Once again, the Yrjö awarded saxophonist, Esa Pietilä, leads his noted Liberty Ship ensemble with a new line-up on the waters of free improvisation. The ensemble’s two earlier albums were favourably reviewed both at home and abroad. Recently the ensemble debuted their new music at the Nordic Music Days in Helsinki.
Liberty Ship, formed in 2012, aroused interest already with their debut album, Approaching, which was released in 2013 on Eclipse Music. The album was noted as one of the best releases of 2013 by distinguished jazz medium, New York City Jazz Record. At home, Helsingin Sanomat praised that Liberty Ship had sailed to the front of the Finn jazz. The quartet strongly bases on their original guiding principle to examine the fee expression. Four talented musicians join forces in a spirit of a collective improvisation and the ship is piloted by teamwork.
The ensemble’s second album Wide Open Suite & Noises at Sea was also a success and the band performed at the sold-out concert on Tampere Jazz Happening. After the second album Liberty Ship took a break and Pietilä released his Times & Spaces solo album. Pietilä was awarded with the prestigious Yrjö Prize in the fall 2016.
In December 2017 the renewed Liberty Ship arrived to the chamber hall of Tampere Music Academy with Finnish-Norwegian line-up. Pianist Håvard Wiik and double bassist Morten Vågan brought new energy to the recording sessions. The result, Signal Horn album, is more concise unity than its predecessor, and the album’s reborn sound takes the band to uncharted waters. New international directions are driving the ship onwards.
LIBERTY SHIP: Signal Horn
Genre: jazz
Release Format: CD, digital
Release Date: 23.11.2018
Line-up:
Esa Pietilä - tenor saxophone
Olavi Louhivuori - drums
Ole Morten Vågan - double bass
Håvard Wiik - piano