At seven years old, he began to study the classical piano. Uno Naissoo, his father (1928-1980), was a composer, educator, and organizer of Tallinn’s jazz festivals. Tonu began playing free improvisations on the piano at age ten. He completed his studies at Tallinn Music School, Tallinn State Conservatory, and was awarded a scholarship to Berklee College of Music (USA), in 1989. His debut occurred with his trio at Tallinn 1967 International Jazz Festival, when he had just 16 years old. He recorded his first album, “Tonu Naissoo Troo”, (Melodiya) the following year (1968). His first solo performances as a pianist took place in Novgorod (Russia) and Leningrad (1972-76). After many years of silence, he began performing in a trio again in 1977, after being a keyboard player in the instrumental group of the pop-showgroup, “Laine”. After his success at Thbilisi 78″ jazz festival (Georgia), the trio was invited to perform at many major jazz festivals in former Soviet Union, including Riga, Donetsk, Yaroslavl, Baku, Birstonas, and Baku (Azerbaijan). He also performed solo concerts and was often a guest pianist at concerts in Minsk, Belarus, Leningrad (St. Petersburg), and Moscow. He began to perform abroad in the 1980s, including at jazz festivals and clubs in France, Belgium, West-Germany and West-Germany. He has performed with many well-respected jazz musicians, including Yves Teicher and Jens Winther, Gebhard Ullman and Michel Marre. He has been a pianist for several international projects such as the EBU big band (Pori Jazz 1985 in Finland), Trio Thomas Eckert(Switzerland), – Vyatcheslav Gavivoronsky (Russia), – Tonu Nassisoo [Turku Jazz 1992 in Finland], The Baltic Trio: Egil Straume-Vladimir Tarasov-Tonu naissoo [Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Germany]) and Vladimir Tarasovsovsovsovsovsovsovsovsovi] He was a pianist soloist in Alfred Schnittke’s 1st Symphony in USA (1988), by the Boston Symphony Orchestra (cond. Gennady Roshdestvensky), and in Holland (1991), by Rotterdam Philarmonic Orchestra. Gennady Rozhdestvensky). He also collaborated with Riga’s String Quartet. He performed solo piano in 2002 at Prague’s 6th Jazz Pianists Festival, in concert with Adam Makowicz u0026 John Taylor. He performed a series in Prague with an international avant-garde group, which included musicians from England and the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Slovak Republic. He toured the Czech Republic in 2006 and 2008 with the Freetime Quartet. In 2006, he also played solo piano at the Marlborough Jazz Festval in Great Britain with the Georg Haslam Sextet. He toured Japan in 2007 and 2008 with his trio of pianos, and he also performed solo piano concerts in 2009. Tonu Naissoo’s interpretation combines many jazz trends while also incorporating classical music principles into his improvisations. Since the late 1960s, he has been interested in electric keyboards. They were used primarily in film and theatre music, but also in jazz-rock projects and electric jazz. He also performs with DJ-s on his various electric keyboards as well as Moog synthesizers. He has been playing the Hammond organ more frequently in recent years. He has released 11 CDs under the Atelier Sawano label in Japan since 2005 (distr. Eastwind Import, USA His performances have been in famous concert halls such as the Tchaikovky Concert Hall (Moscow), Kapella in St. Petersburg and Boston Symphony Hall. Tonu Naissoo has composed music for his own bands, big band, and scores for many films, including feature films and television productions. He also composes chamber and choir music. He has been an associate professor of jazz piano at Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre since 2001. from www.tonunaissoojazz.com
