Martin Söderbacka & Eevalotta Matikainen

One of Finland’s hardest working musician couples and highly regarded jazz guitar and double bass duo, Martin Söderbacka & Eevalotta Matikainen, have played over 1000 concerts together and collaborated with internationally acclaimed jazz artists such as Viktoria Tolstoy, John Stowell, Jukka Perko, Tom Ollendorff, Felipe Salles, David Lyttle, Joris Roelofs, Joonatan Rautio, Manuel Dunkel, Siim Aimla and many more. Besides running their own club, ELive Jazz, in their hometown of Kokkola, Martin and Eevalotta have performed at some of the most central jazz clubs and festivals in Finland. Their long awaited second duo album Northern Sky is the fifth album that Martin and Eevalotta have produced together. They also co-lead the super-energetic soul/jazz quintet Soul What? and quartet SM4.

  • Martin Söderbacka (FIN) – guitar
  • Eevalotta Matikainen (FIN) – double bass
Martin Söderbacka Guitarist

THE MUSIC

 Martin’s and Eevalotta’s compositions resonate in a clear sound of the Nordic landscapes while still relying on the harmonies and swing of the American jazz tradition. The music on their latest album Northern Sky can be described as contemporary jazz with Scandinavian flavours that sets a playground for the musicians to create rhythmic and harmonic adventures. Guitarist Martin Söderbacka and bass player Eevalotta Matikainen are known to perform atmospheric and multifaceted music that strongly lives in the moment combined with straight ahead swing. The duo often utilizes effect pedals and the diversity of sounds from their instruments to create a unique sound as a duo.

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ABOUT

Martin Söderbacka Guitarist

Martin Söderbacka (FIN) – guitar

Finnish jazzguitarist and composer has performed and collaborated with numerous great guest artists such as: John Stowell (USA), Viktoria Tolstoy (SE), Joris Roelofs (NL), Jukka Perko, Siim Aimla (EST), Teemu Viinikainen, Osmo Ikonen, Sami Saari, Elena Mindru, Nina Mya, Jenny Robson, Manuel Dunkel, Olli Soikkeli, Niklas Winter, Aili Ikonen, Joonatan Rautio, David Lyttle (IRL), Joakim Berghäll and Mikko Gunu Karjalainen.

Martin composes music for own groups and co-leads several bands together with his wife, bassist Eevalotta Matikainen such as Soul What? feat. Joonatan Rautio, Söderbacka-Matikainen Duo and SM4.

Combinding an traditional approach to jazzguitar along with different sounds created with effect pedals, Martin crafts a contemporary sound which sits very well with the music he composes.

”…one of Finland’s finest jazz guitarists, Martin Soderbacka.”

Jazz Guitar Today USA (27.11.2023)

Eevalotta Matikainen (FIN) – double bass

Eevalotta started her music carreer playing big band music at the age of 10 years old. Since then she has worked and performed with many great artists from Finland and abroad. Eevalotta has also worked in many orchestras, big bands and ensembles spanning from classical music, traditional folk music to jazz. Eevalotta has led her first own band, Soul What? feat. Joonatan Rautio’s soul/jazz quintet since 2008. In addition, she composes with her guitarist husband, Martin Söderbacka, for their joint bands SM4 and Söderbacka-Matikainen Duo.

Martin Söderbacka Guitarist

VIDEOS

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