News

Jazz Federation’s fall 2023 tours selected

Raisa Siivola
16.12.2022

The Board of Finnish Jazz Federation selected four bands to tour Finland in the fall of 2023. The inhouse productions include singer Riikka Keränen’s quartet and pianist Sid Hille’s F# ensemble, that also features reedsman Pepa Päivinen. The supported co-production tours ar drummer Tomi Kämäräinen’s Case Kämäräinen feat. Severi Pyysalo, and vibraphonist Panu Savolainen’s and folk band JPP’s collaboration.

Jazz Federation’s inhouse productions next fall are, as follows:

  • September 11–24, 2023 Riikka Keränen 
    Riikka Keränen – vocals, Juho Valjakka – piano, Jori Huhtala – bass, Anssi Tirkkonen – drums
    Read more on Keränen’s website: www.riikkakeranenmusic.com
  • October 9–22, 2023 F# feat. Pepa Päivinen 
    Sid Hille – keyboard, theremin, Jori Huhtala – bass, Markus Ketola – drums, Pertti ”Pepa” Päivinen – saxophones, flutes
    Read more on Hille’s website: www.sidhille.com

Jazz Federation’s co-productions received grants, as follows:

  • Case Kämäräinen feat. Severi Pyysalo 
    Production: Tomi Kämäräinen, grant 6000,00 €
    Severi Pyysalo – vibraphone, Marek Konarski – saxophone (POL), Tuomo Uusitalo – piano, Petter Asbjørnsen – bass (NOR), Tomi Kämäräinen – drums
    Read more on Kämäräinen’s website: www.tomikamarainen.com
  • Panu Savolainen & JPP 
    Production: Panu Savolainen, grant 6000,00 €
    Panu Savolainen – vibraphone, Mauno Järvelä – violin, Arto Järvelä – violin, Matti Mäkelä – violin, Tommi Pyykönen – violin, Timo Myllykangas – double bass, Timo Alakotila – harmonium
    Read more on Savolainen’s website: www.panusavolainen.com

The tour dates of the co-operative tours will be announced at a later stage.

Applicants for the fall 2023 tours and Jazz-Espa

The call for the tours and Jazz-Espa concert series took place in October 2022, and was met with 83 applications. The applicant ensembles featured altogether 364 musicians. Out of the musician total, 39 were female (11 %), 317 were male (87 %), 1 was non-binary and 7 preferred not to say their gender. The majority of the musicians, 344 people, were Finnish nationals or Finnish residents. The selection for the 2023 Jazz-Espa concert series will be made in February 2023, and the programme will be announced in April.

Jazz – heard and seen!

Finnish Jazz Federation’s tours promote the national accessibility of jazz and working opportunities for musicians, especially outside of the capital area. The touring activities include nine tours annually: 4 inhouse productions and 5 co-productions. The tours feature approximately 100 concerts in 40 locations around Finland.

Article photo: Riikka Keränen. Photographer: Jouni Harala.