Trumpeter Jukka Eskola celebrates his two-decade career by giving shows in Japan, Germany, Denmark and Finland over this spring. His group Jukka Eskola Soul Trio has been invited to participate in the prestigious BWM Welt Jazz Awards Competition.
Jukka Eskola Soul Trio in Japan 20 – 26 January 2018
The stellar trumpeter kicks off his 20th anniversary year as a professional musician with a boom in Japan. Touring the country on 20 – 26 January, Eskola will perform with his robust Jukka Eskola Soul Trio at the famous Motion Blue Club in Yokohama, among other venues. The tour will also see the group release a special Japanese edition of their self-titled album and Eskola take part in recording sessions with local musicians.
21 Jan Fellows, Utsunomiya Tochigi
23 Jan Haretara Sorani Mame Maite, Tokyo
24 Jan Motion Blue, Yokohama
Jukka Eskola Soul Trio at the Prestigious German BWM Welt Jazz Awards Competition
The 10th annual BWM Welt Jazz Award comprises six free concerts on Sundays held from February to April in Munich, Germany. This year’s theme is “Jazz moves” and the participating bands have been invited from Finland, Norway, Austria, Switzerland and Germany. A jury composed of jazz professionals will select two groups to the final concert, which takes place in June. Both semi-finalists will be given a monetary price, with the winner being awarded with 15 000 euros. The audience will also select their favourite.
As many as 600 or more attendees are expected to arrive to the final concert, held in the venue Double Cone, famous for its architecture. The concert will also be aired on German radio station Bayerische Rundfunk.
BMW Welt Jazz Award 2018
Sun 25 Feb at 11:00
Doppelkegel BMW Welt, Munchen
Free entry!
Jukka Eskola with Danish Radio Big Band on 9 March at Copenhagen
DRBB has invited Jukka Eskola to feature them as a soloist in the annual P8 Jazz Alive radio concert as the first Finn to date. The programme will comprise both old and new compositions by Eskola in new big band arrangements. Taking place in the orchestra’s home venue in Copenhagen, the concert will also be aired on the Danish radio.
The internationally acclaimed DR Big Band has been a major force in the Danish jazz scene since 1964, having released more than 80 albums featuring such giants as Miles Davis, Stan Getz and Joe Henderson. Their core aim is to act as a platform for upcoming jazz musicians, launch interesting collaborations between different musical styles and commission music from young composers.
P8 Jazz Alive
Fri 9 Mar at 20:00
DR Koncerthuset, Copenhagen
Jukka Eskola as UMO’s soloist
The 20th anniversary year will see Eskola join forces with Finland’s no. 1 big band, UMO Jazz Orchestra, for the very first time. This lunch concert features compositions from Eskola’s ample soul and bossa nova repertory in new, rich big band versions by conductor Mikko Hassinen.
– I am really looking forward for this collab project. The orchestra and its fantastic musicians are, of course, very familiar to me and, finally, I get to play my own music with them. I am convinced that the new versions will sound terrific. It is a great honour to celebrate one’s anniversary year with such a phenomenal orchestra as UMO, says Eskola.
Lunch Concert: Jukka Eskola & UMO
Tue 29 May 2018 at 12:00
Savoy Theatre, Helsinki
Free entry!
More concerts with UMO and Eskola coming up in summer and autumn.
In addition to his own groups Jukka Eskola Soul Trio, Jukka Eskola Quintet and Jukka Eskola Orquesta Bossa, trumpeter Jukka Eskola (b. 1978) is known from the ranks of such outfits as The Five Corners Quintet and Ricky-Tick Big Band, among others. His CV includes five solo albums, two hundred recordings as a sideman, Pori Jazz Artist of the Year and Sony Jazz Prizes, Emma Music Award nominations, theatre productions and pedagogical projects. He is unarguably one of the most gifted and versatile musicians of his generation.
In addition to his solo recordings Jukka Eskola (2005), Hub Up (2006, only released in Japan), Jukka Eskola Orquesta Bossa (2013) and Jukka Eskola Soul Trio (2017), he has delighted friends of jazz with a number of acclaimed one-off projects. Eskola appears as a soloist on the 2010 collaboration album Lampela X Eskola, written with composer Jussi Lampela.
The versatile artist is at home in many different fields of music: besides jazz, he plays in numerous TV productions for example. In April 2017, he premiered the Trumpet Concerto, written by Marzi Nyman, with Tapiola Sinfonietta. Eskola also collaborates with some of the brightest stars of Finnish popular music, playing as a sideman in the bands of rapper Elastinen and singers Vesa-Matti Loiri, Paula Koivuniemi and Juha Tapio.
Photo: Miikka Pirinen.