Jere
Laukkanen (b. 1963, Helsinki, Finland)
Composer, Arranger, Conductor, Bass
Senior Lecturer in Popular Music and Jazz
Head of Degree Programme
biography |
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Although Jere Laukkanen is probably best
known for his work in combining modern jazz and Afro-Cuban
rhythms, he has a long history of various musical activities.
As a youth he played flute and alto sax in Oulunkylä
Brass Bands, studied drums, recorded as a singer,
guitar player and bandleader, and then commenced professional
studies on the bass at the Helsinki Pop &
Jazz Conservatory.
Laukkanen later concentrated more
and more on composing and arranging, with Henrik Otto
Donner and Kaj Backlund as his teachers, ao.
He also studied conducting with Maria Schneider ao.
Laukkanen continued his studies at the Sibelius
Academy, Jazz Dept., where he earned a Master
of Music degree in Jazz Composition. He is also a graduate of The Helia
School of Vocational Teacher Education, Helsinki, Finland. Currently he is writing
a doctoral dissertation on jazz rhythm at the Doctoral Study Program of Music and Drama in Finland.
Jere Laukkanen is currently working as Head of Degree Programme and Senior Lecturer at the
Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, Degree Programme in Pop and Jazz
Music, teaching composition, arranging, ear-training,
music theory, songwriting, and orchestras/ensembles. He is
a much sought-after arranger, composer and conductor, and has written
for all the major Finnish television channels and numerous
orchestras, including European Jazz Orchestra, UMO Jazz Orchestra, Vantaa Pops
Orchestra, and Lahti Symphony Orchestra.
Besides his own band, Jere Laukkanen Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, for which he
is the sole composer and arranger, he has conducted jazz orchestras like the European Jazz Orchestra, UMO Jazz Orchestra, Berklee Jazz Composers' Big Band, Radio Romania Big Band, and Estonian Dream Big Band, to name a few.
Listen to Jere Laukkanen on CD: Jere Laukkanen's Finnish
Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra (Naxos Jazz 86056-2):
...”The Superatomic. Talk about a multicultural affair.
It was once said of Baroque composer Handel that he...'was
a Saxon, living in England, writing Italian operas.' Jere
Laukkanen's Finnish Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra is a Scandinavian
bunch playing American Music, channeling Chano Pozo. The result
is a brash, loud, complex mercurial affair that jumps out
and grabs the listener by the shirt collar. Laukkanen ...
has a smart ear and engaging compositional style.”
--- C. Michael Bailey, www.allaboutjazz.com
”...the spirit of latin jazz is alive and well,
amazingly, in a country with few tropical associations...
Jere Laukkanen's Finnish Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra is an ensemble
that clearly understands both the spirit and the content of
the music. And the distance from the heartbeat of latin jazz
may have encouraged Laukkanen to stretch the parameters
of his creative perspective. His arrangement of the Gillespie/Chano
Pozo "Manteca", for example, retains most of the
original qualities while adding some strikingly contemporary
groove qualities to the mix. ... The album also includes
Laukkanen's unusual transformation of Jaco Pastorius’
"Teen Town" and a group of impressive originals.
Any doubters who question the global reach of jazz in general,
and latin jazz in particular, are directed to the superb writing
and playing on this easy-to-overlook album.”
--- Don Heckman, Los Angeles Times
”Afro-Cuban Big Band with Finnish musicians would
not seem a likely success story but Jere and his band do an
excellent job! They capture nuances in the music with daring
new arrangements that freshen classics like "Manteca"
and modernize ancient chants of the Yoruba tribe.”
--- D. Oscar Groomes, O's Place Jazz Newsletter (New Jersey)
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