Biography
Selma Savolainen, a vocalist, composer, and lyricist from Finland grounded in classical technique, fuses her homeland’s folk roots with contemporary jazz, avant-garde exploration, and indie singer/songwriter elements through intricate arrangements. Fronting the psychedelic jazz-pop outfit Selma Juudit Alessandra, she issued the album Rubicon Songs in 2019. A member of the vocal quartet Signe since 2017, she appears on its 2019 release To Sappho, the 2021 Phonemes EP, and the 2022 full-length Morphemes. She also leads the vanguard jazz ensemble Mikko Sarvanne Garden, responsible for Garden 0.5 in 2021 and Heräämisen Valkea Myrsky in 2022. Whirlwind Recordings presented her first leader effort, Horror Vacui, in 2023.
Born in Helsinki in 1993, Savolainen is the child of pianist and composer Jarmo Savolainen (1961–2009) and dancer-actress Helena Haaranen, affiliated with the Helsinki City Theatre. Piano instruction in the classical tradition began for her at age five. Vocal studies commenced at the Helsinki Pop & Jazz Conservatory in 2011 under the private tutelage of internationally acclaimed singer Sanni Orasmaa, while she also attended Sibelius High School, a specialized music and dance institution. Following graduation in 2013, she entered the jazz program at the Sibelius Academy, where instruction in singing and composition came from Jenny Robson, Aija Puurtinen, Jukkis Uotila, and Jussi Kannastee.
In 2016 Savolainen earned a place in Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead residency at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., collaborating there with singer Carmen Lundy, drummer Eric Harland, saxophonist J.D. Allen, and bassist Eric Revis. During the same year and into 2017 she served in the jazz department of the Paris Conservatory.
She co-established the exploratory jazz vocal and bass quartet Signe in 2017 alongside singers Josefiina Vannesluoma and Riikka Keränen plus double-bassist Kaisa Mäensivu; the group’s self-titled cassette appeared that year. In 2018 Savolainen formed the experimental quartet Selma Juudit Alessandra, which merges jazz, post-punk, and psychedelia and delivered its debut album Rubicon Songs in 2019. That same year Signe released the long-player To Sappho, inspired by surviving fragments of poetry by the ancient Greek poet, which earned an honorable mention for the Finnish Composer’s Copyright Society’s Teosto Prize in 2020 and a nomination for Finnish Jazz Album of the Year. She additionally co-founded the jazz duo Moon on Fire with bassist/vocalist Helen Svoboda. Amid a brief easing of COVID-19 quarantine restrictions, Savolainen joined composer and multi-instrumentalist Mikko Sarvanne’s project Mikko Sarvanne Garden, whose sound integrates contemporary vocal music, Nordic jazz, and sound art through a lineup of three vocalists, cello, double bass, percussion, and electronics. She continued touring with both Signe and Selma Juudit Alessandra.
During 2021 she produced Lastenkerääjä, the debut long-player by Finnish indie acid-folk duo Akkajee, and contributed vocals to the widely praised first digital release Garden 0.5 by Mikko Sarvanne Garden. Signe launched its “Onomatopoesia Trilogy” that year with the Phonemes EP. In 2022 Eclipse Music issued both Heräämisen Valkea Myrsky, the second album from Mikko Sarvanne Garden, and Morphemes, the trilogy’s next installment from Signe. Savolainen supplied choir arrangements for indie duo Karina and composed and arranged material for UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra.
She assembled a sextet drawn entirely from leading Finnish jazz musicians—clarinetist Max Zenger, trumpeter Tomi Nikku, pianist Toomas Keski-Säntti, double bassist Eero Tikkanen, and drummer Okko Saastamoinen. In spring 2021 she signed with Michael Janisch’s Whirlwind Recordings label; three days in August were spent recording Horror Vacui with the ensemble and co-producer/engineer Joonas Saikkonen. The album contains eight original pieces written for the group plus interpretations of Billy Strayhorn’s “A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing” and Kurt Weill’s/Ogden Nash’s “Speak Low,” and appeared in May 2023.
Born in Helsinki in 1993, Savolainen is the child of pianist and composer Jarmo Savolainen (1961–2009) and dancer-actress Helena Haaranen, affiliated with the Helsinki City Theatre. Piano instruction in the classical tradition began for her at age five. Vocal studies commenced at the Helsinki Pop & Jazz Conservatory in 2011 under the private tutelage of internationally acclaimed singer Sanni Orasmaa, while she also attended Sibelius High School, a specialized music and dance institution. Following graduation in 2013, she entered the jazz program at the Sibelius Academy, where instruction in singing and composition came from Jenny Robson, Aija Puurtinen, Jukkis Uotila, and Jussi Kannastee.
In 2016 Savolainen earned a place in Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead residency at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., collaborating there with singer Carmen Lundy, drummer Eric Harland, saxophonist J.D. Allen, and bassist Eric Revis. During the same year and into 2017 she served in the jazz department of the Paris Conservatory.
She co-established the exploratory jazz vocal and bass quartet Signe in 2017 alongside singers Josefiina Vannesluoma and Riikka Keränen plus double-bassist Kaisa Mäensivu; the group’s self-titled cassette appeared that year. In 2018 Savolainen formed the experimental quartet Selma Juudit Alessandra, which merges jazz, post-punk, and psychedelia and delivered its debut album Rubicon Songs in 2019. That same year Signe released the long-player To Sappho, inspired by surviving fragments of poetry by the ancient Greek poet, which earned an honorable mention for the Finnish Composer’s Copyright Society’s Teosto Prize in 2020 and a nomination for Finnish Jazz Album of the Year. She additionally co-founded the jazz duo Moon on Fire with bassist/vocalist Helen Svoboda. Amid a brief easing of COVID-19 quarantine restrictions, Savolainen joined composer and multi-instrumentalist Mikko Sarvanne’s project Mikko Sarvanne Garden, whose sound integrates contemporary vocal music, Nordic jazz, and sound art through a lineup of three vocalists, cello, double bass, percussion, and electronics. She continued touring with both Signe and Selma Juudit Alessandra.
During 2021 she produced Lastenkerääjä, the debut long-player by Finnish indie acid-folk duo Akkajee, and contributed vocals to the widely praised first digital release Garden 0.5 by Mikko Sarvanne Garden. Signe launched its “Onomatopoesia Trilogy” that year with the Phonemes EP. In 2022 Eclipse Music issued both Heräämisen Valkea Myrsky, the second album from Mikko Sarvanne Garden, and Morphemes, the trilogy’s next installment from Signe. Savolainen supplied choir arrangements for indie duo Karina and composed and arranged material for UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra.
She assembled a sextet drawn entirely from leading Finnish jazz musicians—clarinetist Max Zenger, trumpeter Tomi Nikku, pianist Toomas Keski-Säntti, double bassist Eero Tikkanen, and drummer Okko Saastamoinen. In spring 2021 she signed with Michael Janisch’s Whirlwind Recordings label; three days in August were spent recording Horror Vacui with the ensemble and co-producer/engineer Joonas Saikkonen. The album contains eight original pieces written for the group plus interpretations of Billy Strayhorn’s “A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing” and Kurt Weill’s/Ogden Nash’s “Speak Low,” and appeared in May 2023.
Albums
Singles
