Jazz & Fly Fishing Set to Embark on US Tour

Jazz & Fly Fishing, the world’s only fly fishing and film making jazz quartet, is heading to the United States to fulfill a lifelong dream: a tour of the country while playing concerts and fly fishing, and documenting their adventure in a film. The band will perform at clubs, festivals, fly shops, and river banks, and of course, take the time to go fly fishing between gigs.

The project started in Helsinki in 2008 when Joona Toivanen, an award-winning Finnish piano player and passionate fly fisherman, and Petri Luukkainen, a professional documentarist from Finland with a profound interest in jazz music and fly fishing, met in a pub and came up with the idea of putting together a jazz band of fly fishermen. Thus, Jazz & Fly Fishing was born.

Since then, the quartet has toured extensively in Scandinavia and Europe, released three albums and a DVD, and produced a vast array of short films, gathering a substantial international audience along the way. Their short films, which are a mix of documentary and music video, have reached millions of views on social media, establishing Jazz & Fly Fishing as one of the leading players at the intersection between nature/outdoor life and art on the internet.

Their upcoming tour, NORTH/WEST, will take them through the Eastern/Northeastern U.S. for a week, followed by a trip to the Rockies. The band will end their tour with a final performance at Rochester International Jazz Festival. This tour marks the first time Jazz & Fly Fishing will perform in the U.S., and they are excited to connect with the people within fly fishing during their journey.

Tour plan:

June 10: Battenkill Fly Fishing Festival, VT 

June 14: Nordic Jazz Festival, Washington DC 

June 15: TBA, Washington DC

June 15: Nordic Jazz Festival, Washington DC 

June 16: City of Asylum, Pittsburgh, PA

June 18: Snake River Angler, Jackson, Wyoming

June 21: Headhunters, Craig, Montana

June 24: Trouthunter, Henry’s Fork, Idaho 

June 27: Rochester International Jazz Festival, NY

The band will leave a number of days open for fly fishing and filming, but they are still open to suggestions for both performances, fishing destinations and collaboration.