Oddarrang

Genre-bending trio Elifantree keeps challenging itself – this time creating music with eight drummers in as many countries.

"Oddarrang remain champions of dark and haunting instrumental music. Don’t miss them.​"

Led by the startling voice of Anni Elif Egecioglu, Elifantree paints from an idiosyncratic palette, spattered with jazz and electronics. This Helsinki trio celebrates its 10th anniversary with new collaborations and a forthcoming album.

Two jazz professionals, journalist Andreas Müller and label manager Dave Stapleton, had a brief chat about Finnish jazz prior to Jazzahead! 2017, the international jazz expo and showcase festival taking place from 27 until 30 April in Bremen, Germany.

Olavi Louhivuori splashed on to the scene in 2002 as drummer of Ilmiliekki Quartet, which scooped up Finnish and Nordic jazz awards. Since then, this restless multi-instrumentalist has played with the genre-shattering Oddarrang and many other groups in Europe and the US – while at the same time composing for orchestras and electronic solo albums.

For those interested in labelling, Oddarrang could easily be lumped in with so-called post-jazz bands if only they relied solely on meandering and moody soundscapes. Oddarang haunts the listener for a long time.

Not long ago, a new style of improvised music from the top of the world was taking the global jazz scene by storm. Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish bands had a novel angle on the genre and a phenomenon dubbed Nordic jazz was born. But continuing success requires idealism, contacts and hard work. The green slogan “Think globally, act locally” applies here as well.

"Released by Dave Stapleton’s Edition Records, In Cinema is by far Oddarrang’s strongest album. It is both imaginative and accessible and, despite at times being just a bit serious, a joy to listen to."

...Staging six days of jazz at the beginning of the Christmas season was a risky undertaking, but We Jazz’s astute programming decisions made it work...