Double-bassist Ulf Krokfors received the Yrjö prize on Friday 30 October at Tullikamarin Pakkahuone, Tampere Jazz Happening. Awarded annually by the Finnish Jazz Federation, the umbrella organisation of Finnish Jazz, the Yrjö is the most prestigious jazz prize in Finland. The Varjo-Yrjö prize, granted by the Finnish Broadcasting Company, Yleisradio, was given to Seppo Hanste for his active role in the jazz life of the Helsinki metropolitan area.
This year, the Convention took place in Tampere, jointly with the Tampere Jazz Happening. The Yrjö prize 2015 was given to bassist-composer-conductor Ulf Krokfors. His long career, the refinement of his musical vision and his compelling stage presence were qualities that the Finnish Jazz Federation saw strongly in his favour as a candidate.
- “Uffe” Krokfors is known as a soulful and astonishingly expressive bassist who never fails to accommodate his virtuosity to the demands of a given piece of music. Both as a soloist and accompanier, Krokfors’s richly melodic and lyric style allows him to invest the music with subtle depth and dimension. His playing is always marked by a strong stage presence and a skill of building up and resolving musical tensions. Also, he has a vast amount of experience from working as a bassist, composer and conductor in the vanguard of Finnish jazz. It is a great pleasure to award a bassist, especially such a veteran as Uffe, Jori Huhtala, a member of the jury and a fellow bassist, sums up.
The material Yrjö prize is a work of art, made by a different artist every year. This year’s prize was acrylic painting “These patterns in the universe”, by the Helsinki-based painter Ville Räty.
- In my opinion the painting captures the forces that the artist summons when creating art; laws created by man meet laws of nature. We are gazing into the unknown here, describes Ami Vuorinen, the executive director for the Finnish Jazz Federation.
The Finnish Broadcasting Company Yleisradio’s Varjo-Yrjö prize was rewarded for notable contribution to the Finnish jazz culture at the same event. This year’s winner was Seppo Hanste.
- The Jazzkalenteri (Jazz Calendar), run by Hanste since the millennium, is the only comprehensive web forum that lists the upcoming jazz concerts of the Helsinki metropolitan area. In addition to updating the calendar, Hanste keeps fellow fans posted about jazz gigs via a large mailing list and by his active presence in social media. The recipient of the Jazzmuusikot ry’s first “Vuoden jazzdiggari” acknowledgement in 2008, Hanste can be found where jazz is happening – the live scene; the most natural environment for jazz music throughout its history, says Markus Partanen, veteran host of Finnish Broadcasting Company’s Jazzradio.
Photo: Maarit Kytöharju.