David Helbock's Random/Control

David Helbock (b. 1984), a pianist and composer who has made about thirty albums, has many irons in the fire: at least a quintet, three trios, and a duo, on top of playing solo. And of course he must forge, because according to an unverified story, the old German surname Helbock might have come from a village blacksmith who forged helmets or armour in his forge.

Jazz pianists are clearly the main inspiration for Helbock, also when he has recorded compositions by others. A good example of this is David Helbock’s Random/Control of one keyboard player, two brass players and about twenty instruments, which is coming to Finland for the first time. It has interpreted the compositions of Thelonious Monk and Lennie Tristano in a guaranteed original way, and on its most recent third album, Tour D’Horizon (2018), ten other jazz pianists, from Dave Brubeck to Joe Zawinul, as mentioned in the album’s subtitle.

But Helbock’s first appearance at the Tampere Jazz Happening offers something original and even new, because at the heart of the Pakkahuone programme are the pieces he has composed to poems by William Blake, Emily Dickinson and Erich Fried, among others. That’s why the trio will be joined this time by singer Filippa Gojo (b. 1988), an award-winning Austrian, who for instance leads her own jazz quartet. But she is not the same singer with whom David Helbock’s Random/Control will record these new songs live in front of a studio audience in October – shortly before the Tampere Jazz Happening.