Rob Luft Quartet (GB)
It no longer comes as any surprise to know that the extended, years-long pandemic had affected the lives of professional musicians both directly and indirectly: from their income, motivation and mental health to general work opportunities and audience behaviour. But what about music? Perhaps at some point, someone will examine how time was spent or lost during the COVID-19 pandemic. Or was it lost at all?
On Friday evening, the Tampere Jazz Happening offers two international examples: American guitarist Mary Halvorson wrote the music for her most recent ensemble album during the pandemic, as did English guitarist Rob Luft (b. 1993). But, in Luft’s case, this was not just a bit of ”free” or ”extra” time. In November of 2020, Luft was playing a gig in Cairo and, for good reason, decided to stay in the Egyptian sun for a while. There was no point in returning to his London home in England, as yet another lockdown had all but killed almost every single job opportunity.
Even though the 30-year-old Luft had stretched his ‘holiday’ out to six months, he didn’t spend his time lounging about in the sand of the Sinai Peninsula. He settled into a small former fishing village on the shore of the clear-watered Gulf of Aqaba and started composing new music, which he used to make his third album, Dahab Days (2023) upon returning to London. He used the same quartet he had toured Great Britain and Central Europe with for around ten years.
However, Finland is a new destination on the quartet’s map, as are the Nordic countries in general. The Friday concert at the Jazz Happening is therefore the quartet’s Nordic premiere, even though Luft is not exactly what you might call an unknown quantity at these latitudes, not even in Finland. In April 2024, he played two gigs with Norwegian-based saxophonist-clarinetist John Surman and recorded his next record with Swedish double bassist Anders Jormin and drummer Jon Fält.
