“It’s my own world and a place of solitude amidst chaos. A bubble where it’s comfortable.” This is how Linda Fredriksson – a composer and musician from Finland (Fredriksson’s personal pronouns are “they/their”) – comments on the 2021 album Juniper. The Wrocław concert will feature premiere pieces, but we will also hear fragments of this album. The second part of the evening will feature Samora Pinderhughes, a composer, pianist and vocalist who has appeared alongside such legends of the jazz music scene as Herbie Hancock and Branford Marsalis.

So far, Fredriksson – who plays alto and baritone saxophones – has proven to be a versatile artist involved in various projects – they have composed music for plays, performances and films. In Juniper, the music is wrapped in personal sensitivity, which most likely results from the way the album was created. They worked on it in isolation, writing sparse, delicate and friendly melodies. The material was created gradually and in different places. The instruments that this Finnish artist reached for are broadly selected: there are not only saxophones, but also bass clarinet, guitar, synthesizers and a drum machine. At a later stage, other musicians joined them to add parts of other instruments. In this way, the album was created – a mosaic, on which we can find elements of jazz, pop, electronics, folk and ambient. At the same time, Juniper maintains the character of a very personal undertaking, exposing above all Fredriksson’s feelings and thoughts. The pieces are melodious and charming, sometimes reminiscent of a lullaby without words, but melancholic and with a great deal of tenderness. Will the new compositions reveal Fredriksson’s other interests? It remains to be seen, and during the Wrocław concert they will be accompanied by pianist Tuomo Prättäli, bassist Mikael Saastamoinen and drummer Olavi Louhivuori.

After the intermission, Samora Pinderhughes will take over the stage, whose scope of activity goes far beyond purely musical topics. He focuses on issues such as trauma, enslavement, and structural violence. His compositions exude empathy, tenderness and vulnerability. You can hear inspirations from soul, melancholic pop and spiritual jazz – so there is an abundance of emotion, solemnity and sincerity of expression. Some of the pieces in the artist’s oeuvre – Kingly or Masculinity from the album Grief – are incredibly moving works. The composer cleverly intertwines ideas, emotions and an interesting musical form. If we are to assume that songs can have a strong impact on listeners, influence them or even support them, then Pinderhughes’ work definitely has such potential.