Juhani Aaltonen

The pandemic year brought a record harvest of jazz by women. While Finland prides itself on equality, there’s still a long way to go on the jazz scene, though.

"Berghäll’s six compositions have a multifaceted global flavor. Straight forward jazz rhythms and African beats meet Nordic and even oriental ideas."

"Excellent job, one and all."

During her long and winding career, Iro Haarla has reinvented herself many times over. She has rolled with the punches and beat all odds to become one of the most original and soulful composers in Nordic jazz.

2015 has been a milestone year for the 40-year-old UMO Jazz Orchestra. We invited three key figures to look back on the history of the internationally acclaimed big band.

Jazz composer and musician Heikki Sarmanto was one of his generation’s foremost figures in the 1960s, when Finnish jazz moved away from the traditional towards a more original sound. Another Finnish jazz revolutionary who has been unconcerned about music genres is Henrik Otto Donner, although the two men’s approaches have differed.