A new soloist joins the collaboration between Suvisoito and the Porvoo Jazz Festival. Adele Sauros broke her arm at the weekend, and as a result, the soloist at Saturday night’s club concert will be another renowned saxophonist, artistic director of the Porvoo Jazz Festival, saxophonist-composer, woodwind specialist Max Zenger.
For the Saturday evening concert, the original band section will remain unchanged. For Zenger, the role of soloist is both unfortunate and gratifying. His main regret is the injury to a great soloist and friend, but he is still looking forward to the upcoming concert.
The musicians of the concert are well known to Zenger from other bands (Selma Savolainen Horror Vacui, Tomi Nikku 5tet, Kadi Vija Key Project). He has also appeared in concerts and recordings with the Adele Sauros Quartet in the past. The concert on Saturday 29 June will feature some of Zenger’s compositions from his latest recordings (Max Zenger Globus: Flores and Maxxxtet: Chapter 3) arranged for this ensemble. There will even be a couple of brand new compositions written especially for this concert, as well as a selection of compositions for this ensemble by the band’s other members Toomas Keski-Sänt, Tuomas Timonen and Vesa Ojaniemi. Despite an unfortunate setback, the result is a wonderful collection of fresh Finnish jazz music.
Thanks to his strong solo skills and rich instrumental repertoire, Zenger is a sought-after musician as a soloist in big bands, as well as in many cross-artistic projects. He also makes imaginative use of his wide range of instruments in the music of his own bands. A prolific composer, he released his tenth album of original compositions in 2023.
Zenger’s imaginative, personal and versatile playing has also been recognised in competitions. He has been awarded for his artistic work at Pori Jazze, Turku Jazz Festival and the Jazz in Marciac Festival in France. Zenger is also one of the founding members of the Flame Jazz Records in Turku, a regular member of the UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra and artistic director of the Porvoo Jazz Festival ry.
“I’m sorry that due to a broken wrist I won’t be able to play a concert with my band. It’s great that we managed to get Max Zenger to the Summer Concert at short notice. I have always admired Max’s personal way of improvising and interpreting songs. Max and my company are sure to play a great concert, which I look forward to hearing myself.” Adele Sauros
