Jazzfest Berlin 2026, Part 1

By Paul Acquaro

 

Thursday, October 29th.

If one looks just at the motto, it seems that Jazzfest Berlin is feeling a bit more hopeful this time around. Last year, the festival borrowed Marc Ribot’s lyric “Where Do You Run When the Worlds On Fire?” as the slogan - a reflection of zeitgeist for sure- but this time around, they are saying “Dream, Baby, Dream.” instead.

The motto itself comes from title of an experimental short film developed during last year's festival in collaboration with community participants from the city’s Moabit district. Guided by filmmaker-musician Chris Jonas and musical director bassist Joel Grip, and featuring the transcultural ensemble Moabit Imaginarium, the project explored questions of belonging, imagination, and collective creation. If the film, shown at the opening of the festival, celebrated the possibility of new communities, the closing act of this years festival, the Globe Unity Orchestra, offered an longitudinal study of what a musical community can become over six decades of shared artistic purpose.

Conceived as a commission for the Berliner Jazztage, as the festival was then known, in 1966, pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach assembled a collection of European free-jazz upstarts into a large ensemble unlike any previously heard in Europe. Drawing together members of the Manfred Schoof Quintet, the Peter Brötzmann Trio, and Gunter Hampel's circle, the orchestra became a platform for a distinctly European improvising voice that was emerging from, rather than merely imitating, its American influences. Seen as provocative and deeply divisive by critics and audiences at its debut, the orchestra's 60th-anniversary appearance was greeted not with controversy but with celebration.

 

EROSÃO PERCUSSION TRIO. Berliner Festspiele, Photo: Camille Blake

Throughout the festival's four nights in the elegant Haus der Berliner Festspiele, the performances repeatedly touched on the interplay of history, experimentation, and cultural exchange. Kicking off the festival, EROSÃO PERCUSSION TRIO, drummer and singer Maria Portugal’s project with percussionists Burkhard Beins and Emilio Gordo brought folk-tinged vocal pieces drawn from her Brazilian background together with textured percussion, creating a dynamic world of sound for the attentive listener. 

 

Anthony Braxton Septet. Berliner Festspiele, Photo: Camille Blake

Then, following the screening of DREAM BABY DREAM, the highly anticipated Anthony Braxton Septet took the stage. Entering the stage to great applause, the 81-year-old composer appeared a bit shaky but eager to present his new music. The musicians sat in a semicircle facing the composer and his laptop, an unusual instrumentation of three tubas (Fanny Méteier, Berlinde Deman, Matthew Bookert) and four saxophones (James Fei, Anna Webber, Silke Eberhard and, of course, Braxton himself, who played only sporadically between conducting). The music unfolded calmly, mostly whispers of sound in which sometimes the restraint of the players seemed louder than the sounds themselves. Light electronics emanated from the laptop and provided a gentle contrast to the acoustic collage. When Braxton did turn to his saxophones, his melodic lines were a gracious accent added to the overall musical fabric. The most touching part, however, came at the end when, spontaneously and without microphone, Braxton addressed the audience humbly thanking them for their attention and offering a message of hope in troubled times.

Alexander Hawkins Willow Music. Berliner Festspiele, Photo: Camille Blake

The final act of the night at the Festspielhalle, was British pianist Alexander Hawkins Willow Music. A large group, their collective power was felt immediately as they launched into a groove rife with slippery timings. The groups dynamic melodies and snaking interplay injected a joyful jolt of energy into the night. Vacillating between conducting the 11-piece group and sitting down at his piano, Hawkins’ musical vision for the evening was clear - a kitchen sink approach bringing together the cerebral, the head-bopping and the spiritual, a rather perfect balance of chaos and composition. His own solos were often miniature compositions and the pen-ultimate piece, which featured his piano playing with a pared down ensemble, brought a hush to the room. (For the full listing of the evening's musicians, please see here.)

Friday 

Camila Nebbia Large Ensemble. Berliner Festspiele, Photo: Camille Blake

Friday’s concerts took listeners from the Middle East to Argentina to Chicago and back to the Middle East, with a stop over in New York City and side trip to Japan. The evening started with a set from the Berlin based, Argentinian saxophonist Camila Nebbia whose recently assembled Large Ensemble brought together a who’s who of primarily young Berlin musicians. The piece they performed, “the darkness, overwhelming and imposing, compelled me to light my own fires,” represented a work of truly orchestral scope. Synchronized with a video installation by Andro Manzoni, the composition ostensibly followed the story of Nebbia’s great-grandfather emigration from Lebanon to Argentina in which rich visuals and organic abstract patterns were augmented with grainy home-movies. The musical action, however, was even more of an attention grabber. Nebbia’s composition offered a compelling and dynamic soundscape, giving ample room to soloists, like the guitarist Arne Braun’s affecting passages and Kit Downes’ organ playing, while her own solos showcased her increasing virtuosity. (The full list of musicians can be see here.)

Amir ElSaffar New Quartet. Berliner Festspiele, Photo: Camille Blake

The microtonality of the Amir ElSaffar New Quartet followed. ElSaffar is a Chicago born and based trumpeter with a deep reverence for his Middle Eastern heritage. Mixing the two cultures, he has created an utterly captivating best-of approach to his music. His quartet, which features Tania Giannouli’s microtonal piano, Ole Mathisen’s tenor sax playing and Tomas Fujiwara’s drumming, is an expressive and agile formation. At its heart is Giannouli’s piano, which at times is entirely copacetic to the western ear, but then could seamlessly veer into exotic scales and chords. ElSaffar, whose playing too could be conventionally ‘jazzy’ easily followed the piano into these new territories. Fujiwara’s powerful, deft drumming seemed to bring out the best of the group when they locked into a flowing groove. 

Immanuel Wilkins Quartet. Berliner Festspiele, Photo: Camille Blake

The evening on the main stage wrapped up with the Immanuel Wilkins Quartet. The young saxophonist brought his group with pianist Micah Thomas, bassist Ryoma Takenaga and drummer Kweku Sumbry to play a well-oiled set of soon-to-be standards. Beginning the night with a guest appearance of the singer ganavya (whose performed with her group on the final night of the festival) they began with the tune ‘Blue Blood,’ an up-tempo, modern jazz/blues tune ftom a recent recording. The opener and following powerful set placed Wilkin’s msuic deeply within jazz tradition and although the saxophone sometimes had a bit of a saccharine sound, the music was counter-balanced by hard-hitting playing from the organ and rhythm section.

  

Otomo Yoshihide’s New Quarter. Photo, Paul Acquaro.

The Jazzfest was not bound just to the Festspielhalle, and as in other years, satellite concerts were happening at nearby venues like Quasimodo and A-Trane, however the Festspielhalle also offers its own 'alternative' venue and so the real ending of the night however occurred on the tucked-away side stage of the where Japanese guitarist Otomo Yoshihide’s New Quartet ripped through a set of tunes with blistering energy and focus. The group began with a fanfare of sorts. Substitute saxophonist Chris Pitsiokos and regular trumpeter Ruike Shinpei announced the group’s arrival, while bassist Mizutani Hiroaki and drummer Yoshigaki Yasuhiro started up the engine. It was left, however, to Yoshihide to guide the way, which he did with explosive tonal vigor. The songs unfolded with a grittiness and gleeful abandon as they were deconstructed before the audience and reassembled in new imaginative ways. Each musician brought a meticulousness along with the energy, resulting in possibly one of the best sets of the festival.