Joonas Haavisto & Kestutis Valiginis album presentation (FIN-LTU)

JOONAS HAAVISTO & KESTUTIS VALIGINIS

Saturday, March 23, 8 p.m. at Philly Joe's Jazz Club

The new album Moon Bridge will be released in February 2024, recorded in October 2022 at the Rainbow Studio in Oslo, Norway.

Kestutis Vaiginis and Joonas Haavisto are one of the most renowned jazz musicians from Lithuania and Finland. These stellar musicians’ history goes back to 2006 when they met in Lithuania at one of the biggest piano competitions Jazz Improvizacija where Joonas took part and won the 1st prize.  After that Vaiginis and Haavisto began rehearsing and performing together, quickly establishing a strong musical connection. For over 15 years they have performed as a duo, quartet and soloists for chamber orchestras. Both musicians are also leading their own groups and have played worldwide in venues like Blue Note Jazz Club NY, Tokyo Jazz Festival and North Sea Jazz Festival. 

Moon Bridge album has mainly original compositions by Vaiginis and Haavisto and features two jazz standards from Wayne Shorter and Billy Strayhorn. The sound of the duo varies from sacral spaces to wild flacks with different combinations of the grand piano, Fender Rhodes,  soprano and tenor saxophone. The dynamic duo of Nordic and Baltic gives the listener crystal clear melodies and melancholy with some wild bubbling grooves.

Line-up:

Kestutis Vaiginis - soprano saxophone & tenor saxophone

Joonas Haavisto - piano & Rhodes