Turku Jazz 2014 kicks off today, running from 14 to 17 August. Turku Jazz festival has taken place the old capital for 45 years. Now the festival has switched indoor venues to outdoor concert milieus and the date from early spring to late summer. The festival starts today and is centered in the brewery restaurant Koulu’s courtyard, which accommodates 900 visitors. The green milieu of the Samppalinna outdoor theatre acts as the second main venue. It will host Saturday’s concert, where Iiro Rantala features as a soloist for Turku Jazz Orchestra. The programme will consist of the orchestra’s conductor Vellu Halkosalmi’s five-part composition Changes, specially composed for Rantala, and the soloist’s own pieces.
Turku Night of the Arts kicking off the festival
“The opening day of the festival was made coincide with the Turku Night of the Arts purposefully this year. It is shortcut to alluring new audience and a convenient landmark in calendar. We intend to stick to this date in the future also”, says Kimmo Hyyppä, the president of Turku Jazz. The positive impact shows already: people have reacted with enthusiasm and the rate of advance ticket booking has soared.
Restaurant Koulu’s courtyard hosts three free concerts on the Night of the Arts. The night is opened by the ten-piece HT Swing Combo, whose first set, as the title informs us, is a tribute to the great instrumentalists of jazz; Coltrane, Rollins, Davis. The second set is dedicated to the jazz tunes popularised by the Finnish actor Olavi Virta. The third concert, Free Rag, features some of Turku’s veteran jazzers led by pianist Matti “Rag” Paananen.
A late night indoor concert at Koulu will see bassist Teemu Åkerblom’s quartet take the stage. Åkerblom is the Turku Jazz Artist of the Year, known from the group Fredator, to mention one. The versatile bassist masters any genre from gipsy swing to modern jazz expression.
The best of today’s Finnish jazz represented on Saturday
Saturday’s headliners are Timo Lassy Band and Jukka Eskola Orquesta Bossa. Having been catapulted to stardom, saxophonist Timo Lassy has been able to stay at the top and gain plenty of international renown, to boot. Lassy’s recent projects include composing the score for the film “Ei kiitos”. At Turku Jazz, Lassy’s sax will be accompanied by the gents Teppo Mäkynen (drums), Antti Lötjönen (bass), Abdissa Assefa (percussion) and Henri Mäntylä (Wurlitzer).
Trumpeter Jukka Eskola is known for his acclaimed solo albums and as the leader of his own quintet and as a member in the Five Corners Quintet and Jimi Tenor’s band. Eskola, one of today’s leading Finnish jazz artists, will bring his project Orquesta Bossa to Turku. The group is formed by a jazz quintet and the praised Proton String Quartet, who together create a stylish and effortlessly swinging blend of bossa nova music.
Collaboration with Turku Music Festival
Some years before, both Turku Jazz and Turku’s Ruisrock rock festival belonged to a larger body, managed by Turku Music Festival Foundation. After separating, now Turku Jazz and Turku Music Festival not only coincide temporally but join forces again after a long pause.
The two festivals resume collaboration by co-organising a concert in which, fittingly, jazz meets classical music. The concert features the American top pianist Dan Tepfer, whose jazzy rendition of of J. S. Bach’s "Goldberg Variations" has earned the young pianist both critical acclaim and charmed listeners around the globe. The atmospheric Saturday night and the Koulu banquet hall will provide the milieu for Tepfer's virtuoso performance.
Turku Jazz and Flame Jazz proudly give you…
This year’s Turku Jazz festival will also mark the start of the collaboration between the two Turku-based jazz associations, Turku Jazz and Flame Jazz. And in what fine way! On Sunday, we truly are in for a rare treat as Turku Jazz in Flames will present the legendary American saxophonist Dave Liebman as a special guest in Aki Rissanen // Jussi Lehtonen Quartet.
See the programme in its entirety here.