TIMO LASSY SUCCEEDS AT FULFILLING HIS LONG-TIME DREAM, AND THE CROWD LOVES HIM FOR IT

Timo Lassy’s first concert with his trio and a full orchestra was a mesmerizing experience at the Huvila tent, in a unique cross between a concert hall and a traditional festival marquee at Tokoinranta during the Helsinki Festival.

Text and photographs: TONY ÖHBERG/FINLAND TODAY

 

 

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Finnish saxophone player and composer Timo Lassy’s creative juices flowed on the Huvila stage with his trio and Vantaan Viihdeorkesteri on September 1, 2022. Photograph: TONY ÖHBERG/FINLAND TODAY / Click to view the gallery.

Timo Lassy’s saxophone sound has a velvet-like quality; very pleasant to the ears. He also knows how to swing, and occasionally his sax screams during wild improvisation; Lassy means business. When the silky sax tones are combined with Jaska Lukkarinen’s funky grooves and double bassist Ville Herrala’s loamy runs, the listener knows that what’s going in from one ear is not going out from the other. While the trio itself steams wooden-sauna-quality heat upon the listeners, on this evening in early September, at the Huvila tent in Tokoinranta in Helsinki’s Hakaniemi district, the line-up of some of the finest Finnish jazz players are taking their performance to new heights while supported by a gigantic ensemble of Vantaa Orchestra (Vantaan Viihdeorkesteri). There are dozens of players on stage with classical music instruments ranging from strings to brass and from timpanis and chimes to a massive gong. Lassy said earlier while promoting his concert that “finally a long-time dream of mine will come true, I get to play my own music with a big orchestra.”

Occasionally, Lassy’s sax screams and wails in his hands like it contains a trapped soul. Photograph: TONY ÖHBERG/FINLAND TODAY

This enthusiasm becomes apparent early in the set. Conductor Eero Lehtimäki, a young man in a dark suit, who stands on a podium on the stage and appears taller than Finnish heavyweight boxer Helenius (2 meters), conducts with fire and flair. He picks out different groups of players with his pointy fingers while his hands move up and down, sharing an apparent, serious passion for Lassy’s music.

By the time the ensemble reaches “Sointu,” from Lassy’s latest album Trio (2021), the layering of the orchestra on this beautiful ballad makes the moment magical, if not unforgettable.

The spirit of John and Alice Coltrane comes alive during “Universal Four” from Lassy’s debut The Soul & Jazz of Timo Lassy (2007). This time the orchestra adds wild winds to the dreamy piece, and in combination with Lassy’s screaming tenor elevates it to the empyrean.

“African Rumble,” another from Lassy’s debut, is fireworks of the drummer, Lukkarinen. The man indulges in playing with the palms of his hands, and just when you are carried away in a trance, he switches to the sticks.

Boom! Bada! Boom! Bim!

This is another one for the books in Lassy’s lucrative career.

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