jaZZanti concert: Kalle Kalima & Antti Lötjönen

Bassist Antti Lötjönen, recipient of the Finnish Jazz Federation’s Yrjö Award 2024 and one of Finland’s most respected jazz musicians, joins forces with guitarist Kalle Kalima, a Berlin-based artist with a strong career in Central Europe. In the music of Lötjönen and Kalima, the experience of thousands of concerts on stages around the world meets the freshness of a new collaboration.

In autumn 2024, the duo recorded the album “Stings, Bites and Scratches,” released by Eclipse Music on January 3, 2025. The duo embarked on a 13-concert album release tour in early 2025. Both live and on record, the music presents a boundless and imaginative journey into the core of jazz and improvised music.

Concert review:
“The album must be excellent, as the concert was absolutely fantastic… This ‘march,’ and everything else created by Lötjönen and Kalima in the concert, was simply astonishing.”
– Pentti Ronkanen, Suomijazz

Album review:
“Double bassist Antti Lötjönen and guitarist Kalle Kalima bow to no one… from clarity to roughness, the journey unfolds with a wild grin. The improvised layers resound unrestrained.”
– Juha Seitz, Ilkka-Pohjalainen

Stings, Bites and Scratches stresses the immediate affinity of these gifted musicians. The music flows patiently and organically, highlighting the original and unorthodox rhythmic and melodic sensibility of Lötjönen and Kalima. Their intimate, conversational dynamics often mimic playful and inventive hide-and-seek games, emphasising their strong-minded voices and often their eccentric sense of humour.
– Eyal Herauveni, salt peanuts*

Photo: Sakari Puhakka

The concert is supported by City of Helsinki, Svenska Kulturfonden and The Finnish Music Foundation.

The concert is part of the Jazz in Finland 100 Anniversary