The 29th April Jazz Festival will take place in Espoo, Finland, 21–26 April 2015. The Festival, a member of the Europe Jazz Network (EJN) presents some of the most prominent Finnish and international artists as well as some of rhythm music’s freshest and most interesting rising stars.
April Jazz is the biggest jazz festival in Finland’s capital city area. The 29th festival takes place in Espoo, only a 15 minute bus ride from Helsinki city center. This spring the international highlights include the American saxophonist David Sanborn, jazz vocalist Diane Schuur and fado's new wave's brightest star Ana Moura. This year's program presents three interesting album release concerts from some of Finland's most prominent jazz ensembles - saxophonist Jukka Perko's and pianist Iiro Rantala's new duo, vocalist Anna-Mari Kähärä's orchestra and saxophonist Manuel Dunkel's quartet featuring the Swedish trumpeter Anders Bergcrantz. Several clinics are organized throughout the festival and they are all free of charge for the participants. Every night ends with a jam session at the Tapiola Garden Hotel, which is the place to stay for anyone looking for accommodation during the festival.
Espoo Cultural Centre in Tapiola and Sello Hall in Leppävaara are the main venues and from Wednesday to Saturday the evening continues with a jam session at the Sokos Hotel Tapiola Garden. In addition to the concert program there’s much more to see throughout the week. Get inspiration from the masters of your instrument at the jazz clinics, take the kids along and visit the children’s event or put on you dancing shoes and have fun at the dance ball.
International roster: David Sanborn, Ana Moura, Diane Schuur, Ruthie Foster, Antonio Sanchez and Migration, Tim Ries, Oregon, Soweto Kinch
Domestic artists: Jukka Perko & Iiro Rantala, Anna-Mari Kähärän Orkesteri, Manuel Dunkel Quartet, Espoo Big Band, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Elektro GT etc.
Clinics: Ralph Towner, Diane Schuur, Antonio Sanchez, Grégoire Maret etc.
More: jam sessions every night, kids' jazz day on Saturday, afternoon dance ball on Sunday etc.
April Jazz website: http://apriljazz.fi/
April Jazz Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/apriljazzfestival
April Jazz twitter: https://twitter.com/AprilJazzFest
April Jazz 2015 spotify playlist: https://play.spotify.com/user/apriljazzfestival/playlist/3FiePmRDriD8V5LBBsU3Wr
April Jazz youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvwLs5N7x5r-vvuHV_gdrsg/playlists
