Timo Lassy will perform in two lineups at this year’s Tampere Jazz Happening. He gets the honour of concluding our interview series.
What’s happening?
I’m doing well, thank you! I’m looking forward to the weekend in Tampere, it’s great to get to play two special gigs. I haven’t played with my Band for a while, only some duo stuff with Teppo Mäkynen lately. It will be fun!
Timo Lassy Band, performing for the third time at Tampere Jazz Happening, is over ten years old. How have you succeeded in keeping the band together for so long?
This is going to be our 13th year and it feels like the creative expression keeps moving forward. The material has also developed into a more open direction. We like playing together, and successful gigs inspire us.
A jazz musician lives through performances and the audience. What else do those mean to a musician like you? How do they affect your interest, wellbeing, and enthusiasm?
The music develops and lives on stage through the musicians’ collaboration. My most spectacular musical experiences are from live concerts. Performing is the engine of my creative work. Live music causes interaction with the audience.
Two famous Finnish saxophonists, Juhani Aaltonen and Eero Koivistoinen are also performing this year at the Jazz Happening and in the same band. They both started their career in the mid-60s, ten years before you were born. Where do you see yourself at their age, when you’re over 70 or 80 years old?
I greatly admire the life’s work of Junnu and Eero, and it’s really valuable, that they are still active! It is a good goal for myself as well, that the saxophone keeps playing when I’m older.
What’s going to happen?
You can’t really predict the future, at least not in these times. We are living week by week and month by month. We are working on new music, but more on that when it’s finished…
Timo Lassy & Teppo Mäkynen at Pakkahuone on Saturday, 31 October at 20.00
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Timo Lassy Band at Pakkahuone on Sunday, 1 November at 18.30
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