Before the summer break I’d like to give you a little update on recent happenings as well as highlights of fall 2014.<\/p>\n
The Contemporary Collective’s two showcase concerts this spring were very rewarding on various levels. The septet version\u00a0(which includes a\u00a0string quartet) on the other hand,\u00a0playing highly elaborate compositions, gave a smashing performance at the Koko Jazz Club, \u00a0challenging the borderline between contemporary music and jazz and proving my understanding that there is no such thing as a borderline: these fantastic\u00a0musicians shifting effortlessly back and forth between two idioms of expression that\u00a0seemed to be so incompatible.<\/p>\n Maybe having the same band\u00a0name (Contemporary Collective) for these two different set-ups is confusing. On one hand I consider\u00a0the two bands being two sides of the same coin, but maybe for the audience it would be necessary and easier to distinguish the two approaches. I’ll think about it over the summer. Feel free to give me some feedback on the matter. I’d very much appreciate your\u00a0input! (info<at>satnamusic.fi)<\/p>\n Actually, this is what I just did with the Sid Hille Brotherhood\u00a0(formerly called Film Collective). It just got too confusing (even for myself) to advertise\u00a0three different ‘collectives’.<\/p>\n So, the Brotherhood<\/a> played a memorable show at Helsinki’s Juttutupa :::::::sigh:::::: And so I’m looking forward to the adventures coming up this fall: So, I’m not going to be bored \u00a0\ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n In the composer’s shed I’ll complete two pieces for the Contemporary Collective, one to first be performed at the Kanneltalo in Helsinki on Oct 29th and another one to first be performed at Iiro Rantala’s prestigious Kansi Auki Festival on Nov 13th.<\/p>\n
\nThe\u00a0quartet version of the band (Hille-Viinikainen-Nikula-Hohti playing mostly improvised music) played its debut performance in the wonderful Temppeliaukio Church. The concert was filmed and recorded.
\nWith this material in hand I raised a lot of interest at the JazzAhead trade fair in Bremen: the quartet has such an original instrumentation, these brilliant\u00a0musicians creating\u00a0spontaneously such thrilling textures, and all this while being a compact band to travel with. (Listen to some material on our soundcloud<\/a>.)<\/p>\n
\nI’m lacking words to describe this bunch of geniuses, each one of them having such a unique voice, being such unique artists in their own right, yet blending into our\u00a0incredible chemistry, creating this (again:) unique music.
\nWell, I don’t want to sound like I’m bragging, but ask the people who were there\u2026..<\/p>\n
\n– first, there will be a re-union of Infinita<\/a>, my dear Finnish-Italian quintet, at the Nuoro Jazz Festival in August
\n– then the first performance of my bandoneon concerto in September with the Lappeenranta sinfonietta (Sep 3rd-5th)
\nThree performances with soloist Kristina Kuusisto who commissioned the piece, conducted by Tibor Boganyi.
\n– and then THE TOUR! The Contemporary Collective<\/a>\u00a0on tour in Finland!
\nA lot of effort has gone\u00a0into the organisation of this concert series, six concerts before Christmas and it will go on in January with dates to be published soon.<\/p>\n