Jazz and Experimental in Berlin 2022

21.1.2022







  • POOL POSITION
  • MAZEN KERBAJ
  • OZONE
POOL POSITION
Silke Eberhard – saxophone
Nikolaus Neuser – trumpet
Sunk Pöschl – drums

Das Trio Pool Position fand sich im Rahmen der Künstlerresidenz von Silke Eberhard und Nikolaus Neuser in der Villa Waldberta am Starnberger See Anfang 2021 zusammen. Der Name war sofort Programm.
“Die Musik lebt. (…) Silke Eberhard und Nikolaus Neuser spielen (…) im Trio mit dem Schlagzeuger Sunk Pöschl ein famoses Konzert: erdig, hymnisch, verspielt. Dieser Pöschl ist nicht nur ein ausgezeichneter Schlagzeuger, der kraftvoll rumpeln und feinsinnig musizieren kann, sondern auch ein trockener Humorist und cooler Performer.“
Pirmin Bossart, Willisauer Bote

MAZEN KERBAJ
Mazen Kerbaj – trumpet

Playing in solo has always been an important part of Mazen Kerbaj’s musical journey; it is in this bare-bones setup that he can experiments the most with his instrument, pushing it beyond any recognition. His use of various every-day objects (tubes, plastic bowls, balloons, aluminum foil…) to “prepare” the trumpet, and his unique playing techniques allow him to create raw soundscapes that sound sometimes like electronics (he describes himself his trumpet playing as “playing electronic music, acoustically”), especially when he plays several continuous layers of sound at the same time on an instrument that is not designed for that.
Be it in his various recordings or in live concerts, in acoustic or in amplified setups, Kerbaj’s trumpet solos never fail to surprise.
link to recent solo:
https://mazenkerbaj.bandcamp.com/album/no-cuts-no-overdubbing-no-use-of- electronics-mazen-kerbaj-trumpet-solo-vol-2-1

OZONE
Alberto Cavenati – guitar
Ben Lehman – double bass
Jan Leipnitz – drums

Ozone plays a selection of jazz compositions that belong to the bebop era. The trio’s approach to that repertoire is quite adventurous and iconoclastic in an attempt to render in some way the sacred recklessness of this music. That’s why the band’s main focuses are the interplay and the emancipation of the rhythmic element thus creating a constant tension within the formal structure of the compositions. The result is pretty angular and bold but also interesting and fun.

22.1.2022

  • EPONJI
  • ANTONIS ANISSEGOS
  • BAD UOK
ÉPONJ
Marie Takahashi – viola
Anil Eraslan – cello
Antonio Borghini – double bass

Marie Takahashi, Anil Eraslan and Antonio Borghini came together in 2018 to experience their sound within the string trio by working on improvisations and compositions.
Very contrasted and various soundscapes are present in the trio’s music including recognisable and unrecognisable string instruments sounds, exaggerated silent bars, acoustic noise elements, minimalistic structures, new music influences, energetic groovy songs and more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrDGYYleB-o&t=2s

ANTONIS ANISSEGOS
Antonis Anissegos – piano

BAD UOK
Andrea Calì – piano
Leonardo Rizzi – Fender rhodes
Federico Pierantoni – trombone
Andrea Grillini – drums

Bad Uok is Andrea Grillini ’s idea of giving a voice, pitches and harmonies to hundreds of pages of experimentations; making totally independent rhythmical cells coexist, superposing distant worlds, that is, It seems, the goal of his quest.The central idea of the quartet, which is achieved among other things, by excluding the bass, is to free all instruments from a conventional role.
The solos are played over grooves and rhythmical structures that Each tune is modified, deconstructed, cut-and-pasted in an intense collective work.
Even if the hand of the original composer is perceptible, the composition gets a unique trademark: Bad Uok’s sound!
https://troubleintheeastrecords.bandcamp.com/album/lateless

11.2.2022

  • BOOKLET
  • JAPANIC
BOOKLET
Tobias Delius – saxophone
Joe Williamson- double bass
Steve Heather – drums

It’s a grey January morning in Amsterdam. The year is 2002. Tobias Delius, still in pyjamas, is staring out of his window at the harbour as usual. The doorbell rings. It’s Joe Williamson.
– Feel like playing?
– Sure, when?
– Now.
– Eh, OK. Where?
– Here.
Joe by now is in the room, bringing not only his double bass but also introducing Steve Heather, who proceeds to pour the contents of a large sack onto the floor: cymbals, bells, rattles, shakers, etc.
The session must have been fun, as a few weeks later the brand new trio was playing in Poland.
Tobias had brought a little book in which he had been collecting songs he liked to play. The trio soon found out that next to freely improvising they enjoyed diving into this BOOKLET every now and then.
15 years have passed, lean ones and fatter ones. The BOOKLET itself has become thicker, many new tunes by Joe have joined the diverse mix.
2 CDs are available, both on the JEDSO label
https://www.trio-booklet.com Foto: Carola Quickels

JAPANIC
Aki Takase – piano
Daniel Erdmann – saxophone
Vincent von Schlippenbach – turntables
Johannes Fink – cellobass
Dan Magnus Narvesen – drums

Ein neues und aufregendes Quintett der Pianistin und Komponistin Aki Takase, das zeigt, das Jazz nichts von seiner Dynamik, Spielfreude und Spass verloren hat!
Mit ihrem Kollegen Daniel Erdmann am Saxophon, DJ Illvibe aka Vincent von Schlippenbach an den Turntables, Johannes Fink am Bass und Dag Magnus Narvesen am Schlagzeug hat sie sich profunde und experimentierfreudige Musiker an ihre Seite geholt, um neue musikalische Welten zu bereisen.
Aki Takases Band heißt zwar Japanic, aber „Thema Prima“ gehört keinem Kontinent, keiner Generation, keinem Genre. Das beste Prädikat, das man ihr verleihen kann ist – Musik! Wolf Kampmann
http://akitakase.de/japanic/
Foto: Dirk Bleicker

12.2.2022

  • GEBHARD ULLMANN’S HEMISPHERE 4
  • MADNESS & ARROGANCE
  • OHRENSCHMAUS
GEBHARD ULLMANN`S HEMISPHERE 4
Gebhard Ullmann – saxophone, bass clarinett
Silke Lange – accordion
Taiko Saito – vibraphone
Anna Viechtl – harp

Mit Hemisphere 4 startet Gebhard Ullmann im Jahr seines 65. Geburtstags ein neues Projekt mit Kolleginnen aus der jüngeren Generation.
Gemeinsam begeben sie sich auf die Suche nach ‘Impromptus, Forms, Structures and Drones’.
Es enstehen faszinierende elektro/akustische Hörfilme.
Assoziationspotenzial garantiert.

MADNESS & ARROGANCE
Gerhard Gschlößl – trombone, tuba
Marc Schmolling – Fender rhodes

“The wide range of the seemingly endless possibilities
that combines the interplay of the two musicians from Berlin, is sometimes on the border of madness and arrogance”
Gloomy, bizarre, minimalistic, roaring and bubbling
is the musical concoction of Gerhard Gschlößl and Marc Schmolling.
Closely packed, heavily intoxicated and downright absurdly cheerful are the stumbling Zombies
of Free Jazz behind them.
Because ahead, far ahead starts a new trend ….
“If an idea at the beginning is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.”
(Albert Einstein) https://troubleintheeastrecords.bandcamp.com/album/approaching-eyjafjallaj-kull
Foto: Erin McKinney

OHRENSCHMAUS
Lina Allemano – trumpet
Dan Peter Sundland – electric bass
Michael Griener – drums

Lina Allemano’s OHRENSCHMAUS is internationally recognized as an exciting, adventurous and virtuosic improvising Berlin-based power-trio. Their music is equal parts melodic and gestural, playing Allemano’s distinctive compositions with a mandate of strong group interaction, improvisation and sonic exploration. Their debut album ‘Rats and Mice’ (Lumo Records 2020) was released to wide international acclaim with favourable reviews in many noteworthy international publications. Their album was included in NPR Jazz Critics Poll Best Music of 2020 (USA), Citizen Jazz France Best New Albums (2020), and PAN M 360 Top Albums of 2020 (Canada). The band was a featured act at Jazzfest Berlin in 2020.
https://linaallemano.com