Pepe Ahlqvist & Umo Jazz Orchestra

Pepe Ahlqvist & Umo Jazz Orchestra

Genres: jazz, big-band, blues, finnish

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About Pepe Ahlqvist & Umo Jazz Orchestra

PEPE AHLQVIST A distinguished member of the European blues elite, PEPE AHLQVIST (born on 4th of July 1956) is an internationally known Finnish blues artist. During his 40-year-long career he has frequently performed with many legendary blues artists.He has managed to maintain his popularity through the years by presenting fabulous and successful recordings with various bands and giving over 5.000 gigs and concerts. Pepe Ahlqvist is considered a talented and personal singer-guitarist-harmonica player with individual style who also writes his own songs. Pepe began his career in the turn of the 1960's and 1970's. CHICAGO OVERCOAT, his band in the 1970's, thrived under the shield of the legendary Love Records, wherefrom Pepe moved on to collaborate with Fazer/Warner Music for a good period of time. In the late 1980's and early 1990's PEPE AHLQVIST H.A.R.P. recorded several indispensable albums. Besides Finland, the Pepe Ahlqvist albums have been released for instance in the other Nordic countries and in Middle Europe. The last one of the three most important Pepe Ahlqvist bands, THE ROLLING TUMBLEWEED recorded four albums that represent the absolute cream of Finnish blues. Pepe's most recent project, SF BLUES (Suomi-Finland Blues) started in 2002 with singer/guitarist Heikki Silvennoinen . So far there's been featuring top guests, and more is to come. Pepe has been touring in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Austria, Germany, Luxemburg, Estonia, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, USA and Canada. He has also performed as a guest soloist in a large number of concerts by international blues legends in Finland, for example for B.B. King in 2004 and 2006. Nowadays Pepe Ahlqvist works as a solo artist from acoustic gigs to big band concerts. www.pepeahlqvist.com UMO JAZZ ORCHESTRA "One of the best Big Bands I've ever played with" - Dizzy Gillespie UMO Jazz Orchestra is considered to be one of the leading big bands internationally. UMO endeavours to make new music familiar to audiences all over the world. UMO has a reputation for encouraging and supporting Finnish jazz and art music production and creation. UMO was founded in 1975, although its predecessor, the Radio Dance Orchestra had its roots in the 1930's. UMO became a professional full-time orchestra in 1984. Since 1975 UMO has made nearly 30 original recordings and has been part of numerous other recording projects. UMO gives around 100 performances a year, mainly in the Helsinki area, but also tours all over the world. UMO's repertoire presently consists of more than 2.100 compositions. This unique collection keeps on growing year by year as conductors and soloists from all over the world have come to work with UMO. UMO also orders regulary new material from contermporary composers. Artists and conductors such as Thad Jones, Dizzy Gillespie, Gil Evans, Joe Williams, Mercer Ellington, McCoy Tyner, Maria Schneider, Michael Brecker, John Scofield have all worked with UMO. www.myspace.com/umojazzorchestra

Taken from Last.fm

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