The fast-rising group is reaching towards the stars, and judging by the applause with which their latest album Life to Everything was received they are likely to get there. The group gives their first live show in Finland at Ääniwalli, turned into a jazz club, at We Jazz 2014 event.
The Anglo-Danish-Swedish trio Phronesis plays live at the We Jazz 2014 festival at Ääniwalli on 12 December. Phronesis could be dubbed as THE European jazz group of the moment, which makes the occasion particularly exciting. Phronesis was the audience’s favourite at this year’s Jazzahead! showcase event, and their latest release Life to Everything has gained the band several influential fans, including The Guardian, Jamie Cullum and Gilles Peterson of the BBC, The Quietus and Downbeat. The British jazz magazine Jazzwise featured the group on the cover of an issue, describing them as “one of the most interesting group of the moment in a global scale”. As the trio proves on their acclaimed live album, recorded at London Jazz Festival, they feel most at home on the stage.
Phronesis’s strengths are their free-flowing energy, well-crafted compositions and strong communication. Formed by bassist Jasper Høiby, pianist Ivo Neame and drummer Anton Eger, Phronesis is a protégé of the renowned Edition Records. We Jazz 2014 has the honour to host the trio’s first live show on the Finnish soil.
In the same concert perform a group of Finnish jazzers from three generations, namely Ahvenlahti-Koivistoinen 3G Quartet, and Elifantree who have promised to present their new material. The cherry on the cake will be provided by We Jazz DJs. Ääniwalli is a venue known for playing host to high-quality electronic music, but for this occasion this stylish minimalist venue will be turned into a full-blooded jazz club - and not just any jazz club: M. A. Numminen, the patron of We Jazz 2014, recently compared Ääniwalli to the most atmospheric Finnish jazz club of all time, Mäyränkolo (the Badger’s Earth).
We Jazz 2014, taking place around Helsinki from 8 to 13 December, is the second week-long jazz event organised by the Helsinki-based creative office We Jazz Oy. The event presents both Finnish and international top jazz and seeks to challenge the given conventions of the jazz concert. Rather than the conventional word “festival”, “installation” and “utopia” perhaps describe the ethos of the event more fittingly.
See the programme in its entirety on http://wejazz.fi/2014
http://editionrecords.com/artists/phronesis/
Tasters from reviews of the latest Phronesis album:
"Captures the coiled-spring energy that’s made them a European festival favourite. Once in, there’s no coming up for air.”
– DOWNBEAT
"I’m a big fan. A beautiful & chaotic conversation between three amazing musicians." – JAMIE CULLUM, BBC RADIO 2
"I need this." – GILLES PETERSON, BBC 6 MUSIC
"For some years now the best piano trio this side of the ocean. Nothing less!" – JAZZ MAGAZINE (France)
"From the outset…the intricate, syncopated bass lines of Hoiby underpin the frenetic drum groove of Eger, while elsewhere the spirit of leaderlessness ebbs and flows, as Neame’s spiralling piano lines join the action."
– BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
"A live album is exactly just the way to get the current Phronesis message across, and this is a powerful one."
– THE GUARDIAN
"More proof, as if it were needed, that Phronesis are one of the most continually exhilarating outfits on the circuit."
– THE QUIETUS
WE JAZZ 2014
Pe 12.12. klo 21–03 Ääniwalli (Pälkäneentie 13, Helsinki)
Phronesis (DK/UK/SE)
Ahvenlahti–Koivistoinen 3G Quintet
Elifantree
We Jazz DJs
Tickets 33 / 22,50 eur (incl. service fees), pre-tickets at Tiketti.
Partners & supporters: Image, Web-veistämö Oy, Unifilm Oy, Goethe-Institut Finnland, City of Helsinki Cultural Office, Jenny & Antti Wihuri foundation, Finnish Music Foundation, Music Finland, the jazz department of the Sibelius Academy.