Tahmela Six (FI)

Tampere locals probably know the reference behind the name Tahmela Six. Or at least they might guess it has something to do with the popular Tampere city district situated between Pyynikki and Ylä-Pispala on the shore of Lake Pyhäjärvi. Indeed it does, but there is also a good reason for choosing such a unique place name. Composed of well-known jazz musicians from Helsinki, Tampere and Turku, Tahmela Six met for the first time in Tahmela in December 2023, when the sextet recorded its first album. The recording studio was an old wooden villa, Tahmelan Huvila, which had previously served as an orphanage, a women’s shelter and a rehab clinic.

The vinyl LP Mount (2024), which is a compilation of the recordings made in Tahmela, eventually contained three extended and mainly slow tracks. They were all joint “compositional” improvisations by the musicians, created in the same room at the same moment. And this is still Tahmela Six’s modus operandi: just play.

However, Tahmela Six, which will be the opening act at the Tampere Jazz Happening on Thursday evening, no longer pulls its sound out of thin air. At the Telakka concert, the sextet’s improvisations will be based on the themes of the debut album, and most likely those found in the upcoming second album, which is also being released by Tampere’s Mustik Motel Music. Tahmela Six recorded the second album in Kiikala, Southwest Finland in the month of August, in a setting that was almost the polar opposite of the first recording session, which took place at the darkest time of year. This time the same six musicians improvised outside, in the bright sunshine, at the edge of a rye field ripe for the harvest.