Tuesday 25 July sees two hot young groups give their best at Jyväskylä’s legendary jazz venue, Poppari, the home of Summer Jazz Club concert series. Aurora Hentunen Quartet and OK:KO, the stars of the July edition, comprise up-and-coming Finnish jazz musicians who have directed their gaze to the international scene at an early stage of their careers. Now, these two constellations will present international flavours from the metropoles of the big world for the Jyväskylä audience.
Aurora Hentunen is a Lappeenranta-born pianist and composer, today based in Amsterdam. As Hentunen is a former resident of Jyväskylä, this concert will be a homecoming of sorts to her. In addition to their leader, the group members have performed in both the European and American capitals of jazz – Amsterdam and New York – in addition to Finland, so we are talking about a bunch of youngsters who definitely bear comparison to their international colleagues.
Hentunen’s compositions lean heavily on the Scandinavian traditions of jazz and folk music. Her tender touch on the piano gets an interesting counterpart in Ville Luukkonen’s original and partly electronic drumming. The pair’s seamless co-work is complemented by bassist Veli-Matti Silanterä’s versatile, electronically enhanced bass lines and Joona Kilponen’s touching trumpet melodies and bold solos.
In a short time OK:KO have become one of the most sought-after exports of Finnish jazz. Led by drummer Okko Saastamoinen, the quartet represented Finland in last year’s Young Nordic Jazz Comets showcase, and their debut Land E., released by Norwegian AMP Music & Records, has proven a delightful surprise among this year’s jazz albums. Both the album and OK:KO’s shows have been widely praised in jazz media from Scandinavia all the way to the United States. The group was awarded with the prestigious We Jazz Rising Star prize by We Jazz, and besides touring Finland they have given shows around Scandinavia. The concert at the Summer Jazz Club will be a part of a larger tour that saw them, among others, on the main stage of the Pori Jazz Festival.
OK:KO’s mix of Scandinavian jazz and rustic romanticism is avoids unnecessary complexity; rather, their music is about strong melodic lines and a knack for painting delicious, picturesque atmospheres that sparks an emotional reaction and a vivid memory trace.
https://open.spotify.com/album/63OnMA5B47m57A1bz62vxQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmZLNO-_1nU
Summer Jazz Club feat. Aurora Hentunen Quartet & OK:KO
Poppari, Jyväskylä
Tue 25 Jul 2017 at 21.00.
Tickets 8/5 euroa. Tickets available at the door at 20.30, pre-tickets available at Poppari.
Summer Jazz Club is supported by the Finnish Music Foundation. Partners: Jyväskylä University Press and Ravintola Poppari.
www.facebook.com/summerjazzclub
Photo: Nichon Glerum.