Bezau Beatz, Aug. 6-9, 2026, Bezau, Austria

By Eyal Hareuveni

Second time at the Bezau Beatz festival, located in a small, beautiful, and most peaceful village in the Austrian Alps, but much closer to Switzerland, Italy and Germany than to the Austrian free music scenes. Thanks to the festival's artistic directors and producers - drummers Alfred Vogel and Valentin Schuster - the festival has managed to create a friendly and highly attentive community of music lovers and musicians that is welcoming and shares all kinds of musical adventures and experiments. A perfect place to take a vacation from the local or global disturbing reality and its abhorrent horrors and stupidities, and find some nurturing, fresh air - literally. This festival will celebrate its 20th anniversary next year.

1st Day, Aug. 6

The festival opened with the Danish-Norwegian quartet Emmeluth’s Amoeba - alto sax player and bandleader Signe Emmeluth, her partner, guitarist Karl Bjorå, pianist Christian Balvig, and drummer Ole Mofjell - which stormed the intimate space at the festival’s headquarters, Hotel Post. This quartet has already released four albums and has developed a tight, telepathic interplay, using Emmeluth’s skeletal compositional motifs for exploratory, intense rhythmic improvisations. There were times that the interplay sounded as if Bjorå, Balvig, and Mofjell challenged Emmeluth’s commanding, natural flow of ideas with playful, even disruptive moves. Still, she used their tactics to steer the quartet into collective, even more powerful, cathartic eruptions.

Later, down at the hotel’s basement - the SuBBwayZ - the duo NarrSteidle - German guitarist and electronics player Steffi Narr and drummer and electronics player Oliver Steidle (of The Killing Popes and Ilog), who has released a debut album on Vogel and Schuster’s Boomaslang label (Ghost Ants, 2025), weaved resonant acoustic, electronic, and processed sounds into fragmented rhythmic patterns, that slowly evolved into rich yet twisted and restless grooves.

The evening program moved to the main space - The Remise, a vintage locomotive garage most days of the year (with a strong aroma of grease), where Danish guitarist Teis Semey (who confessed that he has never seen mountains so high before) led his Amsterdam-based quintet: alto sax player José Soares, tenor sax player Jesse Schilderink, double bass player Jort Terwijn and drummer Giovanni Iacovella - with a set of playful pieces that flirted with free jazz, fusion and even pop songs, charged with youthful, passionate uplifting energy.

The following performance of the German, all-female quartet Hilde - vocalist Marie Daniels, violinist Julia Brüssel, cellist Emily Wittbrodt, and trombonist Maria Trautmann - was completely different. This quartet has already released three impressive albums (the most recent, Timbre, on Boomslang, 2026) and offered its refined aesthetics that search for unexpected ties between abstract timbral invention, chamber art song format, and free improvisation, with elegant grace, organic interplay, and wit, always highlighting the four distinct voices. Hilde never chose familiar routes, and it explored coordinates of time and space with its own mysterious and thoughtful inner logic. There were some arresting musical games, especially when trombonist Trautmann contrasted Daniels’ warm and beautiful vocal delivery with her subversive, ironic trombone vocalization.

The day ended at the Hoel Post with Schuster’s new quartet WOBBLE8 - baritone sax player Sofia Salvo (of Kuhn Fu), guitarist-vocalist Dan Peter Sundland (of Frank Gratkowski's Entrainmen, and Lina Allemano's Ohrenschmaus), vintage synth player Sebastian Pfeifer, and Schuster with a drum set with two pedals on the bass drum. This quartet prepares for the release of its debut album soon, The Moon is not there when nobody looks and exploded on the small stage with manic energy, propelled by Schuster’s massive, metal-like drumming, Salvo’s merciless Ayler-ian blows, Pfeifer’s prog-rock keyboard layers, and Sundland’s spiky guitar lines. The endless Dadaist-apocalyptic energy could supply enough electricity for the whole region for months. Looking forward to exploring WOBBLE8’s new album.

2nd Day, Aug.7

 

Austrian, New York-based Luisa Muhr opened the day’s program with an early performance of her conceptual work TEUFLIN/SHE-DEVIL (released on Boomslang, 2024), a feminine, irreverent interpretation of original, rich German texts from Goethe’s Faust, accompanied by cellist Elisabeth Coudoux and tenor sax player Jonathan Reisin, all dressed in black, and performing in the small church, Kloster Bezau. This work is based on a graphic score and questions the concept of "evil" from a female perspective, the separation of "good" and "evil," as it is particularly ingrained in Western traditions, and contemplates issues of life, death, and morality. It centers on Goethe’s phrase “Was glänzt, ist für den Augenblick geboren; / Das Echte bleibt der Nachwelt unverloren” (What dazzles, for the moment spends its spirit; / What’s genuine, shall Posterity inherit). Clearly, not the easiest issues to process early in the morning, but the wise, graceful performance of Muhr, Coudoux, and Reisin charmed and deeply moved the audience, some even to tears.

 

Luckily, the next performance of the free improvising trio of Portuguese alto sax hero José Lencastre and bassist João Hasselberg and Danish master drummer Kresten Osgood changed the atmosphere. This trio released its debut album last year, This Anger is a Liar (Fundacja Słuchaj!; the title is taken from a song by Kip Hanrahan), and the performance suggested how three idiosyncratic and opinionated improvisers converse and explore the unique space of the local artist locksmith’s workshop, Kunstschmiede Figer, and its artifacts. Lencstre opted for exploring brief melodic and introspective ideas; Osgood, with a Ninja Turtles T-shirt, was, as usual, all over, playing his drum kit as if he was making love to it, with commanding pathos but equipped with a profound musical sensibility, provoking the audience with his eccentric antics, but completely bewitching all; and asselberg was torturing his bass guitar (titled “Lily”) with feedback sounds, aggressive hammering, and effects. Somehow it all made perfect sense, as the trio relied on its deep listening dynamics to search for uncharted timbres and resonances, even when Osgood sang solo the Hanrahan’s song. The performance ended with Hasselberg dismantling the neck of the guitar and rubbing the bass string against the pickups, offering a symbolic interpretation of Eric Dolphy's immortal saying: “When you hear music, after it's over, it's gone, in the air. You can never capture it again”. All left this performance with a big smile on their faces, agreeing that our world needs many more Krestens desperately.

The afternoon performances returned to Hotel Post with a performance by the German, Cologne-based Philip Zoubek Trio - Zoubek on piano and synth, double bass player David Helm, and drummer-percussionist Dominik Mahnig. This trio has released five albums (including one in its electric version as Placebo Domingo) and is about to release its sixth one soon on Boomslang. It played a highly powerful set that highlighted its tight, inexhaustible, resonant kinetic-rhythmic energy as if it were a three-headed sonic entity, synchronized to the most minute detail, while following the intricate, composed score.

Down at the SuBBwayZ, the futurist trio Meat.Karaoke.Quality.Time. - EWI and Moog synth players Florian Walter and Jan Klare, and Karl-F. Degenhardt on sensory and AI percussion, all dressed in black, as mad scientists from another planet. They cooked otherworldly - literally - weird but accessible sonic spices.

Back in the Remise, Argentinian, Berlin-based tenor sax player Camila Nebbia presented her sextet, The Hanged One, inspired by the tarot card number 12, representing letting go, patience, reassessment, insight, and sacrifice, which is usually a symbol for new perspectives. This band: : cellist Julia Biłat, guitarist Arne Braun, electronics player Andres Marino, double bass player Vinicius Cajado, and drummer Lukas Akintaya, is about to release a new album by Relative Pitch. The sextet explored the tension between jazz-tinged composed parts with powerful grooves and experimental improvisation and timbral explorations, with Biłat and Marino more active on this edge. Nebbia encouraged individual, generous solos that allowed all ideas to be turned upside down, and new perspectives to emerge without fear of clash, but Nebbia’s economic, soulful solos glued all contrasting poles into an impressive, coherent statement.

Next, at the same location, French drummer Edward Perraud presented his Sauvages Paradis (White Paradise) quartet - organ player and pianist Eve Risser (the leader of Red Desert Orchestra), flutist Delphine Joussein (of Nout trio and the Flöjter duo with Mats Gustafsson) and guitarist Arthur Delaleu. This collective quartet just released its criminally short debut album, Wild Thing (Gigantonium, 2026), and immediately captured the audience with its hyperactive, ever-inventive, and inspired sonic paradise. This quartet created cathartic, hypnotic, and trance-like textures that demonstrated how these resourceful improvisers keep feeding and pushing each other, with generous doses of humour, ecstatic storms, and dream-like, cosmic soundscapes. Perraud sang in gibberish, played on a strange guitar, Risser introduced North African meditative pulses on the piano, and Joussein transformed her flute into a mean, effects-laden electric guitar, and only Delaleu sat still as if the exhilarating sonic mayhem did not touch him. This quartet delivered on its promise from its album: “surrendering to the collective fever and opening yourself up to a journey of no return”.

Day 3, Aug 8

The morning performance began with "Three men in a church with no Maria", the Littorina Saxophone Trio - Finnish Mikko Innanen, Swedish Fredrik Ljungkvist, and Lithuanian Liudas Mockūnas - playing within the beautiful acoustics of the ancient Kirche Reuthe, but without its founding member, Estonian Maria Faust, who had another engagement. This quartet of reed masters, who play the saxophone family, from the sopranino to the bass, is titled after the original name of the Baltic Sea and released a debut album last year. Leaking Pipes (NoBusiness, 2025). The touching, beautiful set stressed the profound, emphatic, and playful dynamics of this trio and its own independent aesthetics, rooted in Nordic folk motifs and European schools of modern jazz. Ljungkvist’s soulful, moving ballad “Nils-Olof”, dedicated to his father-in-law who passed away, and the trio’s interpretation of Ljungkvist's “Oslo”, were the highlights of this set, which could have been much, much longer, as far as the attentive audience cared.

In the afternoon, Israeli-born, New York-based tenor sax player Jonathan Reisin presented his thought-provoking, complex compositions from his album Too Good X Unreality (Boomslang, 2025) at the Remise, with Korean-born, Amsterdam-based pianist Chaerin Im and Italian drummer Francesca Remigi (neither played on the album). Reisin introduces post-Cageian extended techniques and Steve Reich-like minimalism, and his sax playing and his compositions suggest a distant, sober, often even ironic perspective on the jazz legacy. This performance allowed his demanding, intricate compositions to blossom with the new voices of Im and Remigi, and often Reisin simply stood aside and enjoyed how they breathed new, unpredictable fresh air into his ideas, letting this ad-hoc trio push the boundaries of its instruments.

At the same location, Finnish, Berlin-based guitarist Kalle Kalima presented his new trio Detours, with German drummer Christian Lillinger (who plays with Kalima in the KUU! quartet) and Argentinian, Brooklyn-based keyboard player Leo Genovese, who played the Hammond organ, Crumar electric piano, Korg synth, and piano. This trio was formed in the 2025 edition of the Saalfelden Jazz Festival, but this was one of its first-ever performances, and music was composed, focusing on the high-energy, dense, and physical rhythmic outputs of these gifted, versatile improvisers, with little variance in the radical, electric textures. But there were times that I could swear that Genovese had at least four hands, if not much more.

The night ended at the same location with the first-ever performance of the Vanish trio - the one and only American vocal artist Shelley Hirsch, Swiss master double bass player Christian Weber, and master drummer Alfred Vogel. This trio released its debut album earlier this year on Boomslang that revolved around Hirsch’s stream of thoughts, observations, insights, and stories. It was clear from the first moment that Hirsch is a natural on stage, with a deeply sensual, touching presence that immediately bewitched the audience, as well as Weber and Vogel, who kept challenging her with fragmented rhythmic patterns. Hirsch transformed this performance into a funny, moving, and thoughtful love letter to the festival, to the appreciative audience, and especially to the “beautiful white-haired women of Bezau” and to Weber and Vogel. She did so with a remarkable, commanding ability to shape the English and the German languages to her needs, with amusing onomatopoeic games, and poetic quotes from jazz standards. I hope that this trio will find more opportunities to explore its great potential.

Day 4, Aug. 9

The festival ended with a morning performance at the Remise with a guest band from a twin festival in Porto, Portugal. Portuguese, Amsterdam-based Vocal artist and composer Vera Morais presented her new quintet EUPNEA - with vocalists Līva Dumpe, Sarah van Eijk, and flutists Teresa Costa and Ketija Ringa-Karahona - that just released a debut album. Morais’ compositions offer a beautiful, touching synergy of breath, air, and vocal pitches, flirting with contemporary music and influences of Meredith Monk ensembles, and encapsulate the quintet as a human organ that explores highly immersive chamber music. Morais is a creative force worth following.

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Reza Askari Roar Quintet - xAYb v8v dYAx (Boomslang, 2026)

By Eyal Hareuveni

Reza Askari is a German (son of an Iranian-born father and a German mother), Cologne-based double bass player, composer, and educator (he is a professor of jazz bass at the University of Music Wuerzburg). His main band is the Roar trio - with clarinet and tenor sax player Stefan Karl Schmid and drummer Fabian Arend, augmented by vibes player Christopher Dell (who is also an educator who teaches architecture, urban design, and planning) in its last two albums - the self-titled album (QFTF, 2022) and Zen World Cables (Boomslang, 2024). The fifth album of Roar has a cryptic title, xAYb v8v dYAx, and the trio hosts Dell and Canadian trumpeter Lina Allemano (who splits her time between Toronto and Berlin). The album was recorded at Deutschlandfunk Kammermusiksaal in Cologne in April 2026.

Askari was mentored by German double bass players Dieter Manderscheid and Sebastian Gramss, but has played with other innovative double bass players like Barre Philips and Mark Dresser, and is well-versed in the free jazz legacy. But Askari sees the acoustic, unamplified Roar quintet as an improvising modern jazz band that adapts the logic of extreme metal bands with their asymmetrical or symmetrical cycles, collapsing forms, obsessive repetition, abrupt ruptures, and overwhelming physical force. He mentions metal bands like Meshuggah, Car Bomb, the Melvins, and the Dillinger Escape Plan that have a distinct architectural and emotional language that he wanted to transform into a detailed improvisational context.

xAYb v8v dYAx distills the powerful, physical, and constantly shapeshifting rhythmic patterns of metal bands into layered, more nuanced, and spacious yet still restless patterns. Askari, Dell, and Arend sketch complex, polyrhythmic architectures of a modern jazz trio or a chamber music ensemble, while they keep trading leading roles, often reaching surprising reductionist or atonal territories. Schmid and especially Allemano act as free agents who can add disruptive, sometimes even abrasive touches, and they always do so, but thoughtfully and poetically. Allemano’s economic interventions always charge the music with intense, emotional impact. This tension stimulates and enriches the unpredictable, often fragmented rhythmic dynamics of this quintet.

The Roar quintet does not seek to replicate the massive polyrhythmic patterns of Meshuggah or other metal bands, but captures the nervous, punkish rhythmic spirit of such bands. This quintet refuses to subscribe to the common, familiar order and instead challenges itself with shifting contrasts and structural chaos, always questioning, negotiating, negating, and reassembling Askari’s compositions. The code-like, palindromic titles of most pieces intensify that feeling. The outcome is thought-provoking, epic, and makes you return to the album again and again, not to decipher the cryptic titles, but to enjoy its free spirit.

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Jazzfest Berlin 2025 - Part 2

 

By Sarah "Flake" Grosser and Paul Acquaro

 

Part 2 of our coverage of the Jazzfest Berlin. See part 1 here.

Saturday @ Berliner Festspiele (Sarah)

Amaryllis Sextet © Berliner Festspiele Photo Camille Blake

Mary Halvorson – guitar
Adam O’Farrill – trumpet
Jacob Garchik – trombone
Patricia Brennan – vibraphone
Nick Dunston – double bass, electric bass
Tomas Fujiwara – drums  

Mary Halvorson’s Amaryllis Sextet continue to deliver. This latest repertoire on tour is some of Mary’s freshest work to date, and presented in the acoustic wunderland of the Berliner Festspiele, the sextet has never sounded so good. Mary’s virtuosic finger-work and precision effects, while at the forefront of the music, never come across as overly dominant. She effortlessly juggles the balance between subtle digital pitch bends and more traditional licks. This bendy approach is subtly mirrored with the virtuosoty of Patricia Brennan, who also employs her signature manual pitch-bending to the vibraphone. She does this along with a host of other bizarre tone manipulation methods including using her mouth on the bars - it’s hard to tell from a distance what she’s doing exactly, but it sounds great. A hypnotic, aggressive bass solo from Nick Dunston elicits whoops and cheers from a captivated crowd. The duo of Adam and Jacob bring just the right amount of spice over in the brass section and Tomas’s attentive drumming seals the deal. The synergy and friendship between bandmates is apparent and there’s no weak links. Yet another A+ performance from this immensely talented, always enjoyable bunch.

 

London Jazz Composers Orchestra, Marilyn Crispell & Angelica Sanchez: “Double Trouble III” by Barry Guy

Barry Guy © Berliner Festspiele Photo Camille Blake

Barry Guy – double bass, direction
Marilyn Crispell – piano
Angelica Sanchez – piano
Torben Snekkestad – tenor and soprano saxophone
Michael Niesemann – alto saxophone
Julius Gabriel – baritone saxophone
Simon Picard – tenor saxophone
Mette Rasmussen – alto saxophone
Henry Lowther – trumpet
Percy Pursglove – trumpet
Charlotte Keeffe – trumpet
Andreas Tschopp – trombone
Shannon Barnett – trombone
Marleen Dahms – trombone
Marc Unternährer – tuba
Philipp Wachsmann – violin
Christian Weber – double bass
Lucas Niggli – percussion

Out in the lobby after the performance, I spoke with Australian Trombone player Shannon Barnett, who remarked that she had never seen a score that was so clear and easy to read. “I knew where all the cues were immediately. It was such a joy to play.” She added that despite this, for two days straight the ensemble had "rehearsed the shit out of that piece.” Fellow trombonist Marleen Dahms felt that due to the rehearsal space being smaller, the improvisers could read each other’s cues better, and claimed that the rehearsal was actually better than the performance. From where I was sitting, there was no indication that any performer was having difficulty during the show, and I cannot fathom a world in which there could've been a better performance than what I had just witnessed. 

Two enormous grand pianos were positioned at the front of the stage, i.e. "Double Trouble." These are for Angelica Sanchez and Marilyn Crispell, who had just been presented with the coveted 2025 Instant Award for Improvisational Music. Conductor Barry Guy was also out in front with his back to the audience, along with his double bass. It was thrilling to watch him gesturing and conducting with his full body, while also playing the giant instrument - something so rare, I wonder if I will ever see that again in my lifetime.

This was the third public performance of "Double Trouble." A long piece with many parts. Barry commanded the seventeen players who were so syncronised, it really felt like he controlled them with his hands. Everyone seemed to be perfectly tuned in, perhaps this was due to the crystal clarity of the score, as Shannon had said. He was confident with an obvious vision of how each passage should be executed. Loads of shifts in dynamics, and subgroupings and solos. A lot of space for improvisation which was very exciting for a group of this size. There were times when the huge room felt like it could have been mistaken for a tiny New York City basement venue, listening to some avant-garde underground explosion.

The acoustics at the Berlin Festspiele were particularly satisfying, especially during a duet solo between Mette Rasmussen and violinist Philipp Wachsmann. The tone and clarity of the saxophone mixing with the violin strings were spine-tingly good. Their combined sonic vibrations paired with their expertise caused physical sensations to arise - goosebumps - and I found this to be the case for all members of the orchestra. They are all super qualified, as musicians and improvisers, such that their combination felt like much more than the sum of its parts. Although there were moments that were busy and chaotic, it never felt overwhelming. It was very easy to hear each and every member's contribution and role in contributing to the overall masterpiece.

Amidst the more chaotic parts, there was an epic, uplifting, triumphant theme, which presented itself about halfway through the piece, played with such passion that it reduced me to tears. Needless to say, when the theme triumphantly returned near the tail end of the performance - the musicians united as one and the piece was honoured so beautifully. There were so many individual talents on the stage. When I initially saw the listing of performers, with so many big names, I was wondering how they were going to have their moment, or if they would simply just be part of the unified sound. How they would stand out. I told this to Barry’s good friend and frequent collaborator, pianist Jordina Millá, who had been watching the rehearsals. "Barry makes it work," she said. I didn't quite understand what she meant by this at the time, but I can confirm that Barry does indeed make it work. Apparently this performance was recorded. I would do anything to have a copy, because I need it in my life.

MOPCUT feat. MC Dälek: “Ryok” @ Quasimodo

MOPKUT feat. MC Dälek © Fabian Schelhorn

Lukas König – drums, synthesizer, voice
Audrey Chen – voice, analog electronics
Julien Desprez – electric guitar
Will Brooks aka MC Dälek – voice, electronics

For a particularly avant-garde aural onslaught beginning at 11:30pm, it was unsurprising that the Quasimodo was not sardine-packed for this loud, wild, experimental show. There’s so much going on – Audrey Chen’s birdlike vocal improvisations crackle and sparkle alongside MC Dälek's dark raps and effects. There are distinct grooves here, carried impressively by Lukas König's passionate drumming but if there is one unique standout amongst these beautiful freaks, it’s got to be Julien Desprez and his absurd “guitar” playing. Inspired by Brazilian tap dancing, Julien has taken to the concept using his feet to tap his effects pedals in sequence, creating bizarre rhythms and tones. He does this whilst playing the guitar, sitting atop a high chair. It’s giggle inducing because it sounds fantastic, and the performative element is undeniably fun. This is all glued together with a triggered digital bass sound from Lukas, filling in all the gaps for a lush, immersive collage. The club environment is a perfect atmosphere for this kind of avant-garde chaos, and for the passionate individuals who stick around til the very end, a quirky late-night delight!

*** 

  

Sunday @ Berliner (Paul Acquaro)

 

So here it is, the final day of the festival. Events had already transpired during the day at the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche with the excellent French saxophonist Sakina Abdou performing solo along with a set from the international trio The Handover featuring keyboardist Jonas Cambien, oudist Aly Eissa and violinist Ayman Asfour. However, let us join the festivities at the Festspiele, starting with saxophonist Amalia Dahl and her expansive group*.  

 

Dafnie Extended

Cacophonous blasts merged into tumbling passages and unison explosions, then into a driving pulse from the drums and bass. In fact, two drums and two basses, joined by trumpet, trombone, sax, flute, and accordion, Dahl's usual quintet Dafnie was appearing tonight in a 12-piece extended version. Laced with highly energetic solo passages and solid rhythmic motion, Dahl's musical vision, a zestful mix of composition and improvisation, was delivered with conviction. Fragile moments provided pleasant contrast to bombastic ones, and more than once thoughts of Alexander von Schlippenbach's Global Unity Orchestra came to mind as the 12-piece veered between the unseemly and the sublime. Overheard later were quips of it being "too ambitious," to which I say, "good, keep it up!"  

 

The Moabit Imaginarium © Berliner Festspiele Photo Camille Blake

The interlude that followed connected the events at the Festspiele with the community involvement that the Jazzfest engages in annually. The festival had actually begun at the start of the week and a group led by bassist Joel Grip and documented by filmmaker Chris Jonas working with school kids and community members in the Moabit part of the city on a multifaceted art project. The Moabit Imaginarium, which was the group Ouat, with Grip on bass, Simon Sieger at the piano and Michael Griener on percussion joined by community member musicians drummer Assane Seck, trumpeter Berno Jannis Lilge, gayageum player Hyunjeong Park, electronicst Elsa M’bala and rig player Hakam Wahbi. The range of instruments blended into a gentle, rhythmic piece that slowly grew denser and more melodic over 20 minutes, with the trumpet cutting through towards the end. The short piece invited enthusiastic applause.

 

Pat Thomas © Berliner Festspiele Photo Camille Blake

It was also a nice intro to the eclectic solo set from pianist Pat Thomas. Thomas, who has been an active musicians for decades in Britain, has seen his profile rise in recent years along with Grip in the band Ahmed. Tonight, however, the focus was on Thomas alone as he pounded, plucked, coaxed and caressed a smorgasbord of sound from his instrument. Bathed in blue spotlights, Thomas, bedecked in a dark, flowing robe, began with a crash on the keyboard - deliberate, loud, smashing - followed by a few tumbling notes, like glass tinkling downwards. Then, it became a flowing melody, soft at first, then growing stronger. The dynamism of his playing on full display, Thomas veered from lovely voicing with a touch of danger to riveting rhythmic explosions. The dissonances were a wild spice as well as structural element of his approach.

 

Fire! Orchestra  © Berliner Festspiele Photo Camille Blake

The festival closer was the most grandiose of all, the Fire! Orchestra** led by saxophonist Mats Gustaffson. While trimmed down from the 40 members that made up their last recording Echoes     (2023), the new 18-piece group featured some Fire! Orcehstra alumni favorites such as saxophonist Mette Rasmussen, bassist Johan Berthling, trombonist Mats Äleklint and singer Sofia Jernberg, it also brought in new faces like drummer and vocalist Mariá Portugal, guitarist (and vocalist) Julien Desprez and organist Kit Downs, among many others (see below). Often organized around seismic riffs and pulse-setting beats, the Fire! Orchestra can also be surprisingly lithe, which proved to be the case this evening. It is tempting to say this version was perhaps more compositionally focused with a modern classical twist to the sound. An embedded string ensemble comprised of Anna Lindal and Anna Neubert on violin and Emily Wittbrodt on cello had an extended part in the middle of the piece that seemed to highlight the composer's ambitions. At the start, saxophonist Anna Hogberg introduced the work with an extended solo, followed by a wild exchange of "words" between Portugal and Desprez. There were few other outright solos in the piece, though it ended with an extended coda by Downes and trumpeter Tuva Olsson. For an encore, the audience was treated to shades of Fire! Orchestra past, in which nearly heavy metal grooves, a fiery solo from Rasmussen and growling B3 tones from Downes shook the stage of the Festspiele.

The final concert of the festival was actually the James Brandon Lewis Quartet at Quasimodo ... undoubtedly an excellent digestive to this musical feast.

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*Dafnie Extended:

Amalie Dahl – saxophone, composition

Oscar Andreas Haug – trumpet

Jørgen Bjelkerud – trombone

Sofia Salvo – baritone saxophone

Henriette Eilertsen – flute

Ida Løvli Hidle – accordion

Lisa Ullén – piano Anna Ueland – synthesizer

Trym Saugstad Karlsen – drums

Ingebrigt Håker Flaten – double bass

Nicolas Leirtrø – double bass

Veslemøy Narvesen – drums

**Fire! Orchestra:

Sofia Jernberg – voice

Mariá Portugal – drums, voice

Anna Lindal – violin

Anna Neubert – violin

Emily Wittbrodt – cello

Mats Gustafsson – baritone saxophone, live electronics, conduction

Mette Rasmussen – alto saxophone

Anna Högberg – alto saxophone

Adia Vanheerentals – tenor and soprano saxophone

Mats Äleklint – trombone

Heiða Karine Jóhannesdóttir Mobeck – tuba, electronics

Tuva Olsson – trumpet

Lina Allemano – trumpet

Kit Downes – piano, keyboards

Mariam Rezaei – turntables

Julien Desprez – guitar, voice

Johan Berthling – electric bass

Mads Forsby – drums

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Jazzfest Berlin 2025 - Part 1

 

By Paul Acquaro and Sarah "Flake" Grosser 

 

Thursday @ Festspiele (Paul) 

 

"Where will you run when the world's on fire?" asked the slogan of the 62nd Berlin Jazz Festival, and while I have not yet come up with a satisfying long-term answer to the question, for four nights in mid-autumn, I at least found some refuge in the expansive Haus der Berliner Festspiele, ground zero of the festival. Ensconced safely enough in the impressive, mid-century modern auditorium, home to theater, dance and modern music, it felt at least temporarily removed from the raging discontent 'out there,' that is, until the Beyond Dragon's trio breathed their musical fire.

 

 

Beyond Dragons. © Berliner Festspiele Photo Camille Blake

Beyond Dragon's saxophonist Angelika Niescier, along with cellist Tomeka Reid and drummer Eliza Salem, lit up the stage with a welcome energy. A tough melody, eschewing any frills and niceties, bolted from the leaders horn while an intense pulse eminated from the cello. Along with the drums, the two a driving engine. Focused and ferocious, but not without an ear to melody, the trio burned up the stage for an hour, building up tension, Reid taking friction-full excursions, Niescier oscillating between tough heads and heady solos, and Salem always purposeful. 

 

Deranged Particles.© Berliner Festspiele Photo Camille Blake 

German bassist Felix Henkelhausen's "Deranged Particles" took the stage next, and its seven piece configuration seemed to promise an expansive counter to the focused might of the previous trio. The Deranged Particles began with the hum of Valentin Gerhardus' electronics and a splatter of Philip Dornbusch's percussion. Then as layers of sound began to pile up, Henkelhausen's bass could be heard cutting through the expectant atmosphere. Particles of sound indeed - as the group came together, Percy Pursglove's trumpet and Philipp Gropper's tenor saxophone were front and center, while Evi Filippou's vibraphone and Elias Stemeseder's keyboard work formed the perimeter, the music that emerged was a loose collective of sound with a tinge of orderly chaos. Each tone was an important piece of the picture, each shift of the rhythm adding slight instability to the structure. 

 

Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith © Berliner Festspiele Photo Camille Blake

Closing out the first night was the most intimate of the configurations, the duo of pianist Vijay Iyer and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith. Touring their latest recording, Defiant Life on ECM, there was already a bit of an answer to the festival's motto: we live in spite of the fire engulfing our worlds, and the music that the two created showed us how to do it. The two began defiantly - sharp chords from the piano and incisive notes from the trumpet - expressive and lined with small melodic statements, punctuated with big intervallic jumps. After a passage of loose tones from the horn, the two found themselves emerging from musical mists into engrossing, emotional pastures. The sounds of Iyer's Fender Rhodes and Smith's soft and wide-ranging trumpet was poignant. Rhythmically strong with cutting melodic lines, the duo was inspired and their music cerebral but passionate. A strong ending to a strong opening night in the main hall.

 

While the main event is happening at the Festpiele, the clubs A-Trane and Quasimodo, both in the vicinity, were serving as outposts of the festival ... other safehouses in this dangerous world ... and both were featuring top-notch groups. For a quick report on these activities, we turn to Free Jazz Blog colleague Sarah "Flake" Grosser, with a panoptic view of the goings on at Quasimodo...

 
Tim Berne’s CAPATOSTA @ Quasimodo (Sarah)

 

CAPATOSTA. © Fabian Schelhorn

There's no line, but the sold-out venue is truly packed. A couple hundred patient and attentive jazz lovers stand to attention as Tim, Tom, and Gregg wail away on stage, commanding the club to take notice. Barely anyone is moving, mesmerized by the frenzy. It's rapid, and busy; crunchy guitar and high tootling sax with Tom's intuitive accompaniment on drums. It goes down a treat and the crowd whoops and cheers once it's over.

From the back, there is still a pretty good unobstructed view, even for shrimps, but the sound quality and mix are well balanced. Even through light conversation, the music is nicely audible. Tim demands attention both musically and literally, asking a few rowdier patrons over at the bar: "What's German for 'Shut the fuck up'? It's really hard to play while you're talking…" Granted, it’s quite late at night, and people have had a few drinks at this point. The crowd is not offended, even laughing along with Tim’s American bluntness. Regardless of his question being rhetorical, in true German tradition, the fans offer practical suggestions back: “Halt die Fresse?”(Shut your face?) ”Schnauze? (muzzle/snout?)." Tim’s musical response is raw and unapologetic; an anarchic breath of fresh air. 

Gregg Belisle-Chi – electric guitar
Tim Berne – alto saxophone
Tom Rainey – drums

***

Friday @ Festspiele (Paul)

 

Friday evening and the Lina Allemano Four were hitting the small stage at A-Trane. This was happening just as the main stage was heating up at the Berliner Festspiele. In an effort to keep things simple, I stuck to the main hall, but really, how unfair this burning world is!  

 

Signe Emmeluth's Banshee © Berliner Festspiele Photo Camille Blake

Saxophonist Signe Emmeluth's Banshee, whose self-titled debut recordiing is out on Motvind Records, is a multi-headed, genre-bending, free-form group that is hard to categorize. Emmeluth's profile has been on the rise in recent years as a fierce, free saxophonist and with Banshee she both doubles down and confounds. Drawing on a a-list roster of Norway's young, burgeoning experimental scene, Banshee features Guoste Tamulynaite on keys, Jennifer Torrence on percussion, Guro Skumsnes Moe on bass, Heiða Karine Jóhannesdóttir Mobeck on electrified tuba, Anne Efternøler on trumpet and the scintillating Maja S. K. Ratkje on voice, electronics and violin. Everyone, in fact, is credited with voice, which proved to be a central piece of the work. The piece began promising with a blend of vocalizations and a progressive groove. Rhythmic ideas interwove as the leader interjected energetic lines. Then, following a noisy-laden musical breakdown, they group began to wander and for a little too long. Eventually, an emerging pulse helped point the way out, which culminated in the arrival of the banshee. Pained wailing at first, then an emergent, folkloric melody formed, giving new shape as a blend of zombie sounds, melodic shapes and diffuse grooves rode the piece out.

 

David Murray © Berliner Festspiele Photo Camille Blake

The contrast with the next group could not have been greater. Woodwindist David Murray, a veteran of the venerated NYC Loft-Scene of the 1970s and a prolific player whose style straddles avant-garde and traditional jazz, appeared with his current quartet and provided a set to soothe unsettled souls. Murray, who plays tenor saxophone and bass clarinet, ripped on both as he presented the music from his latest Impulse! recording Birdly Serenade (2025) with pianist Marta Sánchez, bassist Luke Stewart, and drummer Chris Beck. A more than capable quartet, it was perhaps Sanchez who stood out the most, with an early solo that added a bright energy to the pulsating rhythm. Murray proved spry and versatile throughout, shifting effortlessly between bopping melody and outside lines. The penultimate piece featured artist Francesca Cinelli, who also happens to be Murray's wife, dramatically reciting her lyrics to the song 'Oiseau Du Paradis' (Bird of Paradise), ending with saxophonist and poet trading-eights. 

 

Makaya McCraven © Berliner Festspiele Photo Camille Blake

The final act at the main stage was a more recent ascendant to in the modern jazz scene, drummer Makaya McCraven. Another contrast to the evening, the quartet of McCraven on drums, Junius Paul on electric bass, Matt Gold on guitar and Marquis Hill on trumpet, played a CTI-reminiscent set that offered glimmers of inspiration. Stand out was Gold, whose guitar work offered interesting melodic twists and rousing solo turns. Generally groove oriented, Paul did a wonderful job interjecting unexpected rhythmic accents and impulses. Coming back for a rare festival encore, they were a crowd favorite.

However, while it is over at the main hall, the youngsters are still keeping it going at Quasimodo. We turn again to our intrepid reporter in the field, Sarah "Flake" Grosser for an update from the fringes...

 

The Young Mothers @ Quasimodo (Sarah) 

 

The Young Mothers  © Fabian Schelhorn

Back at the club across town, away from the packed Festspiele, a different kind of packed show was taking place. The atmosphere here was entirely different - adventurous, playful, and free-spirited. I’m not sure what gave The Young Mothers their special sheen. Perhaps it was the combination of instruments or the colourful combination of characters onstage. Maybe it was the uplifting, catchy melodies. When everyone sings along in chorus: “It is better if you let it,” it’s such a happy sound and I can’t get the smile off my face. The crowd is immersed in the bright aura of the beautiful music, far from the mainstream, and wonderfully creative. Jonathan F. Horne whips out a violin bow and starts going to town with it on his guitar, giving a double meaning to the term “shredding.” It’s most entertaining keeping an eye on Stefan González the percussionist, pivoting from pretty vibraphone articulations to intense black metal blast beats on the drum kit, and throaty growling. It sounds almost schizophrenic on paper, but the transitions between the metal segments were seamless and fit the mood, which also shifted via a fusion of genres from jazz, to hip-hop to rock and beyond. It felt like a party - one I never wanted to end.

Jawwaad Taylor – trumpet, rhymes, electronics, programming 
Jason Jackson – tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone 
Stefan González – vibraphone, drums, percussion, voice 
Jonathan F. Horne – guitar 
Ingebrigt Håker Flaten – double bass, electric bass 
Frank Rosaly – drums, electronics, programming

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Jazz & Experimental in Berlin 2025

By Paul Acquaro

The small, intimate Panda Platform, a performance space nestled located in the inner courtyard of the inner courtyard of Berlin's Kulturebrauerei, an expansive cultural center retrofitted into 19th century brewery buildings in the cities chic Prenzlauer Berg neighborhood, is the perfect spot for a small, intimate experimental music festival. Celebrating the 10th anniversary of the artist run label "Trouble in the East" label, the appropriately named "Jazz & Experimental" festival showcased a dozen label based and associated bands and musicians over the span of October weekends.

 

Hosted by label runners and Berlin based musicians, trombonist Gerhard Gschlößl and guitarist Alberto Cavenati, the festival brought together groups with current releases on the label and some label affiliates' active projects. Spread over two weekends in October, the compact but lively schedule offered a rich variety of imaginative music. I am only able to offer a first hand report of the second weekend, but this second weekend of concerts has provided plenty to discuss (and I trust my eye-and-ear witnesses attestations to the superb quality of the first one.)

 

The label, "Trouble in the East," is named after a track from Ornette Coleman's 1972 release Crisis. The album itself had a cover featuring the US Bill of Rights going up in flames. A blasphemous and prophetic statement. Fortunately, the festival itself was a peaceful and smooth running event featuring a capacity audience full of dedicated listeners and musicians. During the first evening I attended, it seemed as if the festival had even cracked the most vexing nut of all - getting young listeners interested, as a entire row of 20-somethings from Denmark somewhat brought the average age of attendance of the typical free-jazz crowd down.

 

Friday, Oct 17th

 

 

Peepholes

The festival's second weekend began with the quartet Peepholes, which provided an vivacious lift-off. Vocalist and electronicist Mat Pogo and trumpeter Liz Allbee interlocked in a spritely and energetic conversation from the opening moments, while drummer Steve Heather and bassist Antonio Borghini provided a solid, flowing pulse. Pogo seemed animated and in a excited conversation with cartoonish word-like sounds and gestures, while Allbee was just as visually engaging with her extended techniques that included the technique of extending her trumpet with a woodwind mouthpiece or pitch-pipe tuner, sometimes sounding like a burping bassoon in the process. The combination of instruments and voice was surprising, the rhythmic mayhem arresting, and overall a mesmerizing set. The group has a recent release on the label called Temporal Relief Keepers.

 

Antii Virtaranta

 Following the programming pattern, the second set was a solo, this time from bassist Antii Virtaranta. Seated in the middle of the stage with the electronic devices arrayed by his feet and  double bass in hand, Virtaranta employed a percussive approach, bouncing his bow off the strings of the highly amplified bass. Slight electronic sounds percolated through the syncopated drone, live sampling the bass and remixing them in real-time. Tapping out the notes and harmonics, overtones emerged from the acoustic instrument and merged with the electronic ones. 

Brad Henkel Quartet

The final set of the night was the adventurous and flowing music of the Brad Henkel Quartet. Comprised of trumpeter Henkel, pianist Rieko Okuda, bassist Isabel Roessler and drummer Samuel Hall, the quartet engaged in quickly passing hour of complex, syncopated and melodic compositions. Starting with Okuda's quite 'jazzy' introduction, the group joined in an accessible, uptempo manner before splitting up into a searching passage. Then, sliding into an easy, but by no means simple, groove, the group seemed to fold time upon itself as the groove grew uneasy and the playing clenched and intense. It was a truly rich set, the moments of exploratory sound segueing effortlessly into meticulously crafted melodies, laced with inspired improvisation. The group was celebrating the release of their record Overstory, which on first listen is as excellent as the live set.

Saturday, Oct 18th

 

Dead Leaf Butterfly

The following night found the age average climbing a bit - no Danes this time - but nevertheless, there were still faces in the crowd providing an encouraging hint of future audiences. The evening began with the wonderful flutterings of Dead Leaf Butterfly, a group featuring the expertise of trumpeter Lina Allemano, vibraphonist Els Vandeweyer, bassist Maike Hilbig and drummer Lucia Martinez. Playing a set of recent compositions, Vandeweyer's vibes seemed to ring loudest - she kicked off the set with a long vibrating drone with Hilbig's bass right beside her offering a long staccato note. A tinkle of percussion and a slow build of tension from Allemano then set the group going. Attention pivoted back to the vibraphone as an uptempo and vibrant solo passage ensued. Lithe and accessible, the tune set the stage for the rest of the zesty set. The second tune began with a deceptively melodic head that suddenly scattered into a polyrhythmic playing field. At times explorative, and quite often thrilling, the vibes often lent an air of mystery to their sound and a sense of enjoyment was carried in their music.

 

Dan Peter Sundland

The second set of the evening was another solo bass, though this time with the electric bass work of Dan Peter Sundland. Playing a well worn Gretsch, Sundland has extended the instrument with a contact mic that picks up percussive sounds from his hands and overtones from the strings. Using a bow, he played a repetitive figure for the duration, slowly moving up and down the instruments neck. The result was a minimalist techno, meditative but demanding.

 

Gordoa, Dörner and Pöschl

The final set was a mind-blower. The trio with drummer Sunk Pöschl, trumpeter Axel Dörner and vibraphonist Emlio Gordoa started with what was possibly a soundtrack to an alien abduction. Dörner's trumpet had an electronic controller attached and a laptop open before him, from which he seemed to be wirelessly communicating directly with the musical minds of his bandmates. Together they created a a tense, agitated atmosphere, pulling tighter and tighter until the sky cracked open. Dörner then dropped the electronics and broke out the slide-trumpet. Gordoa launched into an animated assault and Poeschl gave it a thriving pulse, but it was the trumpeter who seemed to be be pushing the energy the most. The success of the rest was a given - even through a long, exploratory section, they never lost the seething edginess of the opening moments. The trio has an album called Native Acts that seems to be coming out on soon.

 

Although this was only half the story of the Jazz & Experimental festival, it is one worth telling - and exploring more. Be sure to check out their 10 year's of activity here: https://www.troubleintheeast-records.com/.

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Lina Allemano Four

It's always a pleasure to check out what trumpeter Lina Allemano has been up to - this one is a track off her most recent Lina Allemano Four recording The Diptychs called 'Positive.' The group is Allemano on trumpet, Brodie West on alto saxophone, Andrew Downing on bass and Nick Fraser on drums. Check out the album on Bandcamp.

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Deutscher Jazz Preis ... 2025 Nominees

By Paul Acquaro 

 

Founded in 2021, the Deutscher Jazz Preis is a prestigious nationwide award in Germany that honors musicians for their contributions to various facets of jazz, celebrating exceptional artistry, innovation and influence. The jury is comprised of journalists, educators, musicians and organizers involved with jazz in Germany and the nominees - all 76 of them - are in some way active in the country's vibrant musical scene. In the end, there will be 22 winners who will receive the prize and 12,000 Euros in prize-money, in fact, even the nominees receive 4,000 Euros. Not shabby.

 

The list of nominees include many musicians who are covered here on the Free Jazz Blog. Previous year's winners included Alexander von Schlippenbach, Oliver Steidle, Sylvie Courvoisier, Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky, Günter Baby Sommer, Jeff Parker, Moor Mother, and James Brandon Lewis, among many others. You can check out the current list here.

 

The prize winners will be selected June 13th and so it seemed like a good of a time as any to check out some recordings from some of the nominees. Full disclosure: neither myself nor the Free Jazz Blog have any say or sway in the selection. Additionally, there is no claim -- in any sense -- that this is a balanced and thorough overview of the nominees' recent output. 

 

So, let's dig in. For the first set of reviews, I turn to Argentinian born, Berlin-based saxophonist Camilla Nebbia. a musician who seems to be everywhere these days, playing and recording at a feverish pace. Something that I feel we can be thankful for! 

Camila Nebbia and Angelica Sanchez - in another land, another dream (Relative Pitch, 2024) 

in another land, another dream is a duo album that Nebbia recorded with pianist Angelica Sanchez from late last year on Relative Pitch. Recorded live at the small studio/performance space near the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn in 2023, the album is an intimate affair that shows the two musicians seamlessly connecting at a rather deep musical level. Sanchez’s playing is refined, her sometimes minimal lyricism is  complimented by Nebbia’s bold, expressive tone. The opening track, 'In a Land Before,' begins with spacious voicings from Sanchez and spiraling lines from Nebbia. It grabs the listener right away. The track moves from such lyrical forays into deep exploration during its 9-minute lifespan, switching without pause from scratching of the strings inside the piano and breathy sounds from the sax to an uptempo melodic explosions. The six tracks that comprise the album brim with intensity. 

Camila Nebbia and John Hughes - The Myth of Aether (s/r, 2024)

Another gem from Nebbia that showcases her vibrant tone, this time with Hamburg based bassist John Hughes. Recorded live at Berlin's Kühlspot - an artist atelier and performance space in the creative Weissensee district of Berlin - the album is an intimate affair that really highlights both the saxophonist's and bassist's versatility. Opening track 'desenmarañando rapido' (unraveling quickly), does kind of what it says in the title, but a lot more too. It begins with Nebbia's robust playing that quickly ... umm ... unravels into an atonal melody, complimented by Hughes' expressive pizzicato lines. It really is, however,  less of an unravelling than a game of high speed chase, with the two musicians' keenly intertwined lines and astute listening at play. For a contrast, 'Tectonic Shift' begins with high distorted harmonics on both instruments, and again, astute interplay, but now in a more exploratory mode. The title track  takes its time to materialize and their extended techniques lead the two to a fragmented finale. 

 

Camila Nebbia, Dietrich Eichmann, John Hughes, Jeff Arnal - Chrononaux (Generate Records, 2024) 

Chrononaux finds saxophonist Nebbia and bassist Hughes within a larger ensemble, bringing in pianist Dietrich Eichmann and drummer Jeff Arnal. The international mix of American, German and Argentinian musicians comes together in an explosive, yet melodic, combination. Again, Nebbia's full, hearty saxophone playing compliments Hughes' strong, precise phrasings. Eichmann adds another powerful voice to the mix, with angular and musical phrases, as sharp and incisive as thickly harmonic. Arnal brings an energy to the stewing brew that is just as decisive and pugnacious as is required. The digital album contains two long tracks. The first track, at 25 minutes, begins by knocking your socks off and the second, clocking in at an hour and three minutes, doesn't really allow you to put them back on. So, just be still and let the music whisk you away.

 

Camila Nebbia / Leo Genovese / Alfred Vogel - Eyes to the Sun (Boomslang Records, 2024) 

This trio featuring Nebbia sees her with fellow Argentinian Leo Genovese on piano and Austrain Alfred Vogel on drums. The recording was born from a meeting of the saxophonist and drummer in Berlin and led eventually to the addition of Genovese. Known for his work with Esperanza Spalding and the late Wayne Shorter, Genovese also seems quite at ease in the free jazz setting as well, adding a rich layer of harmonic and rhythmic drive to Nebbia's ever inspired lines and Vogel's textured and insistent drumming. The track 'Glint' is a perfect example of the group's dynamism. At times quite melodic, starting with a subdued and expressive introduction from the saxophone, abstracted but lush chordal movement from the piano and rhythmic suggestions from an intense snare drum, the piece grows denser and denser through impressionistic rhythmic and melodic lines. It is almost hard to believe that this is all free improvisation, as the musicians all seem quite focused on creating a sturdy musical structure. 'Glow,' the track that follows immediately begins with Vogel creating a foundational rhythm, though a quite agitated one, over which Nebbia and Genovese - who has now switched to the saxophone - duet, or maybe duel. The vying tones become quite forceful, before finding ways to accommodate each other. The title of the album, and all the track titles, refer to an experience that Vogel had after being diagnosed with cancer in the weeks following the recording session in Buenos Aires. His battle and recovery lead to him seeing life in a new light. A truly stunning recording. 

 

Ingrid Laubrock - Purposing the Air (Pyroclastic, 2025)

Brooklyn based, German saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock has been quite busy in recent years (and in the years prior), releasing a very diverse selection of recordings, from the high octane free-jazz trio with drummer Tom Rainey and bassist Brandon Lopez (No es la Playa, Intakt, 2023), to the dark hued electronics/saxophone duo with Cecilia Lopez on Maromas (Relative Pitch, 2024) , to the avant garde    construction of Monochromes (Intakt, 2023) with saxophonist Jon Irabagon, harpist Zeena Parkins and Rainey, and many more. On Purposing the Air, the saxophonist takes a much different approach: she is the composer, not the performer. Built around the human voice, Laubrock takes the poetry of New York poet and educator Erica Hunt, and sets the work Mood Librarian – a poem in koan to 60 miniatures. It's a compelling work that draws the listener in close, and one that will require much deep listening thereafter. The recording features vocalists Fay Victor, Sara Serpa, Theo Bleckmann, and Rachel Calloway along with cellist Mariel Roberts, pianist Matt Mitchell, guitarist Ben Monder and violinst Ari Streisfeld. 

 

Luise Volkmann - Rites de Passage (nWog Records, 2023)

Luise Volkmann is a young saxophonist from Colonge, Germany who has also been quite active in recent years, building a reputation for both her playing and composing. Rites of Passage is not her latest recording, that would seem to be the self-released Punk Jazz Sessions (2025), but it is an early major statement from the artist. Recorded over the course of several years with different musicians and in different settings, the work is offered as a socio-political statement as much as a musical one. According to the liner notes, it is "music of resistance and transition. It contrasts the life in which we settle with a utopian space that has yet to be established." For brevity sake, let's stick to the sound, which this album is indeed about. Volkmann, here, is more composer than player, taking the rich array of tones from orchestral instruments and mixing them with electronic processing and sculpting. The result is a tonal journey that freely mixes genre and mood, composition and improvisation. 

 

Bill Frisell, Kit Downes and Andrew Cyrille - Breaking The Shell (Red Hook Records, 2024) 

 

British pianist and organist Kit Downes has called Berlin his home for the past several years and can be found sometimes playing the various church organs that dot the city when he's not tending to his international musical and teaching career. He can also be found playing pipe organ on this compelling and oft meditative release with guitarist Bill Frisell and drummer Andrew Cyrille. It begins with the whistle of the organ of St. Luke in the Fields New York church in the West Village on 'May 4th,' in which there are incidental buzzings from Frisell's primed and ready guitar and one can feel the mood brewing. When Frisell finally joins, he is in an atonal mode, his fragile, shimmering cobweb notes enmeshing Downes' wheezing tones and Cyrille's light rhythmic tappings. By the next track, 'Untitled 23,' things are in motion. The three are in free exchange, Downes' adoption a more focused sound. The following, 'Kasei Valles,' finds the trio in a much different mode, the organ is a vessel of sound, growling and groaning, sort of a building terror. Only towards the ends do we hear some guitar making its way into the space. A tune like 'El,' on the other hand, seems to dip into the abstract Americana that Frisell was exploring on his early 90's albums like Have a Little Faith. Throughout, Cyrille shows how a sensitive touch on the drums, brushes, gentle snare, can offer so much to the music.

Felix Henkelhausen Quintet - The Excruciating Pain of Boredom (self, 2025)

Young people these days, seriously, how can you be bored? The entire world of knowledge, that Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy that we once only dreamed of, now exists in everyone's pocket. We just don't quite use it as well as Ford Prefect and Arthur Dent. So, this boredom that Henkelhausen speaks of in the title of his new, live recording must be somewhat tongue-in-cheek. Just listen to the first few tracks of the album, there is simply no time to be bored, it cooks from the get-go. Henkelhausen's previous album, Deranged Particles (Fun in the Church, 2024) is a nominee for album of the year and if this new release is any indicator, it stands a good chance of winning. Bringing his compositions to life are saxophonists Wanja Slavin and Uli Kempendorff, drummer Leif Berger and pianist Valentin Gerhardus - who also provides an essential component with live-processing. The musicianship is top-notch and the energy is as well. Perhaps the title's meaning can be inferred through what the bassist/composer writes in the notes to the album: "The compositions have their own distinct character and over the course of this nearly 60-minute album, paint a rather dark picture that strongly correlates with my emotional state during that time." Though I cannot speak to how Henkel hausen was feeling at the time, I don't think it is darkness that is communicated by the knotty melodic statements and the rich rhythmic textures, rather it is a depth and mature completeness in the work. 

 

Aki Takase & Daniel Erdmann - Ellington (enja, 2024)

Duke Ellington's importance and influence on jazz is beyond reproach. From composition to performing to shaping the history of the music, there is a deep well for the duo of Berlin-based, Japanese pianist Aki Takase and Paris-based, German saxophonist Daniel Erdmann to draw from for their explorations. From reverent readings to explosive expropriations, the pair treat the compositions with tasteful reverence and invigorating reinvention. For example, the haunting simplicity of 'African Flower' is retained, Takase providing an effectively minimal comping for Erdmann's evocatively melodic solo, and then into her own gently unfolding solo. While on 'Caravan,' the two hit on the tension in the melody expertly and then launch into fiery improvised passages. There is a lot between these gems, like the great 'Don't Get Around Much Anymore' and the quaint swing of 'It's Bad to be Forgotten.' The album ends with a heartfelt rendition of an homage to the maestro, namely Charles Mingus' 'Duke Ellington's Sound of Love,' leaving a simple, single tear of bittersweet joy on cheek. Ellington is a nominee for album of the year and another good choice.

Bex Burch - there is only love and fear (International Anthem, 2023)

Londoner Bex Burch, who, as I understand it, lived and worked in Berlin for a time, released there is only live and fear in 2023 on International Anthem. The album features a roster of the label's artists, including woodwindist Rob Frye, drummer Dan Bitney, trumpeter Ben LaMar Gay, bassist Anna Butterss and violinist Macie Stewart. The album is a compelling exploration of rhytmic textures and minimalist melodies that defy easy categorization. Drawing from avant-garde jazz, folk, and minimalism, the album’s intimate moments sit comfortably alongside more expansive passages, making for a generally relaxed listening experience along with rewarding jolts of energy. 

 

 

Continued Reading...

Some other nominees this year include albums and artists that have been reviewed over the past year on these pages. Here are some links... 

• ØKSE - ØKSE (backwoodz Records, 2024) (album of the year)
• Lina Allemano (for brass)
• Moses Yoofee (for piano)
• Nick Dunston (for strings)

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