Joona Toivanen (born 1981) is a Finnish jazz pianist, currently resided in Gothenburg, Sweden. He has become one of the most talented jazz pianists in Finland. Toivanen’s own trio has toured frequently in Finland and abroad, for example in Europe, Asia and Australia, and besides his trio, Toivanen has worked with many top jazz musicians in Europe. The trio won the 2018 Teosto Prize for their album "XX".

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Vibraphone trio hailing from Helsinki, consisting of Panu Savolainen (vibraphone), Mikko Pellinen (bass), and Tuomas Timonen (drums). Herd was formed in 2009, and their debut album was a live recording simply titled "Live!!" (2011). They also recorded a collaboration album with singer Aili Ikonen. In 2019, the trio returned with another album with a simple title: "X".

Tuomo & Markus (also known as Pratt & Moody) is a musical project from Finnish soul/jazz artist Tuomo Prättälä and singer-songwriter Markus Nordenstreng of The Latebirds. The duo's music is influenced by folk rock and jazz as well as soul, American alt-country and americana. After releasing their debut full-length "Dead Circles" in 2016, the duo toured internationally, playing shows with bands like Wilco.

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Jazz pianist, harpist, composer, and band leader Iro Haarla studied at Sibelius Academy, initially intending to become a concert pianist, but pivoted to jazz upon meeting the jazz drummer Edward Vesala in 1978. Haarla first became known as the arranger of the works of Vesala, and only launched her solo career after his death in 1999, performing in and leading numerous ensembles. Haarla went on to record several albums, both as a leader and ensemble artist. Haarla's music has been characterized as "that mystical halfway point between improv and composition".

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Helmi Antila (b. 2000) is an singer-songwriter, violinist, and pianist from Helsinki, who The Finnish Jazz Federation awarded as a young jazz talent. Antila is known for her musical versatility and unique compositions. In her jazz quartet, she is joined by vibraphonist Mikko Antila, bassist Tuomo Purhonen, and drummer Mooses Kuloniemi. Currently, she is active in several projects, including leading her band, Helmi Antila Quartet, singing in the vocal ensemble Calla, and performing with the folk music group Aija Puurtinen & Brooklynin Satu.

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Jonatan Snapir is a multidisciplinary artist whose latest album "Eberth", his first featuring compositions for guitar, will be released through Flame Jazz Records in November 2024. "Eberth" is centered around strong melodies, long narrative arcs, and the rich tonal colors of the electric guitar, oscillating between jazz, rock, and experimental textures. On the album and in concert, Snapir is joined by bassist Santeri Kettu and drummer Aapo Lankinen. They were a natural choice for Snapir as the album's rhythm section, as the duo has played together for a long time, and both their playing and musicality inspire Snapir.

Innovative eco-jazz band Piip combines jazz with the theme of nature conservation. Led by saxophonist and composer Laura Helander, Piip's instrumental music expresses sadness about the disappearing nature. Their music draws influences from Finnish prog, folk music, and sometimes even pop. The album's emotional undertones stem from Helander's climate anxiety as she watches a burning world. In addition to Helander, the band includes Mikko Antila, Tatu Back, and Benjamin Nylund, who convincingly bring their composer's compositions to life.

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Harri Kuusijärvi is one of the most distinctive figures in today's Finnish accordion music. Known for his open-minded projects that push the traditional boundaries of what the accordion can achieve as an instrument, Kuusijärvi approaches accordion music with an exceptionally broad perspective. His albums have been recognized across a wide spectrum of media, from classical to rock, and jazz to global. He has premiered contemporary works for the accordion and performed on international stages. He is also an active performer in various world music, jazz, and pop ensembles. In recent years, Kuusijärvi has focused on electroacoustic music and the development of a new, electronically augmented accordion.

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The music of Jyväskylä-based duo Viive (Riikka Suutarinen and Antti Niiranen) incorporates tones from contemporary and spiritual jazz as well as ambient, progressive rock, trip hop, indie and folk music. Their organic, mainly instrumental music is tied together by Suutarinen's Finnish spoken word verses and a cool, emotionally charged atmosphere. Viive released their debut album "Sen jälkeen kun" in late 2024.

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Guitarist Ville-Veikko Airaniemi's solo debut "Calico" is a guitar-driven instrumental album that draws influences from ambient and post-rock, as well as jazz and folk. Inspired by musicians such as Nels Cline, Daniel Lanois, Julian Lage, and Bill Frisell, the songs are characterized by cinematic atmospheres and strong melodies. Ville-Veikko Airaniemi's broad musical interests have taken him to many different projects, with styles ranging from pop and rock to jazz, fusion, and world music.

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Aurora Hentunen’s music contains a lot of references from Northern Jazz and melodies from Scandinavian folk music. Her music has been described as very compositional and the band as distinctive, led by mature young musicians. The band is considered as one of the rising stars in the Northern Jazz scene.

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Founded in autumn 2013, Sointi Jazz Orchestra is a big band composed of young professional musicians. The group’s key aim is a new, fresh, and nuanced angle to big band culture without departing from its acoustic tradition. They incorporate influences from the sphere of classical music and treat the audience to modern and surprising arrangements and top them off with stellar improvisation. Classical ingredients meet an effortless swing in the group’s cinematic style, causing definite genre boundaries to blur.

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Wishamalii consists of three adventurous musicians with very diverse cultural backgrounds: multi-award-winning Finnish composer and pianist Kari Ikonen, Palestinian-Jordanian singer, oud virtuoso, and composer Nemat Battah, and Ethiopian-born Abdissa "Mamba" Assefa, one of Finland's most prominent percussionists. On their debut album “Al-Bahr,” Wishamalii combine tradition with creativity through a selection of original melodies, specially written and arranged for the band, along with some Muwashahat. Ikonen has invented the 'Maqiano Microtuning System,' which enables him to play the Arabic harp Maqamat on the acoustic piano.

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In D.O.P.A., Timo Kämäräinen is backed by brilliant improvisers, keyboardist Alexi Tuomarila and drummer Tuomas Timonen, a trio with a long history of playing together (with bassist Juho "Mane" Kanervo on the live band). The musicians are familiar from Finnish jazz circles, but in D.O.P.A., they dwell in a more electric and rocking setting, marked by a bubbling joy of playing together. On their debut album, "Vivid Dreams", you can hear tones of jazz, rock, prog, and even electro-pop. The album consists mostly of compositions by guitarist Timo Kämäräinen.

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Lampen is Kalle Kalima and Tatu Rönkkö. Kalle plays guitar, Tatu plays percussions and sampler. Together they're Lampen, a duo making "post jazz" with a musical heart far beyond genre. Their music presents two artists who have a knack at making music which opens up with each listen, pulling you deeper and deeper. Meditative passages flow by slowly as in a peaceful river stream, erupting into full rapids of sound when the time is right. This is sonic rafting for the curious listener.

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Jukka Orma is a Helsinki-based guitarist and musician who began his career in the late 1970s. Orma's bands have included Hassisen kone, Sielun Veljet, Hurriganes, Piirpauke, Edward Vesala Sound & Fury, and ensembles with Rauli Badding Somerjoki, Jim Pembroke, M.A. Numminen, Otto Donner and Iiro Rantala, among others. His solo recordings include tango, jazz and rock albums. 2024's "Albert Ayler Reawakened" is a free jazz album recorded with Pepa Päivinen, Dimitri Grechi Espinoza, Ville Rauhala, and Simo Laihonen, in the spirit of avant-garde musician Albert Ayler.

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Guitarist/composer Janne Halonen is known as the founder of the Helsinki-Cotonou Ensemble (Benin/Finland/Tanzania). On Halonen's first solo album "Music From The Zone", his music is guitar-driven jazz mixed with spices from West Africa and Latin America. On the album, he is backed by Maria Lamminen (bass), Jussi Miettola (drums) and Jari Kanninen (keyboards). The album is an artistic counterpoint to the large and arranged sound of Helsinki-Cotonou Ensemble; here the guitar and improvisation play a major role and the composition and arrangement work is sketchy and minimalist.

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Composer, guitarist, author, and educator specializing in Latin and contemporary jazz, Neff Irizarry follows in the footsteps of Jim Hall, Pat Metheny, and Steve Khan. Irizarry's 2024 solo album “Cambio” (Change) features the guitar in a Latin jazz context without the piano. During his career, Neff has performed with Eddie Henderson, Jimmy Haslip, Lonnie Liston Smith, Victor Mendoza, Brian Melvin and Anders Bergcrantz, among others. With over 28 years of experience, Neff has lectured and performed at the Jazz Educator’s Network Conference USA and the University of London SOAS, among others, in Europe, Puerto Rico and Scandinavia. His literary works, "Contemporary Latin Jazz Guitar Vol. 1" (2021) and "Vol. 2: Solos" (2024), are the most comprehensive books on Latin jazz guitar.

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Matti Salo is a composer, guitarist, sound designer and music teacher. He has composed and performed music from jazz to death metal. Matti Salo Quartet is his jazz quartet. They perform an eclectic fusion of free jazz, world music, ambient and rock with avantgarde influences.

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"It’s All Happening" is the debut ep by jazz drummer Eeti Nieminen under his new solo moniker Sun Dog. Eeti is known for his contributions as a drummer in the Jimi Tenor Band, his collaboration with Laurell of the award-winning Dalindèo sextet, and a member of the jazz-trio Mopo. Sun Dog is Eeti’s solo venture into dance music in the form of soulful, upbeat house music with a virtuosic musicianship and a lot of jamming. "It’s All Happening" features Jimi Tenor on flute and contributions from various other guest musicians.

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AINON, formed in 2017 by cellist-composer Aino Juutilainen, is Helsinki-based ensemble, which draws influence from jazz and contemporary classical music.

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Bringing together an all-star cast of musicians from the vibrant Helsinki jazz scene the Finnish jazz supergroup Mortality combines the conceptual aesthetic of progressive rock with the harmonic and tonal soundscapes of jazz and jazz improvisation.

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Saxophonist Sami Sippola, bassist Ville Rauhala and drummer Janne Tuomi form the trio Hot Heros. The sound of Hot Heros is rooted in Finnish folk music and European free jazz tradition, as the band members have collaborated with musicians like Peter Brötzmann, John Zorn, Iro Haarla and Raoul Björkenheim. Hot Heros has been called a torchbearer for Finnish legends like Piirpauke and Edward Vesala.

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Led by drummer Olavi Louhivuori, Superposition features Linda Fredriksson and Adele Sauros on saxes and Mikael Saastamoinen on bass. Louhivuori is known from his solo projects, his band Oddarrang, plus his work with the likes of Tomasz Stanko. Fredriksson is best known for their highly acclaimed solo album "Juniper", as well as jazz group Mopo. Mikael Saastamoinen is a multitalented musician/producer/composer whose works range from avant-garde/noise solo projects to Finnish jazz supergroup OK:KO. Sauros ranks among the most noteworthy new rising stars in the Finnish scene, leading the groups Adele Sauros Quartet, Katu Kaiku and JAF Trio.

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Kalle Kalima’s music is mean, moody, magnificent, and is also adventurous and full of surprises. With his other experiments, such as Tenors of Kalma and Lampen he’s off exploring the badlands on the borders of rock, putting his hand on his heart to salute his Finnish homeland, and then inspiring jazz lawlessness in the band Kuu!

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Iiro Rantala is one of Finland's best known jazz musicians internationally. When his Trio Töykeät was formed in 1988, Rantala concentrated on this group for 18 years. The trio were known for a unique combination of deep musicality and madcap humour, and played over 2,000 shows in forty-five countries. ECHO Jazz award winning Rantala has since then built a succesful solo career and released albums via ACT since 2009.

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Dalindèo is a sextet founded in 2003 and led by composer and guitarist Valtteri Pöyhönen. The group’s unique sound consists of danceable rhythms, strong melodies and an emphasis on the craftsmanship of top musicians. They have blended contemporary jazz with Finnish Tango and northern schlager on "Slavic Souls" (2016) and acid jazz grooves with political themes on "Follow the Dar Money" (2020). Their newest opus, "Tropicalia Nordica" is a return to their "Kallio" (2013) roots, with its timeless, energetic, entertaining, and psychedelic "surf-iron jazz".

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KOLIZIO (Esperanto, collision) was born in 2017 from the simple desire of six Finnish brass players (Jukka Eskola, Pasi Pirinen, Antti Rissanen, Valtteri Malmivirta, Jukka Myllys, and Sérgio Carolino) to make music together. By colliding with their special expertise, these virtuosos of classical and jazz music strive to find a fresh and genre-free perspective on chamber music composed for brass instruments. KOLIZIO’s repertoire mainly consists of original compositions by the band’s founding member, tubist Petri Keskitalo, as well as inventive arrangements of classic tunes representing different genres. Just before the recording of their album in the spring 2023, Keskitalo passed away unexpectedly.

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Kama Kollektiv is an Amsterdam based group formed by Finnish-born vocalist/trumpeter Kirsi-Marja Harju. The band combines the elements of jazz, Nordic folk and indie with poetic lyrics. Kama Kollektiv released their first album “Koti” in 2019. The 2nd album “Toivo” (translates to Hope) released in 2021, strived to bring hope in the midst of pandemic and climate crisis. The 3rd one is named "As if I Lived A Different Life" and released in 2024.

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The legendary Finnish pianist/composer Olli Ahvenlahti has returned with his first new jazz work in decades! On his new album "Thinking, Whistling" Ahvenlahti teamed up with the Jaska Lukkarinen Trio, one of the most highly-regarded ensembles in Finnish jazz. From funk-influenced acoustic jazz to heartfelt ballads, the band are delightfully in a world of their own, drawing from Ahvenlahti's effortless pianism and the trios natural swing.