Jaka Kopač
Projects
Jaka Kopač Group
The debut album, ”Almost there”, will be released in early spring 2009. The musicians in the new album feature, in addition to Jaka, the well known Finnish jazz musicians Sami Linna (guitar), Jori Huhtala (double bass) and Joonas Riippa (drums).
The album was recorded on 15 and 16 October 2008 at Kallio-Kuninkala in Järvenpää, Finland. The sound recording, arranging and mixing was done by Mikko Raita and the mastering by Svante Forsbäck/ Chartmakers.
All the compositions and editions of the album “Almost there” are Jaka Kopač’s own work. The fresh and energetic modern jazz compositions play with variations in meter with the mood of the album also including a touch of Scandinavian melancholy. This album will definitely stand out, if only just for its exotic Slovenic-Finnish line-up.
Jaka Kopač – Outi Tarkiainen Project
Jazz composer Outi Tarkiainen and alto saxophonist Jaka Kopac have cooperated in actualizing a big band concert. The music performed at the concert (c. 60 min) consists of works both composed and arranged by Tarkiainen. Also one piece of music composed by Kopac has been included to spice up the concert. All the compositions merge melodious jazz with vocal qualities. The big band, on the other hand, reveals its true colors in its ingenious orchestration, showing influence from modern big band music, European jazz as well as from classical music. Jaka Kopac’s lyric alto saxophone fits superbly in the compositions, a fact which was noted by the audience at the duo’s guest concert given together with the Slovenian Radio Big Band in Ljubljana, Slovenia in March 2008.
Outi Tarkiainen | b. 1985
Composer and arranger Outi Tarkiainen represents the new generation of Finnish jazz
music. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Sibelius Academy majoring in jazz
composition. She has also studied at the University of Miami during 2005-2006. Tarkiainen
has mostly written big band and chamber jazz music, but also vocal music and music for
chamber orchestra and jazz soloists. Her compositions and arrangements have been
performed both in several European countries and in the United States, e.g. by the Umo Jazz
Orchestra, The Metropole Orchestra, the Henry Mancini Institute Chamber Orchestra, Miami
Concert Jazz Band, The Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra and The Chamber Orchestra of
Lapland. Many internationally renowned artists have performed as soloists in her
compositions, such as Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Ivan Lins, Dick Oatts, Dave Liebman and
composer/conductor Vince Mendoza. In March 2008, Tarkiainen was a visiting
composer-conductor of the Slovenian Radio Big Band in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and in the summer of
2008 she won the 1st prize in an international big band composition competition “Jazzverk
2008” in Sandviken, Sweden, with her work “Oglütz”.