UMO Jazz Orchestra

UMO Jazz Orchestra
JUNE 26 Vancouver East Cultural Centre
The UMO Jazz Orchestra, based in Helsinki, Finland, ranks among the world’s top big bands. Founded in 1975, the 16-piece ensemble (conducted by Kimmo Lintinen) has been defining Scandinavian big band jazz for over three decades. It especially promotes Finnish music both home and abroad. So far UMO has released 23 recordings including Sauna Palaa! (The Sauna is on Fire!—UMOCD), which features seven compositions by Finnish composers. The music blends Finnish folk themes with contemporary jazz to produce absorbing melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic content, not to mention some thrilling improvisation. In recent years UMO has recorded a number of special projects for international labels such as a program of Muhal Richard Abrams compositions for Slam, and projects for A-Records such as an electric-period Miles Davis project with Tim Hagens and another featuring Kenny Wheeler. Great jazz names like Thad Jones, Dizzy Gillespie, Gil Evans, and Tomasz Stanko have also performed with this remarkably expressive and strikingly original big band.