The 11^th edition of the Nõmme Jazz Festival in Tallinn, Estonia, presented 6 concerts of high quality over the course of 3 days (October 29-31), offering a mix of Estonian young talent and already established jazz musicians. As always in the case of Nõmme Jazz, this proved to be a winning combination.

Trombone player Bob Ferrel gave the festival´s premiere concert in the Glehn Castle which has become a familiar venue for Nõmme Jazz devotees. The impressive line-up included Tõnu Naissoo on piano, Toivo Unt on bass, Brian Melvin behind drums and - surprise, surprise! - another trombonist Eduard "King" Akulin. The quintet´s repertoire featured suave renditions of Herbie Hancock´s "Cantaloupe Island" and Miles Davis´s "Blue in Green", the last of which trombone players seldom seem to interprete. Ferrel´s own sound was very much Coltrane-influenced and his duologues with Akulin witty and tongue-in-cheek, to say the least.

No doubt that Vardan Ovsepian Trio was the pick of the whole festival. Although the whole trio acted as a unit with each member listening to others carefully and responding delicately, Ovsepian clearly stood out with a near-perfect performance, playing every note and chord with dedication, clarity and skill granted to him by his classical upbringing.

The Armenian-born pianist living in USA spent a whole month in Estonia, playing with different line-ups and jamming in clubs. Warm memories tie him to this corner of the world as he studied in Tallinn in 1994-1995. The modest nature of the pianist expressed the will to let the music speak for itself. Notwithstanding a couple of standards such as the ever-so-popular "Dreaming Paris", it was all Vardan´s own creations. The drive and the feeling never disappeared, holding the listener constantly under the magic spell.

The other trio members were Ovsepian´s fellow Armenian and Estonian citizen Ara Yaralyan who stunned with great double bass solos and the drummer Tanel Ruben, the head of the Estonian Jazz Union who is able to cope with an extremely wide variety of settings.

Promoting young jazz musicians is a definite goal for the festival organizers. This time, the future of Estonian jazz was on display more than once. In an old railway station now turned into a museum, Kusti Lemba Trio backed the singer Teele Viira who performed "My Funny Valentine" in an extremely low register and showed her versatility by venturing into the world of r´n´b and soul as well as jazz. Surely we will hear a lot from this young lady in the years to come.

Riga Groove Electro is a living proof of the strong Baltic jazz connections, Deniss Pashkevich on sax and flute being perhaps most familiar with the local audience, having played on Estonian soil many times before. Despite Pashkevich´s efforts of blowing himself into oblivion, the band´s heavily Latin-flavoured program lacked depth, however fulfilling its task of wrapping up the 11^th festival in style.

In conclusion, a couple of words about what else happened. The two sons of the Estonian bass player Taavo Remmel, Joel and Heikko gave a gig filled with their original compositions as well as jazz standard arrangements. The young bass player Mai Jõgi performed with her own trio and jazz violinist Tiit Kikas entertained the audience with a solo concert.

 

Ivo Heinloo

Estonian jazz journalist

Jaa tämä Twitter Myspace Digg Yahoo Netvouz Spurl Googlize this Blinklist Facebook Tee PDF Tulosta S-posti