What are some of the differences you’ve noticed between European and American jazz traditions?
The U.S is the country of origin for jazz, which creates huge differences. But jazz also takes its strength from discovering remote locations like Finland. There’s a degree of artistic tension these days between Europe and the U.S, with Europeans saying “we can do the same things here and we can be better.” It can be fun to adapt this attitude, but you can’t take it too seriously. And on the other hand, because jazz has spread like wildfire around the world, there’s also a degree of ‘America-imitation’ in Europe, in which local musicians copy their American role models. In the end, everyone creates the kind of music they want to create, and there’s no use getting competitive about who is better. Where do you spend most of your time? Mostly in Finland, but I might find myself spending more time here in the future. I see a lot of American qualities in myself actually, so when I go to Helsinki, I often feel like a visitor. I have a lot of colleagues and collaborators here, for example, an
