The Finnish Jazz Federation is proud to present the freshest and most exciting jazz night in town, and reveal the five bands that are performing live at the fifteenth edition of the Young Nordic Jazz Comets showcase on September 18 at Koko Jazz Club! This year the YNJC showcase takes place at the Jazz Finland festival, which is a one-of-a-kind jazz export event with nearly two hundred music professionals exploring Finnish jazz.
- The YNJC artists come from all the genres of jazz, and we’re truly happy to present these particular bands to the European jazz professionals and of course, the Finnish audience. We are to thank the Nordic music education and perhaps also the current open-mindness of the jazz environment that we have so many talented, young bands and artists out there to choose from. It’s such an inspiration to be able to provide them a professional stage to perform on, says Lauri Laurila, the Managing Director of The Finnish Jazz Federation. The Jazz Federation is one of the five Nordic jazz organizations who fund and produce the Young Nordic Jazz Comets project together.
- The network between us, Jazz I Danmark, Music Export Iceland, Norsk Jazzforum (Norway) and Svensk Jazz (Sweden) has been strong throughout these fifteen years, and we’re constantly developing our work to match the current trends in the jazz industry. Music and musicians have always been in the focus of YNJC. The goal is and will be to provide a platform for the bands to go from local to international, adds Laurila.
Many successful jazz acts, like JazzKamikaze, Ilmiliekki Quartet, Naoko Sakata Trio and Pixel, have started their career with the YNJC. Maybe we have brand new comets among the edition of 2014:
DENMARK: Musik før Hemlösa
Signe Emmeluth – sax, Amadeus Wedberg – drums, Björn Petersson – bass
The band members met in the autumn of 2012 when they started at Skurups Folkhögskola. Their shared interest for the improvisational and experimental aspects of jazz quickly brought them together and shortly afterwards they founded Musik før Hemlösa.
Their music consists of cheerful and forceful melodies with an explosive expression. The compositions are simple, straightforward and bare, creating a foundation for free improvisation. Their strongest sources of inspiration are Albert Ayler and Jesper Zeuthen.
FINLAND: Elena & The Rom Ensemble
Elena Mindru - vocals, Sampo Hiukkanen - violin, Tuomas J. Turunen - piano, Eero Seppä - bass, Anssi Tirkkonen – drums
Elena & The Rom Ensemble is a jazz group led by singer Elena Mindru. The group invites the audience to an exotic musical journey to Eastern European soundscapes. The foundation of their repertoire is mainly based on Elena’s compositions. They inventively combine elements of Romanian folk music into American jazz tradition. Elena Mindru is accompanied by an acoustic jazz quartet which also includes violin that adds a special and distinct flavour to their sound.
ICELAND: Aurora
Sigmar Þór Matthíasson - bass, Helgi Rúnar Heiðarsson - tenor sax, Tómas Jónsson - piano, keys, Óskar Kjartansson - drums
Aurora is a newly formed Icelandic jazz quartet put together by bassist Sigmar Matthiasson. The members first met at The F.Í.H. School of Music and have been playing together in various settings for few years. The quartet plays original compositions by all members of the band, music filled with high energy, colorful melodies and odd-meter rhythms. The band got its name from Iceland's signature northern lights, which are as colorful and unpredictable as Aurora's music.
NORWAY: Krokofant
Tom Hasslan – guitar, Axel Skalstad – drums, Jørgen Mathisen – saxophone
Cross-breed a crocodile and an elephant and you might end up with an ungodly hybrid: a Krokofant. Familiar to Norwegians from a popular kids’ song, a real life Krokofant would be a lumbering, trumpeting beast with a fearsome array of teeth in its snapping jaws. Which pretty much sums up the music made by the Krokofant trio on their debut LP for Rune Grammofon. The young, semi-improvising power trio typify the new and invigorating movement currently sweeping across the Nordic region: hard boiled improvisation and strong instrumental personalities bolted onto rock beats and driving rhythms.
SWEDEN: Intone
Eric Arellano – sax, Beate Wiesinger – bass, Per Orvang – guitar, Oskar Stenmark – trumpet, Johan Birgenius – drums
The band “Intone” was founded in Autumn 2010 in Gothenburg, Sweden, having met at the Academy of Music and Drama the group collaborates with their mutual drive for new musical experiences. Their original compositions are influenced by traditional jazz elements, free improvised music as well as jungle/drum n´bass grooves or elements of pop music. The members, all in their twenties, come from different countries in and outside of Europe and already made names as individual improvisors.
The Finnish edition of YNJC is co-produced with Jazz I Danmark, Music Export Iceland, Norsk Jazzforum (Norway) and Svensk Jazz (Sweden) and supported by the Finnish-Danish Culture Fund and the Finnish-Norwegian Culture Fund.
Read more about Young Nordic Jazz Comets: www.youngnordicjazzcomets.com
Young Nordic Jazz Comets 2014
Koko Jazz Club, Hämeentie 3, Helsinki
Thursday, September 18, at 7.00pm
Free entrance, no age limit.
19.00 Doors open
19.30 Aurora (ICE)
20.00 Krokofant (NOR)
20.30 Musik För Hemlösa (DEN)
21.00 Intone (SWE)
21.30 Elena & The Rom Ensemble (FIN)
21.50 Jam Session - bring your own instruments!