Uno Naissoo

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Uno Naissoo (born March 25, 1928 in Viljandi ; †  January 5, 1980 in Tallinn ) was an Estonian composer , jazz musician ( double bass , piano ) and music teacher .

life and work

During his music studies, Naissoo was part of the Rütmikud sextet as a bassist , which gave jazz concerts and also appeared on the radio. In 1948 he founded a swing club in Tallinn , where there were lectures and discussions about innovations in jazz such as bebop or progressive jazz . In 1952 he completed his studies in composition at the Tallinn State Conservatory (now the Estonian Academy of Music and Theater ) with Heino Eller .

From 1952 to 1980 he taught music theory in Tallinn. From 1954 until his death he was also head of the youth department of the Composers' Association of the Estonian SSR ( Eesti NSV Heliloojate Liit ). He also led music bands and played as a pianist.

Naissoo became known to a larger audience through his jazz versions of Estonian folk songs and as a film composer. For his seven jazz suites he used material from older Estonian folk music. He knew how to use their modal character "expressively in jazz." As a composer of ethno-jazz , as his "improvisation on an Estonian theme" shows, he was one of the first European jazz musicians to "achieve remarkable maturity because he did not stopped at a simple stylization of folk music elements. ”Later he was also influenced by West Coast Jazz . In 1962 he founded the radio producing studio band Studio 8 as an octet , in which he played the piano and for which he wrote pieces such as “Im Volkston”.

With his son Tõnu Naissoo he wrote the music for the Estonian cult film Viimne reliikvia in 1969 . He also composed chamber music . Among other things, his clarinet concerto (1955), the concert rhapsody for accordion and orchestra (1961) and numerous songs he composed became famous. Uno Naissoo also wrote music theory studies. He also organized meetings of various jazz groups, which initially took place in the underground before he was able to initiate the Tallinn Jazz Festival in 1962.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b c Walter Ojakäär Jazz in Estonia. Hopes and Reality In: Wolfram Knauer Jazz in Europe . Hofheim (Taunus) 1993, pp. 95-105
  2. Eesti elulood. Tallinn: Eesti entsüklopeediakirjastus 2000 (= Eesti entsüklopeedia 14) ISBN 9985-70-064-3 , p. 319