The 34th Tampere Jazz Happening brings some of the most intriguing names of contemporary jazz to the venues of Pakkahuone, Klubi and Telakka. The programme features 26 acts in total, 18 of which are international.
As has been the tradition, the festival presents a selection of young promises and veteran artists. One of the biggest names falling into the latter category is the Cream drummer Ginger Baker. Voted among the ten most influential drummers of all time in Rolling Stone, Baker brings his group Jazz Confusion to Tampere.
The festival Saturday will also see a host of experienced artists perform at the main venue Pakkahuone: namely, Paal Nilssen-Love Large Unit, Mats Gustafsson Solo and The Young Mothers. Last year, the leaders of these three groups were seen on the stage all at once with their band The Thing. The opening concert presents Scandinavian young talent galore when the finalists of the Young Nordic Jazz Comets step onto the stage.
Jazz & Poetry
One of the themes of this year’s festival will be the union on jazz and verse. American Saul Williams – one of the most interesting voices in the scene of alternative hip hop – joins forces with his fellow countryman, sax veteran David Murray, and the latter’s new band, Infinity Quartet.
Jazz meets poetry in Finnish, too – twice, actually. Both the rap-jazz spectacle Ricky-Tick Big Band & Julkinen Sana and the top assembly Vapaat Radikaalit featuring the cornerstone of Finnish modernist literature, Hannu Salama, perform on Friday.
First Ladies of Jazz
The closing day of Tampere Jazz Happening 2015 is dedicated to groups led by women. A bandleader, versatile composer and pianist, Carla Bley established herself already in the 1960 as one of the flagbearers of the free jazz movement. At Tampere she will play with her partner bassist Steve Swallow and saxophonist Andy Sheppard.
Other lady-led constellations to take the stage on Sunday include the new orchestra Life and Other Transient Storms, led by Portuguese virtuoso flugelhorn and trumpet player Susana Santos Silva and Danish saxophonist Lotte Anker, and Sacrum Facere with award-winning Estonian reedswoman Maria Faust in the lead. The final concert features Norwegian Hedvig Mollestad Trio.
The programme is available its entirety on www.tamperemusicfestivals.fi/jazz