Liberty Ship´s new album with new FIN-NOR line-up

April 17, 2019

Jazz Musician of the Year 2016 awarded saxophonist Esa Pietilä leads his quartet Liberty Ship to the waters of free improvisation again.

The renewed Liberty Ship consists of a Finnish-Norwegian crew. Two top Norwegian jazz musicians, pianist Håvard Wiik and bassist Ole Morten Vågan brought superb new flow and energy to the sessions. The drumming of Olavi Louhivuori here is stunning and creative as always and Esa’s horn sounds strongly more diverse in ideas and timbre than ever before. The result of these recordings, Signal Horn, is even more intense in integrity than the groups previous albums, and its newborn sound leads the quartet towards uncharted waters.

Liberty Ship debuted its new music recently at Nordic Music Days 2018.

UncategorizedEsa Pietilä, Håvard Wiik, Liberty Ship, Olavi Louhivuori, Ole-Morten Vågan, Signal Horn

Esa Pietilä Yrjö Award

November 8, 2016

Esa Pietilä Yrjö Award

The Yrjö Jazz award 2016 was given to saxophonist Esa Pietilä (b. 1964) for his original, genre-defying work in the field of avant-garde jazz.

“Pietilä is known as a fearless improviser and musical visionary. His repertory is extremely versatile, including collaborations with classical orchestras. Moreover, he has brought not only Finnish but also international critics to their knees: the influential jazz magazine New York City Jazz Record shortlisted the debut album of Pietilä’s group Liberty Ship among the albums of 2013,” Petteri Klintrup, the Chair of the Finnish Jazz Federation board, explained.

The Yrjö Jazz Prize is an annual award given to a Finnish jazz artist in acknowledgement of his or her outstanding contribution to Finnish jazz music.

Uncategorizedcontemporary improvisation, contemporary jazz, contemporary music, Eclipse Music, Esa Pietilä, Esa Pietilä solo, Esa Pietillä, Finnish Jazz, Finnish saxophone, Finnish saxophonist, free improvisation, free jazz, Georgie award, Gergie award, impro with live electronics, improvisation, improvised saxophone, saxophone with live-electronics, solo improvisation, solo saxophone, Yrjö award

Esa Pietilä premieres Kalevi Aho Tenor Saxophone Concerto

June 24, 2015

Esa Pietilä premieres Kalevi Aho Tenor Saxophone Concerto

Internationally acclaimed Finnish contemporary composer Kalevi Aho wrote a tenor saxophone concerto and dedicated it to Esa Pietilä. Esa did the premiere performances of the new concerto with two Finnish orchestras in march 2016. The concerto presents Aho´s extraordinary compositional skills and his magnificent ability to write for a solo instrument as a soloist for orchestra. In the concerto Aho has used all the possible (and extended) playing techniques for the todays modern tenor saxophone to handle plus allowes some room for Esa´s improvisational skills. Esa Pietilä is proud have the privilige to do the first performances of the concerto. The first performance of (a double premiere) is on 10th of march with Pori Sinfonietta at city of Pori in Finland and the second premiere will happen on 17th of march with Lappeenranta City Orchestra in Lappeenranta, Finland

Video intervied of Esa to insights of Aho´s concerto:

Esa Pietilä repertoire for orchestras

Uncategorizeddarabouka, Esa Pietilä, Finnish contemporary music, Finnish saxophone, Finnish saxophonist, improvisation, improvisation in saxophone concerto, Insights of Kalevi Aho´s new Tenor Saxophone concerto, Insights of Saxophone concerto, Kalevi Aho, Lappeenrannan kaupunginorkesteri, Lappeenranta City Orchestra, modern tenor saxophone, Pori Sinfonietta, saxophone, saxophone concerto, tenor saxophone, Tenor saxophone concerto, tenor saxophone concerto world premiere

LIBERTY SHIP RELEASES NEW DOUBLE ALBUM

March 9, 2015

Liberty Ship returns in spring 2015 with their second double album for Eclipse Music. After the undenieble artistic statement which was the 2013 debut Approaching, the band continues to seek uncharted waters of creative expression in contemporary jazz music.

The Wide Open Suite & Noises At Sea, a bold double album: one acoustic CD, one electric, on which their music is adventurous, mysterious, creative and unpredictable.

The album was premiered at a Concert at Koko Jazz Club, Helsinki, Finland 1.3.2015 and it ail be in shops on 20th of march.

Liberty Ship, formed in 2012, navigates the deep waters of free jazz and improvised music in constant pursuit of liberated self-expression. Acclaimed saxophonist and composer Esa Pietilä leads this all-star quartet of accomplished Finnish jazz musicians, pushing each musician to the boundaries of their creative ability. According to the reviews, authors, Liberty Ship is without a doubt one of the most exciting and adventurous projects to emerge from the booming Finnish jazz scene

UncategorizedAki Rissanen, Antti Lötjönen, contemporay jazz, Eclipse Music, Esa Pietilä, Finnish contemporary music, Finnish Jazz, Finnish saxophone, Finnish saxophonist, free improvisation, free jazz, Koko Jazz Club, Liberty Ship, modern tenor saxophone, Olavi Louhivuori, The New York City Jazz record, The Wide Open Suite & Noises at Sea

Esa Pietilä´s orchestral work Graffiti Play performed with Esa-Pekka Salonen & Avanti! Chamber Orchestra

August 25, 2014

Esa Pietilä´s orchestral work Graffiti Play, a 40 minute orchestral piece composed by Esa Pietilä premieres its (world) First Performance in Helsinki oct. 5th 2014 with conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen & Avanti! Chamber Orchestra. The work is written for a contemporary, improvising jazz trio and saxophone as a soloist for the orchestra and it also contains parts in the orchestra, where the orchestra members improvise too. Besides Pietilä at saxophone, in the trio, there is Mika Kallio on drums, Ville Herrala on bass & Janne Tuomi with extra percussion. Esa-Pekka Salonen is one of the leading conductors in the world and the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra has gained vast reputation all over the world with its uncompromising and intransigent work on the field of modern contemporary & avant-garde music field. The artistic leader of Avanti! is the worldwide renowed clarinetist Kari Kriikku.

UncategorizedAvanti! Chamber Orchestra, concerto for chamber orchestra and contemporary jazz trio, contemporary improvisation, contemporary music, Esa Pietilä, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Finnish contemporary music, free improvisation, Graffiti Play, improvisation, improvisation in saxophone concerto, Janne Tuomi, Kari Kriikku, Mika Kallio, modern tenor saxophone, tenor saxophone, Ville Herrala

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