Born in 1964, saxophonist and composer Pekka Pylkkänen has been recognized as one of the stronger jazz artists and saxophonists in Europe. He has performed around the globe and been very successful not only in Europe, but also for example in Asia and South-America. He has collaborated with numerous prestigious artists in many countries, and continues to work as a soloist/leader, recording artist and educator throughout the world.
During his earlier career he worked several years full-time with the ‘National Jazz Orchestra of Finland’ – UMO Jazz Orchestra, with which he also sometimes performed modern contemporary music, and was often featured as a soloist. Some of the guests for both UMO Jazz Orchestra included stars such as Maria Schneider, Joe Henderson, McCoy Tyner, Michael Abene, Mercer Ellington, Dee Dee Bridgewater, etc.
As a leader he has performed in more than 50 countries in Europe, The Americas, all over Asia and also South Africa. He has appeared as a leader/soloist in around 2000 concerts during the last 20 years, most of them outside Finland. His appearances range from clubs to concert halls and major festivals and TV concerts, such as Hong Kong Jazz Festival, Beijing Jazz Festival, Trondheim Jazz Festival, Copenhagen Jazz Festival, National Arts Festival (South Africa), Providencia Festival de Jazz (Santiago, Chile), Yokohama Jazz Promenade, Yarasum Jazz Festival, Beijing Concert Hall, The Spring Hall (Seoul/Korea), EBS.
In addition to his long career as a performing artist, Pekka has led a significant career as an educator, having had several full-time positions in Finland, but also he has held clinics and master classes in more than 60 music universities/conservatories and colleges around the world.
He has been invited as and Artist-In-Residence in dozens of occasions in for example Finland, Italy, China, Malaysia, Brazil and Portugal.
His 2 first CDs Pekka Pylkkanen: Pekka’s Tube Factory in 1999 and Pekka Pylkkanen Tube Factory: Opaque in 2001 were released by Naxos Jazz, and his 3rd album Pekka Pylkkanen Tube Factory: Listen! by Lumino Records and later licenced to the Chinese market by Starsing Records. He represents Ken Okutsu Mouthpieces, Marmaduke Music accessories and Keilwerth Saxophones.