Rytmihäiriöklubi (in english "cardiac arrhythmia club", I guess...) is a wednesday-evening jazz-night in Helsinki. The club runs in restaurant Juttutupa, and it started in September 1997. Thru the years Rytmihäiriöklubi has turned into quite an important venue for finnish jazz - especially for the young and emerging musicians and bands.
During the first four years the club had a houseband, Bitter Sweet: Max Tabell (keyboards), Tomi Salesvuo (drums) and Eerik Siikasaari/Häkä Virtanen (bass). Bitter Sweet played every second wednesday with guest soloists, and for the other wednesdays Max and Tomi programmed groups from both the young and the older generations of finnish jazz/rhythm music. In the end of Bitter Sweet's programming period the housaband's pace started to slow down, which meant more wednesdays for other bands - and there were lot of 'em coming to the scene during the change of the millennium.
From 2001 to 2004 Rytmihäiriöklubi was programmed by keyboardist/composer/bandleader Pessi Levanto and jazz-journalist Markus "Markka" Partanen. Pessi's great funk-trio, Burn!, played every now and then as a houseband. Sometimes Pessi arranged sets for Burn! and xtra-players, for example from the music of Stuff, Steps Ahead, Jan Hammer etc. During these years the stylistic variation of the bands on the stage started to be even more broad than it used to be before - from funk and groove to mainstream and even freejazz. Nu-jazz and DJ's included, of course.
After 2004 Rytmihäiriöklubi has been programmed by Markka. The Association of Freelance Musicians has been part of the picture from the beginning, and even though the club-nights are free of charge for the audience, the musicians get a pay according to the Musicians Union's fees. (Well: restaurant Juttutupa is located in the old Workers' House and it used to be a left-wing place, but that has nothing to do with the policy of the club.)
Rytmihäiriöklubi runs from mid-September to end of May, with about 3 week Xmas break. If You visit Helsinki and dig good grooves, jazz, improvising rhythm music etc., please remember to visit. Live vibes start on Wednesdays at 21.00. Free of charge.
Location: Restaurant Juttutupa, Säästöpankinranta 6, Helsinki.