This year, the festival celebrates the hundred-year history of Finnish jazz. It is the Jazz Finland 100 anniversary year.
Kerava Jazz has named the joint concert by Aurora Hentunen Quintet and Selma Savolainen in the shade as the festival’s centenary celebration concert. The reason: the leaders of the bands, both Aurora and Selma, have their own artistic vision of music – they are creating new Finnish jazz!
The third performer at the main concert event comes from Norway, the leading country of Nordic jazz. Like the musicians mentioned above, saxophonist Marthe Lea is a musician who follows her own path. Her band’s performance will be unparalleled musical fireworks!
The festival will begin with a church concert. Italian saxophonist Dimitri Grechi Espinoza and jazz pastor Markku Salo will carry out the project “A Love Supreme”, which honors the spiritual legacy of John Coltrane, who would have turned one hundred.
This year, the festival’s free jazz segment will be provided by the Jorma Tapio & Kaski ensemble, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary. “Joppe’s” music, based on Finnish free jazz, also embodies the spirit of a hundred years of Finnish jazz in a wonderful way.
The different nuances of Finnish jazz can also be heard at the free concert. Jarmo Saari, with his one-man Solu ensemble, will present a versatile guitar spectacle, while the Kanvas ensemble, consisting of young, talented jazz musicians, will perform Finnish sung jazz. The free programme also includes the traditional jam sessions, led by guitarist Lasse Keso.
The concert aimed at all residents of Kerava – without, of course, forgetting those from neighboring municipalities – will create “a colorful, life-affirming and swinging concert experience that takes the audience through the different stages of human life.” The driving force behind the concert is Kerava legend A-P Niemi.
The Kerava Parish will organize a jazz mass at Kerava Church in connection with the festival.