Valtteri Pöyhönen, a member of Dalindéo and Five Corners Quintet, now leads Ricky-Tick Big Band who, in mid-July, will pack their horns, whistles and drums into their gig bus and come to Ilosaarirock Festival bringing their great jazz groove with them.
— Our band plays world-class big band music based on true jazz traditions. We’ve got the best young jazz musicians in Finland. However, we stay true to traditions. I believe big band music is all about extroversion, approachability, rhythm, dance and intensity.
Jazz is not a very common genre in pop and rock festivals but Pöyhönen believes that Ricky-Tick Big Band will find their place.
Ricky-Tick truly is a big band, Valtteri Pöyhönen first from left.
— Five Corners Quintet has also performed at Ilosaarirock Festival. What is great about this festival is its openness for all genres. You can listen to all kinds of music there, not just Finnrock. Our new big band represents a culmination of the lively jazz scene of today, and I have a feeling that once we get the ball rolling, we will cross genre borders pretty easily. We will have a 15-piece orchestra performing at the festival so a unique experience is guaranteed. The fact that we perform at the same festival with bands such as Bad Religion is merely a sign of a good festival, as Bad Religion is really an extremely high-class act.
Like many other musicians, Pöyhönen has experienced festivals from the viewpoints of both leisure and hard work.
— During the last few years I’ve mostly gone to festivals to perform, but before that I also used to take part in festivals as a member of the audience. I appreciate high-quality festivals with inspiring line-ups. Take our band, for example – it is such a new project that Ilosaarirock Festival, having invited us to come, must be well in the know of what is going on in the music business. I like all kinds of music myself, as long as it’s good. Ilosaarirock Festival covers a variety of musical genres and that makes it one of the best festivals in Finland.
Pöyhönen’s most memorable festival experiences date back to the 90s.
— I simply had to go to Roskilde to see Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, my idols. I made a seriously poor judgement call and went right to the front of the stage – and got stuck there. I was 16 at the time and the whole trip was so psychedelic and immemorial that I still compare it to every other festival I go to. It’s a whole different story to be a performer at a festival. I often go and see as many bands as possible in order to take a look at them from the professional side of view. We will perform at Ilosaarirock Festival on Sunday, and our last gig before that will be on Friday, so I might come to the festival already on Saturday. Of course it’s nicer to see other gigs after your own gig is over, but I don’t know whether I’ve got time to do that. Sometimes it would be fun to be an ordinary festival guest again.
Pöyhönen wants to remind the festival audience of the essence of jazz music.
— The tradition of the 40s lives on in our music. Sometimes jazz is only about listening, but our music is also about dancing.
Interview by Samu Heikinmatti
