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Reija Lang

About Me

Reija Lang is one of the leading jazz vocalists in Finland. Reija is a versatile artist �” she prefers to explore and mix different music and art features and styles. She feels equally at home either singing jazz standards and arranged big band music or experimenting with contemporary music and absolutely free and unlimited improvisation.

Reija is a charismatic storyteller and prefers to improvise, to explore new ways of using the human voice and sounds. In addition to vocal expression, she writes lyrics and original poems and also creates improvised stories on stage in free improvisation. She has written lyrics also for great instrumental tunes of Wayne Shorter, Eric Dolphy, Mal Waldron and Ron McClure.

Reija won the Finnish Vocal Jazz Contest “Lady Summertime” in 2002. Her alto voice is very expressive, moving from childlike innocence to melodic beauty and reaching a surreal intensity at its highest peaks. In addition to her voice qualities her intuitive feel for rhythm makes her a true improviser.

She has collaborated with the well known and respected Finnish classical/jazz violinist Mikko-Ville Luolajan-Mikkola since 2002. Their quintet “Lang & Luolajan-Mikkola”, with Kari Ikonen on piano, Ville Herrala on bass and Mikko Hassinen on drums released a well-received record “Transit” in 2005 on the Rockadillo Record label. Reija has also collaborated with composer, arranger and trumpet player Mika Mylläri since 2004, on various creative jazz projects.

In 2008 she formed a band by the name of “Burn Out Mama” together with Mylläri and three top notch British musicians; Ed Jones on saxophone, Geoff Gascoyne on double bass and Orphy Robinson on vibraphone. The band released a record “Out of Office” in 2009 on the Hub Productions label.

Her own trio “Reija Lang Trio” released a new album “Soundoscope” in April 2010. Reija Lang Trio is building on the alluring acoustic sound - combining influences from the Afro-American jazz legacy and the European chamber jazz wave. The delicate and rarely heard sound is created with an interesting instrumentation - vocals, guitar, double bass and violin.

The album introduces emotionally embracing and fine-sounding interpretations e.g. some Monk, Mingus, Gillespie and Evans tunes. The repertoire also introduces some tunes written by Luolajan-Mikkola with Lang�'s lyrics. The trio also proudly presents a tune “Pink Cloud On The Sky” written by the legendary double bass player Ron McClure - now the first time as a lyric and vocal version with Lang�'s lyrics.