Terve, Moi! – Greetings from Helsinki!!

This is my first post written from my new home here in Finland, how exciting…..

I won’t bore you with details of everything I’ve been up to while out here, just a few, and I thought everyone back in Manc might like to check out some of the music I’ve found out here. The course is going well at the Sibelius Academy, (I’m on the NOMAZZ Nordic Jazz Masters course, well worth checking out if you’re interested in studying jazz) It’s pretty flexible and I’ve taken a few classes this term – Ear training/Repertoire/Free-improv etc… I’m free alot of the time though and have met some fantastic musicians who I’ve been jamming with loads. The facilities are good too, several nice recording studios available for free so there are a few recordings on the cards later this term. I’ve got some gigs coming up – Big Band and a new trio a few of us are starting up. Also, me Anton and Ben (mostly me though) are running an Efpi Records showcase in December, Ben and Anton are gunna fly over like rocks stars (minus the money and screaming fans) and we’ll play some of the Beats & Pieces rep with musicians from here and some HAQ too.

There have been quite a few really great gigs on while I’ve been out here, somewhere between Manchester (none) and London (loads) I’ve listed some of them bellow along with some Finnish musicians and bands I’ve met while being out here.

What else…….???

In my spare time I’ve been in the Sauna, Climbing and falling of my bike (I’ve attached a photo of it because it’s cool and I forgot to take any photos of gigs I’ve been to….)

Missing Manchester loads!!

Check out the musicians below if you get a minute.

Gigs I’ve seen;

Olavi Louhivuori (Drums)
Kalle Kalima (Guitar) with Umo Big Band
Rufuge Trio – Theo Bleckmann (Voice), John Hollenbeck (Drums), Gary Vercace (Keys)
Mikko Innanen & Mika Kallio (Sax & Drum Duo)
Guillermo Klein (keys/Composer) & Umo Big Band

My friends bands you should check out:

kauhukakara
Laser
Plop
schnellertollermeier
Maratone quintet

People I’ve been listening to over here (not necessarily from here…);

Juhani Aaltonen
Edward Vesala
Raoul Bjorkenheim
Mats Gustafsson
Tomasz Stanko
Claudia Quintet
Ellery Eskelin
John Surman