Hille (4)

Born in Freiburg, Germany, in 1961, Sid Hille enrolled at the Utrecht School of the Arts in 1987. He studied piano, jazz improvisation and composition with Bert van den Brink, Jasper van’t Hof, Willy Muller and Wim Witteman and graduated in 1993 as a Master of Music. Sid made his debut as a band leader and composer in 1993 with the CD ‘Dunjin’s Dance’. Dutch bass player Hein van de Geyn and French drummer André Ceccarelli joined him for this project as well as for its follow-up recording ‘To Be Frank’ in 1995. Since summer 1994 Sid has been living in Finland. He was head of the jazz department at the Central Ostrobothnia conservatory in Kokkola from 1994-2002. During this period two solo-piano recordings were released on Nazca Music: ‘Deep North – The Quiet Place’ in 1997 and ‘Reflections’ in 1998. In November 1997 Sid formed the Platypus Ensemble. Regarded by many as one of the principal representatives of Finnish chamber jazz the quartet has toured extensively in Scandinavia and Central Europe. Five albums were released to public and critical acclaim: ‘Platypus’ (2000), ‘Gestalt’ (2003), ‘Satsang’ (2005), the Live album ‘Life@Play’ (2007) and ‘Rite of Passage’ (2008). The Platypus Ensemble has been inactive since 2010. In 2002 Sid Hille received a grant from the Finnish Cultural Foundation for a Bigband composition. Composing ‘Frutas Maduras’, a 50-minute concerto for trombone and jazz orchestra, forms a landmark in Sid’s career and life. Now living in Helsinki, he devotes most of his working time to composing and performing. As a composer Hille has been successful with big band compositions, chamber music and film music. In 2008 he won the first prize at the international composition competition ‘Scrivere in Jazz’ in Sardegna, Italy, with the big band composition ‘Tango mòrbido y cìnico’. The International Society of Contemporary Music (ISCM) chose Hille’s bigband composition ‘Felsenfest’ (2005) to be performed at the World New Music Days 2010 in Sydney, Australia. His music for the feature film ‘Kohtaamisia/Heartbeats’ by Saara Cantell, 2010 was nominated for the Finnish Film Prize. Sid Hille has played weekly solo piano recitals in Helsinki’s famous Temppeliaukio Church since 2002, the 300. concert being due on Saturday August 16th, 2014. In fall 2012 the newly formed Sid Hille contemporary/jazz Collective released its debut CD ‘The Zen Connection’ to much crictical acclaim. The band’s unusual line-up with string quartet, guitar, piano and bass clarinet allows for interesting colors and textures. In spring 2013 the Finnish-Italian jazz quintet Infinita presented its debut CD ‘Time Continuum’.