Tallinn Winter Jazz
03.01.08
Photographs for this Festival can be found by searching for 'Tallinn' as well as the artists names
The winter jazz festival in Tallinn is a nicely low key affair compared to the larger and far busier spring Jazzkaar festival held each April.
Concerts are played in more intimate concert halls and Churches and the music is more reflective and in tune with the Christmas season.
Tallinn itself is well prepared for the festive season by the time the festival gets underway. The Christmas Market in the Town Hall square is crammed with small stalls selling every conceivable pattern and colour of knitwear including jumpers, hats, scarves and socks.
Hot mulled wine is the drink of preference and concerts by schools and performance groups are held in an open air theatre in the centre of the square.
This year’s festival was headlined by Ladysmith Black Mambazo. A tradition of the winter festival is to have one world class vocal ensemble and the South Africans did not disappoint.
I attended the festival for the second week and sadly by the time my plane had touched down the snow of the previous weeks had disappeared. However it did not detract from what is an extremely pretty city this time of year.
My first concert was at the Kumu Auditorium; this is a concert hall within one of the largest art galleries in the Baltic’s and houses Estonian Art from 18 th century onwards.
The evening’s concert featured vocalist Sirri Sisask performing with the Kristjan Randalu Quartet. Randalu of Estonian birth, but based in New York has an impressive background.
He studied with Kenny Baron and John Patitucci in New York and Geoff Keezer, Iain Ballamy and Django Bates in London. He has performed with Alex Acuna, Quincy Jones, Dave Liebman, and Christian McBride to name but a few.
Sisask, one of Estonians most popular female vocalists was undoubtedly the major draw to the sell out audience. Her wide vocal range and haunting delivery was an excellent contrast to the very classy playing of Randalu. His high hand position emphasized the amount of effort and concentration he put into playing every note.
Randalu’s solos were impressive for their inventiveness, expression, melody and simplicity. He has a great understanding with drummer/percussionist Bodek Janke whom he has worked with for some time. The interplay between the pair and also Karsten Netz on Sax and electronics was excellent.
The following day’s concert was part of a current tour undertaken by Estonian Gregorian Chant ensemble Vox Clamantis and Tunisian singer and Oud player Dhaffer Youssef. I traveled three hours south to the city of Tartu for the concert in St Johns Church. A vast austere church with no ornamentation or interior decoration but thankfully warm as the temperatures outside had dropped well below zero.
The concert, again sold out, was stunning. Conductor Jaan-Eik Tulve explained that there are strong links between the origins of Gregorian chant and the North African music that Youssef learned at the traditional Koran school in Tunisia. The original Hebrew chants were taken to all parts of Europe where they were amalgamated into different cultures.
The result is an extraordinarily beautiful mixture of rhythmic chant with Youssef then adding the Arabic voicing, either as alternative verse or sung over the top as a solo harmonic layer.
Other songs featured Youssef on Oud and Janno Pokk on Nickel Harp, here his jazz phrasing and improvising coming to the fore.
For his own compositions Youssef recorded his own unaccompanied singing and sent the discs to Tulve who then with the aid of other group members transcribed the singing note by note so that the ensemble would have some starting point for rehearsals.
Youssef then joined the group on seven separate visits where they worked on his compositions. The ensemble having to undergo a steep learning curve due to the phrasing and scales being completely different to anything they had worked with before.
A glorious example of this working to perfection is the song ‘Mayeha’ where the ensemble and Youssef combine to wonderful effect.
Youssef is hoping to be able to issue a live recording from the current tour which would be a must have Cd for anyone who has seen this tour.
The final concert on my trip, by total contrast, was an improve session featuring French improve artist Michel Doneda and Estonian Taari Kerikmae.
Alto/Soprano sax playing Doneda is probably France’s leading improviser. He explores every sound that can be wrung from his instruments both with and without the mouthpiece.
Stalking around the stage at the excellent theatre space at the Kanuti Gildi Saal, Doneda using wild movements of the instrument to produce different textures to his blowing techniques.
Doneda’s aural soundscape’s were complimented by the electronics of Kerikmae who produced washes and the occasional spike to blend with the sax. A very interesting evening.
Other concerts during this two week festival featured performances from Liisi Koikson, The Anomie Orchestra, Tuomo and The Peter Eldridge Group among others.
This is a great festival which gently introduces the listener to the delights of Tallinn alongside some fantastic concerts at very intimate venues.
Highly recommended.
