Taking place at the beginning of November, Tampere Jazz Happening will be entering a new decade this year as this will be the 41st edition of the festival – once again, the convincing programme includes musicians from several generations of jazz and a multitude of genres. Altogether 25 ensembles from Finland and around the world will perform from 3rd to 6th of November 2022 at the Pakkahuone and Klubi venues of Tullikamari as well as in restaurant Telakka. One of the performances will be a surprise concert from the winner of the Yrjö Award given by the Jazz Finland organisation.
The most renowned and industrious musician at Tampere Jazz Happening will be American Ron Carter, who is the most recorded double bassist known in his field. Carter played his first concert in Finland already in October 1964 when he took the stage of Helsinki’s Messuhalli as part of trumpetist Miles Davis’s legendary quintet. After 58 years, he will now give his first ever performance at the Tampere Jazz Happening, well-timed for All Saints’ Day.
Other long-established artists of the event include vibraphonist and composer Mulatu Astatke, called the creator of Ethio-jazz, and Ron Carter’s age-mate, flutist Juhani ”Junnu” Aaltonen, who will encounter the Finnish trio Plop at Telakka’s opening concert on Friday evening. The two evenings at Telakka feature six Finnish ensembles, among them guitarist Varre Vartiainen’s Almost Standards, with pieces from his surprising debut album.
True to tradition, the festival’s focus will be on new ensembles, some of which will be performing in Finland for the first time. These include the likes of Emmeluth’s Amoeba and Moskus, who will perform on Thursday the 3rd of November on the free-of-charge opening evening titled Spotlight on Norway. Mette Rasmussen Trio North, who will open the concerts at Pakkahuone on Saturday the 5th of November, and the Finno-French GRIO opening them on Sunday the 6th of November are both first-time performers in Finland.
The Friday evening at Pakkahuone will focus on large orchestras, both of them presenting thematic works. UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra will perform Ritual Dances, a piece by Danish drummer Stefan Pasborg which is based on Igor Stravinsky’s ballets. LIUN + The Science Fiction Band, founded by Swiss singer Lucia Cadotsch and German saxophonist Wanja Slavin, will play music from their sophomore album Lily of the Nile, which will see its release on Friday 4th November at Pakkahuone.
New and as yet unreleased music will also be heard this year from the Finnish Selma Savolainen Horror Vacui and Kadi Vija Key Project as well asfrompianist Seppo Kantonen, who has composed Bias, a piece commissioned by Tampere Jazz Happening which will see its premiere on Saturday evening at Pakkahuone. The Saturday at Pakkahuone will involve other novel ensembles as well, since the Swedish-Norwegian, two-saxophonist The End, the Japanese Satoko Fujii Tokyo Trio and the American Theo Croker ”Love Quantum” have not performed in Finland before.
Another first-timer will be American Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few, who will open the concerts at Pakkahuone on Sunday the 6th of November and who draws great inspiration from saxophonist John Coltrane, particularly from his album A Love Supreme. The final Sunday concert at Pakkahuone will also honor a Coltrane, the pianist and harpist Alice Coltrane. Her works will be interpreted by the fresh line-up of American drummer Hamid Drake.
