Pianist and composer Kari Ikonen has been awarded the annual "Yrjö" award as the Finnish Jazz Musician of the Year. The Finnish Jazz Federation presented the accolade to Ikonen in Oulu on Saturday October 19 during the Finnish Jazz Convention. "Yrjö" is considered the highest accolade in Finnish jazz.
Kari Ikonen (b. 1973) is known as a highly original composer and pianist. His most active ensembles currently are the Kari Ikonen Trio and Karikko. Ikonen's trio released their debut album "Bright" via Germany's Ozella Music in 2013, and the band is currently working for the follow up. Ikonen also has plans to record and release his solo piano work in the near future.
Ikonen's other noted ensembles include Slo Motive, Ahava, Gnomus, plus the no-longer active Mr. Fonebone and Quartet Coyote. Ikonen has composed a great deal of works for UMO Jazz Orchestra, Jyväskylä Big Band and of course, for his own ensembles.
The Award Jury commented their selection as follows: "Kari Ikonen's humorous, straightforward and appropriately unpredictable persona shines through everything he does in the field of jazz. No matter if we're talking about his input as a soloist, his compositions, arrangements or teaching, Ikonen stands
for consistent quality.
During the same ceremony, the Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle's Jazzradio program awarded the Helsinki-based record label TUM Records with the "Varjo-Yrjö" for the company's extraordinary work in supporting the Finnish jazz culture. TUM has released quality jazz for over ten years, focusing mainly on improvised music.
The list of previous Yrjö and Varjo-Yrjö awardees can be found here.