Toronto's finest treblemakers

On Wednesday night, by Helsinki's harbour, the Nordic summer was playing its usual tricks.

- Sanjoy Narayan

What began as a perfect evening turned fickle, the wind whipping off the Baltic Sea. It was the kind of weather that sends fair-weather concertgoers scrambling for cover. But as Black Sabbath's War Pigs thundered across the open-air venue's sound system, setting the mood, those who stayed knew they were about to witness something special.

When BadBadNotGood finally took the stage at Allas Live, the cold suddenly felt irrelevant. The Canadian trio of Alexander Sowinski (on drums), Chester Hansen (on bass) and Leland Whitty (switching between saxophone and guitar) was joined by their expanded tour line-up: Felix Fox-Pappas on keyboards, Kaelin Murphy on trumpet and Juan Carlos Medrano on percussion.

They launched into their set with the kind of controlled intensity that has made them one of the most compelling genre-benders in contemporary music. This wasn't just another gig; it was a masterclass in how jazz can evolve without losing its soul.

The setlist drew from the band's 15-year journey, blending tracks from their latest opus, Mid Spiral, with older favourites that reminded everyone why they fell in love with BadBadNotGood in the first place.

The evening's most poignant moment came when they paid tribute to Sly Stone, (the pioneering American funk and soul musician who died earlier this month, aged 82) with an instrumental version of Family Affair, turning his 1971 funk classic into something both reverent and revolutionary.