Hot and Free. Jazz im geteilten Berlin, 1950-1970.Free Jazz und die Mauer. Neue Klangwelten in West- und Ost. SACHSE/REINHARDT/HERTENSTEIN

Free Jazz and the Wall – New Soundscapes in East and West

Discussion Format: Wolf Assi Glöde (Jazzkeller 69) in conversation with Friedhelm Schönfeld and Heiner Reinhardt
1st Set: 

Helmut “Joe” Sachse – guitar, percussion

Heiner Reinhardt – bass clarinet
2nd Set:  

Helmut “Joe” Sachse – guitar, percussion

Joe Hertenstein – drums
Discussion
Friedhelm Schönfeld (composer, saxophonist) on jazz in East and West Berlin from 1950 to 1983
Heiner Reinhardt (saxophonist) on, among other things, the Jazzkeller Treptow from 1976 to the present
"Assi" Glöde (active jazz fan), responsible for programming from 1982 to 2023

How did the construction of the Berlin Wall change the development of jazz? What creative freedom remained for musicians in the GDR—and how did this give rise to an exciting free jazz scene?

The second evening of the series “Hot and Free? Jazz in Divided Berlin, 1950–1970” is dedicated to the pioneers of GDR jazz and the development of free jazz in the 1960s and 1970s. Two generations will be represented in conversation and concert. Friedhelm Schönfeld is one of the most important contemporary witnesses to jazz in Berlin since the 1950s. Heiner Reinhardt and Helmut “Joe” Sachse have shaped jazz since the 1970s.

Friedhelm Schönfeld studied clarinet, piano, and composition in Berlin from 1950 to 1958. He then initially performed in various dance bands and, in 1960, became the principal alto and solo saxophonist in the Berlin Radio Dance Orchestra before emerging as a key figure in modern jazz and free jazz in the GDR.

 He began his career even before the Berlin Wall was built, helped shape the rise of modern jazz in the GDR, and played a decisive role in charting the path from hot jazz through modern jazz to free jazz. At the same time, they experienced the political restrictions and cultural upheaval of the Cold War firsthand.

Helmut “Joe” Sachse began teaching himself to play jazz in the early 1970s and studied guitar via distance learning at the Weimar University of Music from 1973 to 1978; during which time, as a conscientious objector, he performed construction service in the GDR. He subsequently played with Manfred Schulze, among others.

Heiner Reinhardt studied saxophone at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in East Berlin from 1974 to 1979 and subsequently worked initially in Andreas Altenfelder’s quintet. From the early 1980s onward, he was a member of the Günter Sommer Trio and the Manfred Schulze Wind Quintet, among others, before founding his own ensemble, Entropie.

The concert will be framed by a discussion about the development of jazz in East Berlin and the exchange with West Berlin. Wolf “Assi” Glöde, a defining figure of the legendary Jazzkeller 69, Friedhelm Schönfeld, and Heiner Reinhardt will discuss the beginnings of modern jazz in the GDR, the impact of the Berlin Wall’s construction, and the special role Jazzkeller 69 played in the East Berlin jazz scene during the 1970s.