The Five Corners Quintet
The Five Corners Quintet live band
The mission of TFCQ is to boldly go where no jazz has gone before: this means performing – in addition to traditional jazz venues – at rock clubs, big festival venues and before dance floor club audiences all alike. The aim is to reintroduce jazz to new audiences and set an example that people can still dance to real jazz music in the 21st century.
On stage The Five Corners Quintet are a real band featuring real musicians: no machines, no samplers, no DJ’s but instead energy, interaction and world class level of musicianship. Interestingly,Tuomas Kallio is not part of the live set-up, instead he passes the responsibility of successfully interpreting the studio sound to drummer Teppo Mäkynen.
TFCQ live band is most often — as the name suggests — an instrumental jazz quintet featuring trumpet player Jukka Eskola, baritone/tenor saxophonist Timo Lassy, pianist Mikael Jakobsson, bass player Antti Lötjönen and drummer Teppo "Teddy Rok" Mäkynen. Sometimes the core quintet is joined by the French vocalist Okou, Finnish tenor sax giant Eero Koivistoinen and vibraphonist Severi Pyysalo.
In August 2005, TFCQ performed at the Flow05 – Nuspirit Helsinki Festival in Finland in front of an ecstatic audience of 1,500 people with the vocal jazz legend, Mr. Mark Murphy. As critic Stuart Nicholson commented in The Observer: "Their set was surreal – a jazz group going down big time at what was a rave in all but name and coming back for five encores." Straight No Chaser Magazine added, "The Five Corners Quintet, Mark Murphy and Okou stole the show with a crowd 1000+ – singing, dancing and causing mayhem."