On Friday 14 August Turku Jazz time travels back 30 years; while on Saturday 15 August it will be all about jazz – Finnish jazz, to be precise – and the Turku Jazz Artist of the Year, Ilpo Murtojärvi. The festival closes on Sunday 16 August with Turku Jazz Orchestra playing the great Quincy Jones.
Last summer Turku Jazz festival was moved from spring to late summer – with success. The parklike milieu of Restaurant Koulu proved to provide an excellent setting for a jazz event and this is where the festival returns this year, too. The festival kicks off on Thursday 13 August, on the Night of the Arts, with a number of free world music concerts. The day’s jazz programme, co- organised with Harlem Jazz Club, takes place in Börsin puisto to avoid the two events from competing with each other.
Thursday 13 August
First in line is Kimmo & His Greek Ensemble, who treat us to a selection of gems of Greek music. Originally a studio project, the group gained so many fans after releasing their debut album early this year that they started touring and performing live.
Along with the next band, the Helsinki-based Reporters, we are taken from Greece to the New World and the Cajun style seasoned with a few original flavours. This group describes their style as inspired by the Delta River boogaloo, rock and country music. The lyrics view melancholy and human relationships with a tint of irony and dark comedy. This will be a journey of tingling guitars, labyrinthine rhythm patterns and spooky organ undercurrents lurking into the consciousness like shadows.
The night will be topped off with some searing-hot Afrobeat.
Friday 14 August
Friday night a nostalgic breeze blows from the 70s and 80s. Jahnukaiset, messengers of straight-ahead jazz, from Tampere play jazz with a playful glint in their eyes. After them the stage is taken by the very own beat poet of Turku, seer of everyday life, Markku Into, who has promised to recite – perhaps even sing – his poetry from the collection Blues One – naturally to the accompaniment of a blues band. The evening is taken to its grand finale by Jukka Syrenius Band, active since the year 1981.
Saturday 15 August
Saturday will be begun by Aninkaisten Sävel in a free afternoon concert. The 14-piece borrows their signature sound from the joyful 1920s and 30s.
For some years, the board of Turku Jazz ry. has chosen an artist, somehow connected to the festival, – an experienced veteran artist or a rising star – as the artist of the year. This time the acknowledgement has been given to guitarist Ilpo Murtojärvi who will also front his own quartet on Aura Stage on Saturday. Other offerings of the night come firmly from the vanguard of today’s Finnish jazz: Fifth Avenue and Koutus – both young but laready experienced and established groups.
Sunday 16 August
The internationally recognised composer Vellu Halkosalmi – the Quincy Jones of Finland – has prepared a treat for us: a number of compositions and arrangements by his legendary role model from years 1956-1965 lifted from such albums as This Is How I Feel About Jazz, Birth Of A Band and Soul Bossa. A number of the arrangements to feature in the concert are original, given by Jones himself. Halkosalmi also conducts Turku Jazz Orchestra in the concert.
The cherry on the cake will of course be the final jam session.