Iiro Rantala | HEL Trio - Tough Stuff – Live 2024

In the organizer's words:

The brilliant Finnish composer & jazz master pianist Iiro Rantala is coming to the Kulturetage in late summer 24 with his brand new HEL Trio featuring Anton Eger & Conor Chaplin for a special jazz guest performance.

Iiro Rantala has worked intensively and beautifully with Mozart, Gershwin and John Lennon on albums and live. He has been touring the world for decades, both solo and with orchestra, and has written European music history as a piano trio - only his absolutely iconic Trio Töykeät could compete with e.s.t. (Esbjörn Svensson Trio).

After a good 15 years, Rantala now returns to his roots in 2024 and wears the trio guise again for the first time - and it suits him "like hell"!

At his side is British bassist Conor Chaplin from the band "Dinosaur" - nominated for the most important European music award, the Mercury. The other is one of the most dazzling drummers on the jazz scene: the Swedish-Norwegian Anton Eger. Listen to their brand new debut masterpiece "Tough Stuff" before the concert at the Kulturetage or right now - a congenial band!

They groove like Schmizz Katze without lacking any emotional depth. There is great virtuosity with clear lines. Eger is absorbed in his drumming - accentuated, filigree, irresistible. Chapman uses his bass as it should be: weighty and groovy. And Rantala? At times he is the humorously entertaining rummager in the piano and in the next passage he knows how to touch with authentic pathos.

This music is a stunner and is already entertaining and surprising on record - the concert experience will be great!

Iiro Rantala cannot be appreciated enough for his captivating performances. Be sure to come to the Kulturetage on Saturday, 28.09.24! But it is the musical horizon that makes Rantala stand out - his attitude. For him, jazz doesn't start with Armstrong or Coltrane, but with Bach - and he doesn't stop at the usual genre boundaries, but playfully incorporates classical, pop or rock with ease. With stupendous technique, exuberant imagination and his typical sense of humor.

Despite all their experience, HEL are not a "back-to-the-roots" trio. They are three fantastic, joyful, sensual musicians on a journey: restless, searching, compelling. Maestro Rantala has the last word: "For me, music should always move forward!"

"Great." (Stereoplay)

"Moving art." (Audio)

"A natural phenomenon on the keys." (Jazz Thing)

"A brilliant pianist." (Hamburger Abendblatt)

"Unpredictable ideas and finest piano craftsmanship." (FAZ)

"He manages to pack entertainment and meaning, originality and esprit into his music." (Die Zeit)