On Saturday evening, the stage of the "Vilnius Mama Jazz" festival will feature a post-jazz sound that provides plenty of room for experimentation. Bringing together enormous creative potential and the most promising talents of the European avant-garde scene, "Petter Eldh Post Koma" is undoubtedly one of the most innovative jazz collectives of the Old Continent today.
With each passing year, the task becomes more and more difficult to fulfill. After hearing new albums, it starts to seem like you've already heard it somewhere, so leaving the innovations aside, we return to the old classics of the genre. But not everything is so pessimistic. Post jazz collective "Post Koma" is one of the brightest examples of today, proving that music can sound different! To sound like you would blow the roof off even the snobs who are famous for their critical hums.
The constellation of the European avant-garde scene
The roots of "Post Koma" go back to the not so good years of 2018-2019, when one of the most productive and prominent double bassists on the Swedish jazz scene, Petter Eldh, decided that the many projects he was involved in were too small for him. This is how the Koma Saxo quintet led by Mr. Eldh was born, bringing together one of today's most original and technical percussion aces, Christian Lillinger, and the Swedish-Finnish sax trio - Otis Sandsjö, Jon Kullhammar and Mikko Innanen.
P. Eldhs, C. Lillinger, O. Sandsjö, J. Kullhammar and M. Innanen are the undisputed heavyweights of the European jazz scene. All of them can be seen working with top stars such as Django Bates, Christian Falk, Peter Evans, Kaja Draksler, Rolf Kühn, Marius Neset, Stefan Pasborg and many others. And for this five, the total number of albums they nailed would even enter the three-zero zone. But numbers and names are just one thing, the personal works of these musicians, who constantly receive many ovations for their innovation and quality, are quite another.
Many thought that this quintet would be just another super group full of stars, but they were disappointed with their content. in 2019 the debut album "Petter Eldh Presents Koma Saxo" pushed these fears aside with a firm hand. The collective, which housed enormous creative potential and the most promising names of the European avant-garde scene under one roof, sent a very strong message - a new star is being born in the music universe.
A sound changing the jazz landscape
The source of Samson's strength in the Old Testament was his hair, and the "Coma Saxo" phenomenon described in reviews of music critics is an unconventional approach to the genre and an amazing drummer. Petter, Christian, Otis, Jonas and Mikko draw inspiration from the wells of rock, electronic, academic or improvisational music. Of course, many musicians today do, but few manage to extract the highest quality elixir for the soul from it. The army led by Mr. Eldh is exporting just such an elixir all over the world! And one of the secret components determining its quality and popularity is the cosmic rhythms of C. Lillinger. As this drummer plays, there's only one question on his mind - is he really from this planet?
in 2022 Koma Saxo has raised its already elusive quality bar even higher. The collective released a stunning album "Koma West", cementing its position among the best. Koma West has retained the collective's unique groove, characterized by an all-sweeping tornado of a brass section, otherworldly rhythms and madly pounding double bass. But to make matters worse, Koma West was joined by the unique voice of Sofia Jernberg, cellist Lucy Railton, violinist Maria Reich, pianist Kit Downes and accordionist and Petter's mother Kiki Eldh. The extended version of the Koma Saxo sounded even stronger!
The desire to expand the ranks of the quintet did not disappear after the Koma West album. in 2023 in the most mature album of the collective "Post Koma" that appeared, the wonderful S. Jernberg, who is well known to fans of jazz and improvisational music from such collectives as "Fire!", sounded again. Orchestra" or "The End", voice. Having gained momentum, the Koma Saxo train is not going to stop, but after last year's album, it takes on a new form - it becomes Post Koma.
P. Eldhas, C. Lillingeris, O. Sandsjö, J. Kullhammar and S. Jernberg will enter the "Vilnius Mama Jazz" stage with a clear mission - to wake up the audience from the coma it fell into after another encounter with traditional jazz. Be ready to wake up and boldly step into a new phase of life!
May 25 19:00 p.m. The Rabih Abou-Khalil Group will also perform at the "Vilnius Mama Jazz" concert in the LNDT New Hall - traditional Arabic music interwoven with the freedom of jazz and the elegance of classical music.
