Jazzfest Berlin 2026: Elin Forkelid Plays For Trane

Elin Forkelid – Gruppe von fünf Personen in einem Wohnzimmer mit Bücherregalen, Schallplatten und einem auffälligen T-Shirt in Rosa.

Elin Forkelid Plays For Trane

(SE)

German premiere

Swedish saxophonist Elin Forkelid – who played fiery solos at Jazzfest Berlin 2024 as a member of bands led by Vilhelm Bromander and Anna Högberg – has carefully placed the word “for” in the name of this long-running project. While her quintet does play the music of the singular composer and saxophonist John Coltrane, its function is both to play Trane’s music and honor his legacy. Those two goals are inseparable. Her band includes some of the greatest talent on Stockholm’s current jazz scene, with guitarist David Stackenäs and vibraphonist Mattias Ståhl providing a plush, multi-layered harmonic foundation, while bassist Bromander and drummer Jon Fält simultaneously push the music forward and provide a vortex of simmering energy that channels the ecstatic fervor of Trane.

On the group’s just-released second album the quintet digs into indelible classics, whether the introspective ballad Naima or the eternal plea Peace on Earth, and while they cherish and preserve the melodic and harmonic core of the material, the arrangements take it all somewhere new. On the latter the guitarist and the vibist form a jagged sonic lattice, a shimmering, luminescent fabric that endlessly recasts the saxophonist’s keening lines, where the scuffed tone recalls the fiery spirituality of Coltrane’s later years. The group’s version of Reverend King, an obscurity from the 1968 album Cosmic Music, rides on a similar staccato pulse, a tension-building device that masterfully supports Forkelid’s epic solo, but the arrangement takes its time, coming into focus in the final, exultant moments.

Line-up

Elin Forkelid – soprano, alto and tenor saxophone

David Stackenäs – guitar

Mattias Ståhl – vibraphone

Vilhelm Bromander – double bass

Jon Fält – drums, percussion

Runtime: Thu, 29/10/2026 to Sun, 01/11/2026

Next date: Elin Forkelid Plays For Trane

• Date Thursday, 29/October/2026 20:00
• Venue A-Trane Jazzclub
• Address Bleibtreustraße 1, 10623 Berlin-Charlottenburg