The Berliner Festspiele’s Jazzfest is a permanent fixture in our event’s calendar and has been for 60 years. It goes without saying that their 60th anniversary will be celebrated in style. From 31.10. until 03.11.2024, there will be 24 concerts spread across various venues in the west of the city, including the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, the Quasimodo, the A-Trane and the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. Fans of free jazz get excited for the opening evening when Joe McPhee opens the festival at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele after a piano solo by Marilyn Crispell on the main stage and Sun-Mi Hong on the side stage. In the following days, discover the 17-piece Special Big Band of guitar pioneer Otomo Yoshihide from Japan, New York pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and the Tropiques project led by Swedish trumpeter Goran Kajfeš and many more. The legendary Sun Ra Orchestra on Saturday (02.11.) is not to be missed. Throughout the festival (28.10.-03.11.), the Community Lab Moabit will offer free events for young and old. Founded in 1964 in West Berlin as one of the first jazz festivals in the world, it’s worth looking forward and back, at six decades of music history. It’s not just the program that effortlessly combines the present, future and past in this year’s edition… The Jazzfest Labs, for research and community, are also formats for exploring, formulating and rethinking the past and present. Here’s to another 60 years of Jazzfest Berlin and a bright musical future.
Text: Alina Herbel / Photos: Elizabeth Leitzell, Jade Sastropawiro & Will Shore
Jazzfest Berlin 31.10.–03.11.2024. Program, tickets and more info here.
@berlinerfestspiele
