Espoo Big Band joins forces with jazz fusion trio husband on the new album Lauma, due out on 21 April.
Known especially as a flagship of new Finnish music, Espoo Big Band (EBB) is one of Finland’s foremost big bands. During its 36-year existence, the group has performed at numerous important jazz festivals around the globe. This April will see the release of a new, very special album, on which EBB performs music by guitarists Jarmo Saari and Varre Vartiainen with the jazz fusion trio Husband. Arrangements are by pianist Lenni-Kalle Taipale and Marzi Nyman, the conductor of EBB.
Entitled Lauma, the album is released by Blue Note, no doubt the best-known jazz label of all time. Available digitally on 23 March and on CD on 21 April, Espoo Big Band and Husband will play the album live on the 30th April Jazz Festival in Espoo on the release date.
”To me being a musician has always meant being part of a group – a lauma. This is exactly what this album is about. The brotherhood of Husband act as the core here – a union of four friends that play guitar-driven jazz fusion, or ”jazz for boozers”, quoting guitarist-composer Varre Vartiainen, loud and hard. Then we have Espoo Big Band, joining in and in doing so multiplying the fun and the volume. This is a flock – a lauma – of dear friends and excellent musicians.
It is this experience that we have aimed at capturing on the album: the shared laughter, the mutual love, the astonishment at a peer’s incredible creative energy. The outcome is an ode to friendship; full of all the little things that make up life,” says Marzi Nyman, the conductor.