May 2012 marks the centenary of the birth of composer and arranger Gil Evans. UMO opens its spring season at the Savoy Theatre in Helsinki and at Kotka Concert Hall with concerts dedicated to this great innovator in the big band genre. The programme includes pieces in different styles from Evans’s illustrious career, e.g. arrangements of pieces by Charles Mingus, Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix.
The guest soloists are Verneri Pohjola on trumpet and Eero Koivistoinen on sax. Gil Evans himself will be heard from too, in extracts from taped interviews with Eero Koivistoinen that will be played between numbers.
Gil Evans (1912–1988)
- Canadian-born arranger, composer, pianist and band leader best known for his fruitful collaboration with Miles Davis
- one of the first to explore the transition from cool jazz to fusion
- released more than 20 albums under his own name
Verneri Pohjola (b. 1977)
- Finnish trumpet player who came to the attention of the jazz world as a member of the Ilmiliekki Quartet
- first solo album Aurora received the Emma Prize for Best Jazz Album of 2009
- appeared as soloist with UMO on the album Agatha (2007), featuring music by Kerkko Koskinen
- composed and improvised music with Joonas Riippa and Aki Rissanen for the acclaimed production of Mr. Vertigo at the Finnish National Theatre
Eero Koivistoinen (b. 1946)
- sax player, composer and Finnish jazz pioneer, one of the founding members of UMO
- first recipient of the annual Yrjö Prize of the Finnish Jazz Federation in 1967
- one of the first Finns to study at the Berklee College of Music, a distinguished jazz school in Boston, in the early 1970s
- released a DVD entitled Minor Solutions last spring, documenting his colourful and varied career spanning 40 years
Dinner & Show tickets are available now during UMO Savoy Theatre concerts in Restaurant Katsomo!
This offer is available in spring 2012. Dinner & Show tickets for UMO’s Savoy Theatre concerts cost 60/55/47,5 e, incl. a concert ticket and dinner (before or after the concert). Buy your Dinner & Show ticket from www.lippupalvelu.fi and then make a reservation from Restaurant Katsomo (at least 2 days advance) at www.royalravintolat.com or tel. +358-9-61285350.
Menu
- Sugar salted duck breast with fig salad
- Roasted pike-perch , beetroot risotto with mussel sauce
- Mascarpone and almond gâteau with wild strawberry sauce
- Thu 26.1.2012 at 7.00 pm
- Savoy Theatre, Helsinki
- Fri 27.1.2012 at 7.00 pm
- Kotka Concert Hall
Tickets: 25 (norm.) /20 (pens.) /12,5 e (students, districts, unemployeed, children aged 4-17) [Savoy] and 20 (norm.) / 18 e (students, districts, unemployeed, children aged 4-17) [Kotka], advance tickets: Lippupalvelu Dinner & Show ticket (Savoy): 60/55/47,50 e