Music Network presents Linda Fredriksson Juniper.
Linda Fredriksson saxophones
Tuomo Prättälä keyboards
Mikael Saastamoinen bass
Olavi Louhivuori drums
Following the release of their debut album Juniper in 2021, Finnish saxophonist Linda Fredriksson quickly established themselves as an important creative force on the national and international jazz scene. Winner of a Teosto Award in 2022, one of Scandinavia’s most prestigious awards recognising musical work that is considered bold, original and innovative, Juniper also received the Emma Award for Best Jazz Album of the Year in 2022. The Teosto Panel stated that Juniper takes “listeners to the heart of what it means to be human” describing Fredriksson’s compositions as “delicately lingering, personal and tentative, distancing themselves from jazz and most of the genre’s typical features in an original way.”
Prior to the release of Juniper, Fredriksson had already garnered wide-spread recognition as a flamboyant improviser and versatile musician performing with a number of Finland’s leading bands including Mopo, Ricky-Tick Big Band and Superposition. Earlier accolades for Fredriksson’s work include a Kritiikin Kannukset Break Through Artist Award from the Association of Finnish Critics, making Down Beat magazine’s Rising Star Baritone Saxophone listings for four consecutive years (2016 to 2019) and receiving a Ted Curson Award from the prestigious Pori Jazz Festival.
Fredriksson began their studies on alto saxophone at the age of nine at the Helsinki Pop & Jazz Conservatory and went on to major in jazz saxophone at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, graduating from the Sibelius Academy in 2014. Musical collaborators have included such accomplished artists as Timo Lassy, Raoul Björkenheim, Ultra Bra, Pyhimys, Jimi Tenor, The Valkyrians, The Northern Governors, Niillas Holmberg and the European Jazz Orchestra.
Given the beauty and fragility of Fredriksson’s music, it is easy to see why they are much in demand as a composer, writing music for theatre, film and performance art works which have been widely performed and acclaimed.
