Jazzkantine | 30 Jahre live

In the organizer's words:

There are only a few stimulants that get better with time. Whisky and wine, for example. And, of course, the Jazzkantine. For thirty years, this Brauntown institution has earned a reputation as one of the best live bands in the country with its unique jazz-hip-hop-soul-funk-disco-party sound. With over one and a half thousand concerts in front of umpteen times as many enthusiastic fans, the top-class - and ever-changing - ensemble has earned the respect that one of their first hits demanded for an entire genre. After all, a Jazzkantine concert is always more than just that: an event.

Many cooks spoil the broth? Not at the Jazzkantine. The list of guests in this small big band ranges from James Brown collaborator Pee Wee Ellis and the Wu-Tang Clan to jazz stars such as Nils Landgren, Nils Wogram and Till Brönner, from MPS legend Gunter Hampel to Tab Two trumpeter Joo Kraus and the fantastic Smudo. This speaks just as much for the musical quality and attitude of the band as the list of permanent band members: in addition to band founder Christian Eitner on bass, the Jazzkantine currently boasts WDR Jazz Prize winner Heiner Schmitz on saxophone, rappers Cappuccino and pioneer Tachi (whose "Fresh Familee" toured as Ice-T's support act back in 1993) and soul singer Albert N'Sanda.

Three decades ago, the inspiration for Jazzkantine came from the British soul-jazz-hip-hop bands Galliano and Young Disciples, both of whom were already associated with tastemaker Gilles Peterson, as well as from American productions such as rapper Guru's Jazzmatazz and Quincy Jones' "Back On The Block". While the latter turned out to be mainly album projects with rare concert exceptions, the ensemble from Braunschweig realized right from their first gigs at the Frannz Club in Berlin in 1994 that most people prefer to experience this music live and, above all, want to feel and dance to it - and that they, as musicians, have the most fun with this sense of community with themselves and the audience. "We had jazz in our name right from the start," says German hip-hop veteran Matthias Lanzer, who also founded the Rap Nation label. "But it was always seriously tongue-in-cheek - and sometimes a bit over the top. We wanted to have fun with jazz and hip-hop and play "Take Five" as well as "Highway to Hell", disco hits or folk songs as groove pieces without the superfluous clichés. And of course our own compositions with German rap lyrics." Even without clear single hits, this recipe brought them success on the radio and on the then still young music television station Viva.

In thirty years, their concert tours have taken the Jazzkantine to jazz festivals from Montreux to the jazz open in Stuttgart, Jazz Baltica on the Baltic Sea or Elbjazz in Hamburg to Kaliningrad or Africa. In addition, they have won "many prizes", which rhymes with "Jazz-Polizei wird leise" in "Eine Ehre", from the German Jazz Award to the Golden Ear and the Echo. The fact that they have since played the Tiffany dance orchestra in the theater version of "Fleisch ist mein Gemüse", composed ballet and theater music and arranged nursery rhymes also speaks for the unbridled activity of the Jazzkantine. When this supergroup goes on tour again to celebrate its 30th anniversary, fun and dancing are guaranteed - for the fans who have grown up with the Jazzkantine - and increasingly also for their children. The Jazzkantine is a great choice for connoisseurs of all generations.