We Jazz Records

Last updated
We Jazz Records
Founded2016
FounderMatti Nives
Genrejazz
Country of originFinland
Official website wejazzrecords.bandcamp.com

We Jazz Records is a Finnish jazz record label, based in Helsinki.

History

The We Jazz name was first used when Matti Nives hosted a club night with saxophonist Timo Lassy in 2009. [1] Later in 2013, Nives started an annual We Jazz Festival in Helsinki, before he launched We Jazz Records in 2016. [2] [3] The first release was a self-titled album by Bowman Trio, [3] released in September 2016. [1] It had been recorded at the We Jazz Festival in December 2015. [4]

The label has been noted for releasing different styles of jazz, including those that explore electronica and experimental music. Many of their releases come from within the Helsinki jazz scene. [3]

The We Jazz Festival has continued to be held each year in late-November / early-December, except for in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Finland. Instead, they founded the Odysseus Festival, held in 2021 on the small island of Lonna. [5]

A quarterly magazine, We Jazz Magazine, was launched as an experiment. For the first issue, 1,000 copies were printed which sold out within two weeks. [3] The second issue, released in 2021, increased the number of copies to 2,000. [6]

A We Jazz store was opened in 2019 after Nives was offered a large vinyl collection owned by late Swiss music journalist Francis Montfort. [6]

References

  1. 1 2 Durand, Mathieu (2020-08-20). "Stories| We Jazz Records : les dates clefs". Périscope (in French). Retrieved 2025-11-30.
  2. ↑ Bóková, Michaela Drnek (2025-04-21). Strategies of Micro-Enterprises in the Recording Industry: How Independent Jazz Labels Navigate the Music Landscape. Springer Nature. pp. xi, 79. ISBN   978-3-031-88439-9.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Garratt, Rob (2022-09-15). "We Jazz Records: Finland's indie label shaking up the global conversation article @ All About Jazz". All About Jazz. Retrieved 2025-11-30.
  4. ↑ "We Jazz debuts as a record label with Bowman Trio's first album - Jazz Finland". jazzfinland.fi. Retrieved 2025-11-30.
  5. ↑ Jouan, Matthieu. "We Jazz Records, on dit oui". Citizen Jazz (in French). Retrieved 2025-11-30.
  6. 1 2 Longley, Martin (2024-07-30). "We Jazz Records and its Many-Headed Helsinki Hydras | The Brooklyn Rail". brooklynrail.org. Retrieved 2025-11-30.
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