Joonas Haavisto Trio has been booked by the acclaimed Tokyo Jazz Festival whose programme this year includes such names as Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Benny Golson and Christian McBride. The trio will perform on 6 September at the legendary The Plaza, which has hosted several ECM artists’ concerts in earlier years.
Joonas Haavisto Trio’s second album, Micro to Macro, came out on Japanese Blue Gleam label in December 2012. This was followed by a successful release tour in Tokyo in April 2013. Two of the tour concerts were sold out and the reviews in the biggest jazz media of the country, Jazz Life and Jazz Japan among others, praised lavishly the trio’s performance. Also this time Joonas Haavisto Trio will perform at clubs and venues around Tokyo in addition to the festival.
Pianist Joonas Haavisto, bassist Antti Lötjönen and drummer Joonas Riippa have established themselves among the key figures of the 21st century Finnish jazz. These musicians have played in UMO Jazz Orchestra, Five Corners Quintet, Verneri Pohjola Quartet and Mikko Pellinen Mini Big Band, to mention a few.
Already in 2009, on his trio’s debut, Blue Waters, Haavisto was more than convincing. He made his final breakthrough, proving himself a first-class pianist and composer, with the release of the sophomore, Micro to Macro, in February 2013. In Finland, the album came out on Fredriksson Music label. In Japan, the same album was selected as the favourite newcomer by the two largest record shops of the country, Tower Records and Disk Union. The release was noted in Britain as well, where jazz medium ukvibe jazz culture picked it as the best jazz album of the autumn out of new American and European releases.
Joonas Haavisto Trio combines the traditional trio line-up with a confident, no-nonsense style and the breeziness of the Scandinavian lineage of jazz, known for its emphasis on dialogue between band members.
The trio, soon to celebrate their tenth anniversary, has performed at numerous Finnish and international jazz festivals, in Finland, Sweden, Norway, France, and England. Their latest tours took them to England and France and they visited Japan in February 2013. The trio has also featured as a soloist with Lapin kamariorkesteri (Lapland Chamber Orchestra) and Keski-Pohjanmaan kamariorkesteri (Central Ostrobothnia Chamber Orchestra), both top-class Finnish classical orchestras.
The leading man, Haavisto, has been successful in such international solo piano competitions, as Jazz Improvizacija in Lithuania in 2006, and the Nottingham International Jazz Piano Competition, in England in 2010.
“Jazz has always been deemed difficult music, but Micro to Macro does not make confusing the listener as its main aim. This is not to say that the album would try to play to the gallery either. The compositions are enduring, and their open serenity makes the confused world look clearer and more within one’s grasp.” – Pauli Kallio, Soundi
“Joonas Haavisto’s style is reminiscent of Keith Jarrett and Brad Mehldau. Scandinavian coolness and catchy melodies belong to his definitive strengths.” – Jazz Life, Japan
Joonas Haavisto - piano
Antti Lötjönen - bass
Joonas Riippa - drums
Further information:
Joonas Haavisto, johaavis@gmail.com, +385 503746476