The 35th April Jazz will be held October 27th-31st at the Espoo Cultural Center and the Espoo Museum of Modern Art EMMA. The main performers of the festival will be Grammy-winning American tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano, who will perform as the soloist with the Polish Marcin Wasilewski Trio, as well as Portuguese fado singer Carminho. The festival's strong domestic repertoire includes all five 2020 Jazz-Emma nominees: Lenni-Kalle Taipale, who is celebrating his 25-year career as an artist, the festival's host orchestra, Espoo Big Band, and pianist Aki Rissanen who will perform at the solo concert. Tickets are for sale at Lippupiste's online store and offices.
Other international artists performing at the event include Chilean saxophonist Melissa Aldana, Norwegian singer-songwriter Bernhoft and Danish percussion legend Marilyn Mazur.
Overlaps have been eliminated from the schedule, so the audience has the opportunity to participate in all ten concerts of the festival. In order to facilitate participation in several concerts, low-cost day tickets have also been introduced, which include both concerts of the day. On Friday, the day ticket offers an opportunity for a five-band jazz-Emma marathon, which starts at Tapiolasali at 17:30 pm and ends at Louhisali after 23:00.
One of the highlights of the domestic program will be seen on Friday 29th October when all five last year's Emma Award candidate for the best jazz album will perform at the Espoo Cultural Center. Trumpeter Verneri Pohjola and the band Mortality will perform in Tapiolasali. In the club-like Louhisali, Superposition and quartets led by Riitta Paakki and Jussi Lehtonen will take the stage.
In addition to live concerts, you can also get into the festival atmosphere by watching the concert recordings presented during the event.
April Jazz is one of the largest jazz festivals in Finland and has been held in Espoo annually since 1987. The event is organized by Espoo Big Band ry.