About

Jazz & Fly Fishing is a jazz band where all four members are passionate fly fishermen. These four jazzcats dedicated one year of their lives to the Jazz & Fly Fishing tour. Making this tour happen wasn´t easy, but they pulled it off, and did the tour of a lifetime. They went head-on into an adventure that no one believed in or had done before. This site is their blog and the official website of the Jazz & Fly Fishing group.

The band was touring all summer 2009, and the tour was filmed to make a TV series about their adventures. At this time, the TV series is in post-production.

Now, the first tour is  done, but of course there will be lots more gigs coming up. We’ll let you know – so join the mailing list!

PHILOSOPHY

Jazz and fly fishing – what in the world do they have in common? Well, seemingly not that much. That is, until Jazz and Fly Fishing, a freshly-squeezed new concept devoted to the two was launched in 2008. Picture this: a “cream of the crop” jazz quartet of established young generation Nordic jazzmen take off on a fly fishing tour around Finland, Sweden and Norway playing gigs at big festivals, small jazz clubs and arctic hills alike. Needless to say, they spend all their spare time fly fishing beautiful rapids and peaceful mountain lakes. But that is just the starting point.

What really happens is improvisation. Fly fishing, a delicate improvisers’ game if there ever was one, is much about not letting the unexpected fool you. “The golf of fishing”, as it’s called, is in some aspects much like jazz, a world of interwoven details and meanings proved lethally addictive and endlessly rich with information.

The point, however, is not to marry jazz and fly fishing by force, but to do it effortlessly. Thus, the equipment and band members plus staff are fitted in to a bus that holds all necessary instruments for jazz and fly fishing. All this is executed with a touch of class, fishing with suits on, performing concerts in never-before-seen out of town settings.

Imagine a cracking modern jazz original next to the never-ending Northern summer light, a trout’s playful jump somewhere on the background, perhaps a nice slice of arctic char being cooked on the pan courtesy of the chef’s masterful touch. Make no mistake, though, nature hosts and jazz is the guest.

Jazz & Fly Fishing

Håvard Stubø

Recognized as one of Norway’s finest jazz guitarists, Håvard works with a number of bands, most notably JUPITER featuring Jonas Kullhammar, Håvard Stubø Quartet w/ Knut Riisnæs, Torbjörn Zetterberg & Håkon M. Johansen, Håvard Stubø Trio w/ the Country’s Roger Arntzen and Shining’s Torstein Lofthus, and Wes! with Daniel Franck and Håkon M. Johansen.

Joona Toivanen

One of Finland’s leading young pianists. Has been touring with his trio in Europe, Asia and Australia. The trio has released three critic-praised albums of which the latest, “Frost”, was released on the legendary Blue Note label. Joona has composed for various jazz and chamber music ensembles.

Fredrik Hamrå

Fredrik is one of Sweden’s finest and most creative drummers, and has been seen in many constellations both live and in studio. He has been working with artists such as Timbuktu, Fredrik Ljungkvist, Mystos Hot Lips and Key Marcello.

Tapani Toivanen

Also a member of the Joona Toivanen trio. Tapani is one of Finland’s finest young bass players and a leader of several jazz groups that he also composes for.