JAZZFEST BERLIN 2025

Current jazzfest Berlin has a rich, more than 60 years lasting history. The old lady has fossilised but is also renewing, rejuvenating and still has surprising and interesting sides to show and to tell year by year.

This year’s most striking renewing was the 8-days community week that ran in the city district Moabit ahead and parallel with the core festival and was organised around workshops, daily neighbourhood concerts and a film shooting project with musicians and adolescents. The four days core festival presented 26 units: three solo acts, three duos, five trios, five quartets, one quintet, three sextets, two septets and four large ensembles  >7 . 

This edition had 12 groups with a female leader vs. 10 with a masculine leader. The number of one-gender only groups were the same for feminine and masculine (4 each). Also the number of solo-concerts were the same for both genders.

Kiosk Berlin metro

MUSICIANS, SCENES AND MUSIC FESTIVALS  IN BERLIN

Berlin has a rich landscape of culture, art, music and fine arts. Sources indicate that 160 000 people work in this sector and speak of more than 20.000 artists which might even be a bit low estimate. The number of music scenes, all of which are well-attended internationally, could amount to several tens.

The number of music-scenes that all are plentiful internationally frequented, might run up to several tens and are surpassed by the number of music festivals through the year (about 150). The programming of the fest always has to take into account who of possible candidates has already played in Berlin in near past or will play in near future.

JAZZFEST COMPONENTS

The Jazzfest in its current form consists of three strands: in the centre the core festival at the Festspielhaus in the neighbourhood Wilmersdorf (Schaperstrasse) with its program-satellites in the clubs A-Trane and Quasimodo.

This year’s edition had 10 acts in the satellites during the four festival nights:

Marta Sanchez Trio w/Matt Penman (b), Savannah Harris (dr)  (A-Trane), Tim Berne’s Capatosta (Quasimodo), Lina Alemano Four (A-Trane), The Young Mothers (Quasimodo), hilde (A-Trane), Marc Ribot (Quasimodo), Mopcut feat. MC Dälek, Angelica Sanchez/Barry Guy/Ramon Lopez (A-Trane), James Brandon Lewis (Quasimodo).

Next to this strand there is the still unique broadcasting activity with its nine regional radio institutions (from federal states of the whole republic) involved. It is part of the festival since more 40 years. In the recent past also ARTE TV has occasionally been involved in the festival.

A new strand has been created over the last three years by current Artistic Director, Nadin Deventer: the Community Week. During the Community Week jazz musicians from Berlin and of the festival line-up swarm out into city district Moabit and work with resident groups (see description in the program HERE) and a greater number of concerts in the neighbourhood are organised. It could be a bit compared with the community-based fringe festival Northsee Roundtown that precedes the big commercial Northsea Jazzfestival in Rotterdam and organises a multitude of musical community events spread over the whole city of Rotterdam. Northsea Roundtown has however a much bigger budget to work with for more than a month in the city.

Here I’ll take a look back on the concerts of the festival core at the Festspielhaus of the 2025 edition departing from my personal highlights and glance to various sides around. This non-chronological review  focuses on the concerts in the Festivalhall and the KW Memory Church. The satellite club-concerts in A-Trane and Quasimodo could not be taken into account. Also the award-concert of the Albert Mangelsdorff award 2025, awarded to vocalist Lauren Newton, could not be taken into account here.

 
Kosmic Music - Wadada Leo Smith

HIGHLIGHTS/PERSONAL FAVORITES IN CONTEXT

These were my four personal favourites spread over the four days:

Wadada Leo Smith / Vijay Iyer (Thursday)
Patricia Brennan (Saturday) 
Sakina Abdou (Sunday)
Amalie Dahl’s Dafnie Extended (Sunday)



Vijay Iyer / Wadada Leo Smith

Vijay and Wadada represent spiritual spirits of older generations, the other three younger and youngest generations. Of course there were more excellent performances.


HIGHLIGHTS IN CONTEXT: SATURDAY

Except the Friday every night had a clear highlight and personal favourite for me. The strongest cumulative evening at the Festspielhaus was the Saturday with Mary Halvorson’s Amaryllis, The London Jazz Composers Orchestra (LJCO) featuring the pianists Marilyn Crispell and Angelica Sanchez with in total 28 musicians on stage playing (6+7+15).

    
Marilyn Crispell & Angelica Sanchez

Phenomenal vibraphonist Patricia Brennan played in the Amaryllis ensemble and led her own septet “Breaking Stretch”. The night was a dense experience of supreme pleasure - a well-balanced night that unfortunately completely overlapped with the satellites at A-Trane (string group Hilde) and Quasimodo (Marc Ribot and Mopcut).

Patricia Brennan

Brennan plays and played with an extraordinary energy, ultimate playfulness, has great compositional gifts strongly propelling musical leadership qualities. She has redefined role and range of her instrument in jazz and trailblazer functions as a courageous trailblazer in the current revival of the vibraphone.

Her septet with great Dan Weiss on drums, astonishing bassist Kim Cass and the horns of upcoming youngster Adam O’Farrill (tr) as well as tried and tested forces Jon Irabagon (as) and Mark Shim (ts) also live turned out as a close connected, forceful, sleek and veering unity. It’s one of the greatest upcoming groups.

   
Mary Halvorson

Mary Halvorson’s Amaryllis came up with high fluency, intensity and Halvorson’s trademarks of sophistication in easy-going and evidential manner of playing such that beauty could shine through (especially in the ballad playing). In this group trumpeter Adam O’Farrill also fulfilled an appealing role next to excellent trombonist Jacob Garchik, distinctive drummer Tomas Fujiwara and bassist Nick Duston with his passionate originality.

   
Adam O’Farrill  -  Nick Duston

And then, sandwiched (or bookended) between the whirlwind of Brennan and Halvorson’s edgy sophistication, the mighty orchestral outburst and celebration of the London  Composers Orchestra (LCO) was launched, unloaded and directed by highly estimated veteran Barry Guy.

   
Barry Guy

It was a time travel into a former phase of freeing jazz in large ensembles here with a fantastic, extraordinary line-up of a 15-piece orchestra, among many others the two US piano-improvisers Marilyn Crispell and Angelica Sanchez. This form deals with pumping up, magnifying, flinging out sounds, let sounds crash onto each other, burst and crack thereby generate extraordinary, unusual sounds and thereby extract and open up musical substance from at first hearing chaotic sound. Guy knew to let emerge and rise acoustic sound walls and built up tension again with catharsis.

He brought this musical variant back to life in full (well-rehearsed) with musicians from UK, Switzerland, Germany, Scandinavia and the US. it reminded me of the appearance of the Globe Unity Orchestra about ten years ago at the festival when rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers were there enjoying the music back stage at Festpielhaus. The music lighted up in full and it would even have been stronger with less executing the same procedure.



HIGHLIGHTS IN CONTEXT: SUNDAY

Amalie Dahl 

The cumulation-out bursting-release procedure was practiced by the other large ensembles, Fire! Orchestra and Amalie Dahl’s Dafnie Extended on Sunday evening in a different, more varied way.

15-piece multi-spread/multinational Fire! Orchestra led by Swedish Austrian reedist/flautist Mats Gustafsson (sometimes also co-led by Mette Rasmussen it seemed) came up with a complete new program entitled “Words”. It alternated between slowly extending whisper-soft and quiet passages, sudden loud and steely rock attacks and different kinds of vocals from spoken word to advanced extended vocalisation. Gustafsson worked/played with these elements in different ways through the concert. It was a well-intentioned attempt, but not quite a breakthrough to a spoken-word-rock program of a convincing new own signature.

Line-up Fire! Orchestra Words: Sofia Jernberg, Maria Portugal, Anna Lindal, Anna Neubert, Emily Wittbrodt, Mats Gustafsson, Mette Rasmussen, Anna Högberg, Adia Vanheerentals, Mats Äleklint, Heida Karine Johannesdottir Mobeck,Tuva Olsson, Lina Alemano, Kit Downs, Mariam Rezaei, Julien Desprez, Johan Berthling, Mats Forsby

       
Amalie Dahl

Dafnie Extended was quite a different affair. It is an ensemble of the youngest generation that plays quite curious, unworried and discovering through all kinds of form models and approaches. ‘In that’ and ‘out of that’ the group created its very own coherent idiom and path. Dafnie’s music making pairs urgency with playfulness/fun, enterprising spirit and independence.

It is not just wild what Dafnie is. It has this intricate and at the same time always clear trail of soft confluence melodic jump cuts and merciless percussive attacks. It surprises and makes curious permanently. Their music is no ‘mix of’ but highly original music. The group does not deter from nothing always finding its way with strong courage and űbergabe, surrender. Its music has that young energy and breath plus the boundless phantasy to push old elements in truly new directions on and in complete natural way. Lots of that fully actualised in this Berlin concert.

    
Jørgen Bjelkerud, Veslemøy Narvesen, Amalie Dahl  -  Veslemøy Narvesen

The quintet of Amalie Dahl (alto-/baritonsax, clarinet), Oscar Andreas Haug (tr), Jørgen Bjelkerud (tromb), Nicolas Leitrø (b), Veslemøy Narvesen (dr) was extended by Sofia Salvo (baritonsax), Henriette Eilertsen (fl), Ida Løvli Hidle (accordion), Lisa Ullén (p), Anna Ueland (synthesizer), Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (b).


Sakina Abdou

On Sunday French Tenorsaxofonista Sakina Abdou played too, actually in the afternoon in the Kaiser-Wilhelm Memory Church. To play solo in such a high and wide space is quite a challenge. I have seen Wadada Leo Smith (tr) playing there with Alexander Hawkins (org) but no complete solo concert. Abdou’s concert was entitled after her recent Relative Pitch Record album “Goodbye Ground” and what she did with body, soul and instrument had a visibly and sensible utterly fascinating impacting on the numerous audience.

Confident, deeply concentrated and humble, in dramaturgical strong and graspable, empathizable steps she left off ground, upward. She prepared it patiently and at a certain moment intoned her instrument similar to organ pipes reaching a wider and more lingering effect. It was just impressive and lend her performance a lasting value until the last breath. The audience was noticeably captured.

The subsequent trio Handover was an odd one out at this place and in this combination. Musically it was a diluted, extraction of Egyptian music elements prepared in a populistic quasi-ambient manner. Musically uninteresting and not long bearable.



Entre’acte s


Moabit Imaginarium

This was a short gesture to and from the Moabit Community Week of the festival. Moabit is a borough between Charlottenburg/Wilmersdorf, where the Festspielhaus is situated, and Mitte (Center). It is a neighbourhood with a population of about 85.000 inhabitants consisting of more than 50% people with a migrational background. It’s a neighbourhood which suits the Community Week of the Jazzfest and likewise the music ensemble that was born out of the activities of the community week. They did a short showcase to familiarize the festival audience with their work and their sound mark(s).

Line-up Moabit Imaginarium: Joel Grip (b), Simon Sieger (assorted instruments), Michael Griener (dr), Assane Seck (African percussion), Berno Jannis Lilge, Hyunjeong Park, Elsa M’bala, Hakam Wabi.


Pat Thomas solo

Personally i could not connect to this inserted entre’act by UK-pianist Pat Thomas. It was difficult to recognise or infer the musical content, the significance and value within or behind it - except that he put considerable weight and heaviness in and on the keys as one main purpose. The program notes carried a heavy load of asserted significances that were not experienceable for me.

Highlight Wadada/Vijay: Thursday

For the highlights I have to get back to the finale of the first evening on Thursday, the deep duo of Wadada (Leo Smith) and Vijay (Iyer). This concert joins a series of significant farewell concerts, such as the ones by Peter Brötzmann, Joachim Kühn or Conny Bauer.

Wadada, 83, is still in good shape and astonishingly fit in playing his trumpet. The obstacle is not in playing the music on a high level. It is the traveling which is the increasingly problematic part. You might say musicians of age are paid for the traveling, the music making is their fun. Wadada had recently worked and will work a greater number of concerts in different combinations a.o. with pianista Sylvie Courvoisier, guitarist Jakob Bro, drummer Marcus Gilmore and percussionist Midori Takada.

I became aware that I have experienced a lot of concerts through the years by Wadada at different places and can quite clearly remember those. All lead me to sides and spheres of our world beyond the surface. Without switching on or extra focusing, this Berlin concert unfolded a higher impact on me just by its blessed and blessing radiation and natural deep reach. Vijay Iyer played mostly fender rhodes what strengthened the darker floating tones and the expressive, conjoining moods. Together with Wadada’s strong clarity and cosmic appeal, it deployed a deeply gripping effect. In this sense of slowly passing time it grew into an own lively reality. Not a mass but a higher level of grasping and attention, higher sensation. The immersion in the fundamental contents and sides of defiant living became sonically palpable.

Wadada IS where he is, a human BEING in existence, a SHINING sound guide/light in/to our human NATURE always with (t)his sunken twinkling SMILE : Closely connected to the forces of the part of the UNIVERSE that is favourable to us, we feel accepted and safe, and we surrender to the flow of time with a trustful smile

in close unity with the FORCES of our inclined tended UNIVERSE, feeling accepted and safe, surrendering to the passing of time with smiles.

Not only a concert of/with Wadada is exceptional. Also to be present in the same place as he is, is something special. He has an exceptional form of concentration and openness. His music making lifts up awareness and consciousness of his listeners in a truly open way, induces conjunctions of thoughts, feelings, motions and attention in a way makes you wonder

When we have the tendency to flee reality or bring the world to a standstill, immersing into musical sound and listen to it, can save us

Defiance is nothing static but something that has to be maintained and renewed in depth

The night had been opened by a (female) trio of saxophone, cello and drums. Who else could it have been than Angelika Niescier, Tomeka Reid and Eliza Salem, a new name for us in Europe. The trio played a dynamic concert (guaranteed with Angelika Niescier) with high energy. It was good and everything fell - due to a high musical level - just in place. Sometimes even sparking. What i missed, were moments of discovery (what’s beyond the dragons?) It was maybe just too perfect.

    
Angelika Niescier & Tomeka Reid

Then the heavily manoeuvring ensemble “Deranged {Particles” of Berlin bassist Felix Henkelhausen entered the scenery with six first class musicians on board: Percy Pursglove (tr), Philipp Gropper (ts), Evi Filippou (vibraphone, marimba), Valentin Gerhardus (sampling, electro), Elias Stemeseder (p, harpsichord, synth), Felix Henkelhausen (b, comp), Philip Dornbusch (perc)

Their musical activity evoked for me associations with the Greek Sisyphus-figure and its never ending, always failing attempt to roll the rock up the mountain and keep it definitely there on top. In the course of the sound movements, no two sequences were alike, resulting in constantly repeating and mutually offset as well as overlapping flowing “inscriptions” – a kind of amputated bebop in search of virtuosity and significance. For moments I could even imagine myself inside a superimposing of “Bitches Brew “and “Space Oddity” or at least allusions to it.

      
Elias Stemeseder and Evi Filippou

Friday

     
Marta Sanchez and David Murray

Core act of Friday evening in the Festspielhaus was veteran David Murray’s Quartet with three strong younger musicians, namely Marta Sanchez (p), Luke Stewart (b) and Russell Carter (dr) colouring the music in a strong and fine way while Murray maintained recognised by his muscular tone on tenor saxophone and darker streaks on bass clarinet. As speciality Murray offered his ‘birdsongs’ based on and accompanied by poems of his wife Francesca Cinelli.

Signe Emmeluth

Signe Emmeluth’s all-female ensemble “Banshee” caused quite a stir with its 2024 album in Norway. Expectations were correspondingly high. The music was described as “state of the art of contemporary …, which combines the harmonic structures of contemporary music, the thematic forms of avant-garde jazz, the insistent rhythms and trance tendencies of techno music, as well as the under-standing of form of improvisational music. It sounds great and greedy. An ensemble of seven musicians throws off energetic firework from which … listeners can reap the auditory fruits.” (Motvind Records) While Emmeluth is known as an extraordinary vital and hyper energetic performer these expectations could not be met in Berlin by the Banshee troupe. The concert seemed rather forced, could not really capture and captivate unfortunately.


And as a kind of dessert there was Makaya McCraven’s newest his hip-hop infected jazz-remix “The People’s Mixtape”, inescapably grooving drum music fireworks performed by his quartet of Junius Paul (b), Matt Gold (g) and Marquis Hill (tr), a lively act that would better have suited at Quasimodo club than in the concert hall of the Festspielhaus.

Amirtha Kidambi

And then, as a kind of  rearguard, another concert was offered in the so-called ticket hall of the Festspielhaus, overlapping with The Young Mothers at Quasimodo: an appearance of vivid and outspoken vocalist Amirtha Kidambi from New York with her group comprising Matt Nelson and Alfredo Colón on sax, Lester St Louis on double bass and Jason Nazary on drums. Expectations were not disappointed: Kidambi is a great vocalist and driven agitprop artist with a strong presence talking urgent politics, social injustice and war crimes - permanent realities and plagues of mankind. She jumped into it immediately. She didn’t mince her words, and in joyful, encouraging interaction with her songs aroused an atmosphere and a mood of heightened attention.

Togetherness opened up, thoughts began to circulate and the audience got into higher inner and outer motion. This was the only explicit anti current-wars-expression I witnessed during the festival. Later I heard that also Luke Stewart apparently had done a clear appelatio/agit-talk at Quasimodo.

© Henning Bolte