UMO Jazz Orchestra’s autumn edition of Monday Night at Koko Jazz Club kicks off next week. First started last spring, the concert series became an instant success. Monday Night at Koko is inspired by the tradition that big band gigs generally took place on Mondays in New York in the heyday swing. This autumn will see a three-concert continuation to the series with new themes. However, the overarching idea remains the same; to start the week with a good dose of classic big band stuff.
CONCERTS: MONDAY NIGHT AT KOKO JAZZ CLUB, Hämeentie 3, Helsinki, www.kokojazz.fi
Tickets at Tiketti starting from 19 € / 16 € (service fees included). Season ticket: 3 tickets for the price of 2.
Mon 29 Sep 2014 at 7:00PM
Bebop Peppered Up - UMO plays the music of Art Pepper, Marty Paich & Bill Holman
In the first Koko Jazz Club concert of autumn 2014, UMO Jazz Orchestra serves two courses of nutritious and rhythmically rich jazz-meals spiced up with a sprinkling Californian sounds. The musical menu consists of bebop classics like “Donna Lee” and “Anthropology” by Charlie Parker, “Airegin” by Sonny Rollins and intense arrangements of such ballads as “Peacocks “by Jimmy Rowles and “Yesterdays” by Jerome Kern.
The first half of the concert is based on the record Art Pepper + Eleven: Modern Jazz Classics by the great Art Pepper (1925-1982), alto saxophonist and clarinetist and the creator of the so-called West Coast jazz. The compositions were arranged by Marty Paich (1925-1995), who is considered as one of the major jazz arrangers in the West Coast strain. UMO’s versions are based on the original scores, edited Pepper’s widow Laurie Pepper. UMO’s lead saxophonist Jouni Järvelä, who also conducts the orchestra in the first half, steps into Art Pepper’s shoes by playing his parts.
The second half of the concert concentrates on some notable jazz themes played by full, 16-piece big band. The great Bill Holman (1927-), whose career spans over seven decades, is behind the imaginative and nuanced arrangements. In addition to his own orchestras, Holman has written his innovative, counterpoint-filled music for Stan Kenton, Count Basie, Woody Herman and Gerry Mulligan. He has featured as UMO’s guest composer, conductor and soloist in the 1980’s and 90’s.
Mon 27 Oct 2014 at 8:00PM
Laurel and Hardy – A Cinema Concert
This nostalgic film concert pays homage to the most comical duo of the silent film era, Laurel and Hardy. Two hilarious Laurel and Hardy films from 1928 will be screened at this concert: Laurel and Hardy as musicians in You’re Darn Tootin’ and as accident-prone builders in The Finishing Touch. Timo Hietala and Pessi Levanto, who are among Finland’s leading film composers, have contributed the music to underscore the absurd world of Laurel and Hardy. UMO will play while Laurel and Hardy get goofy.
Mon 1 Dec 2014 at 7:00PM
The Family Reunion of Blues
This concert features UMO Jazz Orchestra’s renditions of blues in its different forms. The sixteen-piece tunes their horns to the narrative flow, distinctive intonation and mood of the genre. UMO takes it from the boogie of jump-blues, all the way to sophisticated shades of blue. Composers range from Duke Ellington to Kari “Sonny” Heinilä. Jouni Järvelä conducts.