HERD heading to North Sea Jazz Festival in July
North Sea Jazz Festival is one of biggest jazz festivals, expecting this year more than a thousand musicians, spread out over 150 performances and thirteen different stages. HERD won the SENA Award for Best Group in the EBU European Jazz Competition held at North Sea Jazz Festival last year.
HERD was formed in the beginning of 2009, and consists of Panu Savolainen on vibraphone, Mikko Pellinen on double bass and Tuomas Timonen on drums. Hailing from Helsinki, Finland, the combo ranks among the most potent of the new breed of forward-thinking jazz ensembles. The band has gained both domestic and international acclaim thanks to their successful debut album HERD Live!!, and their energetic stage presence.
HERD will also perform in Comblain Jazz Festival in Comblain-La-Tour, Belgium, on 8 July.
Finnish jazz will be represented also in other international festivals:
The Finnish jazz-savvy soul will be on stage, as Jo Stance will perform at the Istanbul Jazz Festival in Turkey on 7-8 July, The Northern Governors will be grooving in Stereoleto in St Petersburg, Russia on 24 June and UMO Jazz Orchestra present their Supermusic funk and soul production with Swedish soloist Magnum Coltrane Price to Jazz Baltica, Germany on 30 June.
The Timo Lassy Band will perform in Cultura Inquieta Festival, Madrid on 21 July, and Blixt (Raoul Björkenheim, Bill Laswell, Morgan Ågren) in T-Mobile New Horizons Film Festival in Wroclaw, Poland, on 7 July. Also Iiro Rantala will be playing the piano in Jazz Baltica, Germany (30 June), in Montreaux, Switzerland (9 July) and on See More Jazz Festival (duo with Lars Danielsson) in Rostok, Germany (17 August).
Text: Mirka Pesonen