We Jazz

Uusi Aika is an album that vividly suggests the imprint of traditional music that could be from various parts of the worlds, possibly Europe or the Far East, while the arrangements and performance point to a strong free improviser’s sensibility, writes Kevin Le Gendre.

Since its launch a decade ago, We Jazz has broken the mould of a traditional festival by spreading into unexpected venues while expanding to become a record company, shop and magazine.

During the last year, music consumption has been confined inside the four walls of individual homes, but at the same time it has expanded with the help of streamed concerts which give access to performances from around the world.

Maarit Kytöharju is a Helsinki-based photographer who specialises in taking photos of music and musicians. She made us a compilation of 12 photos reflecting the shifting moods in live music in Finland in 2020.

Saxophonist Jukka Perko has taken his musical communication ideas into other fields of working life with successful lectures combining musical thinking and everyday workplace dynamics. Can listening to improvisation in music teach us something about working together and communicating?

The We Jazz festival - or, in Artistic Director Matti Nives’ words, utopia and installation - has been an integral part of creating what German news magazine Der Spiegel called “The Jazz Miracle of Helsinki”. We Jazz itself is a miracle, says Berlin based music journalist Andreas Müller. Here are his thoughts about a Golden Generation and a Golden Age for an innovative music called Jazz.

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.

Jukka Perko Tritone moves the onetime fierce music of Dizzy Gillespie to somewhat gentler realms, still not losing the original ideas and logics of the songs.

Since 2005, Black Motor has been a proudly local Tampere institution, making its own idiosyncratic way apart from the orthodox Helsinki scene.

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.

...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...