The second season of Jazz Finland International, a project administered by Jazz Finland and designed to improve the export skills of Finnish jazz enterprises, was launched with positive expectations last year, but has ground to a halt this spring due to the worsening Coronavirus maelstrom. Jazz professionals still have their sights set internationally, but opportunities remain far and few between, despite many solid plans and available export support funds. Finland is far away from continental Europe, let alone the Americas or Asia, which remain effectively out of reach due to various restrictions regarding travel and size of gatherings. The situation would be very different if we were located in an area such as the south of Germany, just a few hours’ easy drive from a range of other European countries where, like in Finland, small events are still organised – although mostly programmed with local acts.
The autumn program of the Helsinki Jazz jaZZanti concert series offers a diverse setting of performances.
UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra will return to the concert stages with the whole big band this week.
Viapori Jazz Festival is operating this year with a completely new concept. The festival takes its audience to Suomenlinna's closed places through "secret concert videos". The videos reveal the history of each location through stories and music from Viapori Jazz.
Baltic Sea Day is celebrated on Thursday 27 August through various events. Archipelago Sea Jazz and Keep the Archipelago Tidy Association will organize a jazz concert at the Forum Marinum in Turku, where the Jussi Fredriksson Trio will perform. The concert's entrance fees are collected as voluntary donations to the association's activities.
Jazz City Turku features seminal jazz music all autumn with a domestic focus. The programme includes interesting collaborations i.a. with Turku Philharmonic Orchestra and Turku Conservatory and music academy. The concerts can also be enjoyed remotely online every week.
Drummer Jussi Lehtonen, who received the Yrjö Prize in the autumn of 2018, will release a new album Connection on September 4th, 2020 with his own quartet.
The 21st edition of the annual Jazz-Espa concert series was organised with special measures between 27 July and 1 August. The festival drew over 2000 people to the Espa Stage and restaurant Kappeli to enjoy the free open air concerts.
Jazz Finland opens the post-corona touring season with a double-tour by solo pianist Kari Ikonen and Finnish-Danish JAF Trio (Adele Sauros – sax, Joonas Tuuri – bass, Frederik Bülow – drums). The concert venues are currently preparing their safety protocols, and they will post instructions on their websites, so please follow your local jazz club's social media and web pages.
