Hardly any other genre of music is as diverse and multifaceted as jazz, and it is precisely this versatility and diversity that the Berliner Festspiele is again demonstrating with this year’s program. You can expect 36 projects from different generations, including playful and imaginative music. I associate jazz with my father, who burned his favorites for me on CD when I was young; reverently listening to classics like Miles Davis, Count Basie, and Keith Jarrett in my first flat-share, I felt so significantly grown up. Female artists, however, were not only underrepresented in this collection; no, they were completely absent. And so it is my pleasure that in the 60th edition of Jazzfest, a special effort was made to feature female artists across four full days of programming. To name just a few, trumpeter and jazz avant-gardist Steph Richardsand her quartet on Friday night will reflect on the influence of the sense of smell on our listening experience through experimentation with sound.
Saturday will feature the acclaimed, free jazz collective Irreversible Entanglements with U.S. spoken word artist Camae Ayewa, aka Moor Mother, and music from her new album “Protect your light.” Infectious grooves meet vocal intensity and tightly woven improvisations. The French pianist Eve Risser and her Red Desert Orchestra present the result of an intensive exploration of music from West Africa. Most concerts will take place at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, but surrounding venues such as Quasimodo, A-Trane, or the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche also host original shows. Some tickets are already sold out so close to the festival, as expected, but it’s worth taking a chance on the unknown – especially when it comes to jazz.
Text: Laura Luisa Iriondo / Photos: Jade Sastro, Juri Hiensch & Piper Ferguson
Jazzfest Berlin
02.–05.11.2023, various locations. Schedule, tickets and details are available here.
@berlinerfestspiele
