McHenry / Cyrille // Red Desert Orchestra // Bauer / Parker / Drake // Moreno

The concert evening at the Festspielhaus begins with the European premiere of the duo of drummer Andrew Cyrille and saxophonist Bill McHenry. French pianist Eve Risser then turns her attention to the rhythms and musical textures of West Africa with her Red Desert Orchestra. Trombonist and this year's Albert Mangelsdorff Award winner Conny Bauer, in a trio with Hamid Drake and William Parker, revives old connections between the US-American and German-German free jazz avant-garde. And to crown the concert program on the big stage, Brazilian singer Joyce Moreno offers a musical cross-section of her long career.

17:00 / European premiere

McHenry / Cyrille: "Proximity"

(US)

Few living jazz musicians* have written themselves so deeply into music history as Andrew Cyrille, who will celebrate his 84th birthday five days after his appearance at Jazzfest Berlin. Known for his formative role in the development of free jazz, including as one of Cecil Taylor's most visionary percussionists, Cyrille in some ways carries the entire history of jazz: as a teenager he spent a lot of time with the likes of Philly Joe Jones and Max Roach, but also played gigs along the entire cultural spectrum of musical traditions he encountered in his native New York. A later lynchpin of the avant-garde scene, Cyrille was instrumental in paving the way for free percussion groups, such as the duo with Milford Graves. Although he increasingly led his own bands in the 1970s, he continued to collaborate with various musicians, including Muhal Richard Abrams, John Carter, Walt Dickerson, Peter Kowald, and David Murray. Cyrille's playing is characterized by an astonishing clarity of almost narrative quality. He uses his instrument as a melodic voice and enters into a form of interaction with his fellow players that is based on more than just rhythm. And age does not slow him down in any way: Through a series of albums for the record label ECM Records, with musicians* such as Bill Frisell and David Virelles, Cyrille has experienced a veritable renaissance in recent years.

At one of his rare appearances in Berlin, one can now experience the European debut of his collaboration with tenor saxophonist Bill McHenry. The Barcelona-based US-American is considered one of the most agile players of post-bop and combines a rich tone with a deep blues vibe in his improvisations. In 2016, the two released the album "Proximity," a grandiose series of mostly spontaneous dialogues, with a special sense of proportion, elegance and interaction. At this year's Jazzfest Berlin, they are writing another chapter in their fruitful collaboration.



Line-up

Bill McHenry - saxophone

Andrew Cyrille - drums

18:30

Eve Risser's Red Desert Orchestra: "Eurythmia"

(FR, BF, DE, BE, PT)

In 2019, French pianist Eve Risser wowed Jazzfest Berlin audiences with her creative playing on a prepared piano as part of a solo performance: she had placed an entire arsenal of everyday objects inside it, radically changing the timbre of the strings. The keyboard became a magical noisemaker, tamed by meticulously conceived, rhythmically controlled experimental arrangements. But Risser also burns for collaborative work. Over the past decade, she has led several large ensembles that focused on more conventional sounds. The Red Desert Orchestra, which is now coming to Berlin for the first time, can hardly be described as such, however, because Risser's current repertoire uncovers surprising connections between groove-driven jazz and the hypnotizing cadences from West African musical traditions. At times, the sometimes raw vibrations produced by some of these instruments overlay their piano sounds. Last year, Risser released the album "Eurythmia" with the ensemble, a combination of sometimes gentle, sometimes raucous wind melodies on a foundation of infectious polyrhythms created by the interplay of djembés, balafons and bara drums that is as breathtaking as it is supple, while also providing musical terrain for improvisational forays. The wind players include alto saxophonist Antonin-Tri Hoang, who leads the Novembre ensemble performing on the festival's opening night, tenor saxophonist Sakina Adbou and Berlin-based trombonist Mathias Müller. In times of never-ending social division, Risser and her comrades-in-arms defy outdated, clichéd dichotomies like "Europe vs. Africa" with due matter-of-factness, creating music that combines tradition and new approaches with joyful energy and respect.



Line-up

Eve Risser - composition, piano

Antonin-Tri Hoang - alto saxophone, analog synthesizer

Sakina Abdou - tenor saxophone

Grégoire Tirtiaux - baritone saxophone, qarqabas

Susana Santos Silva - trumpet

Mathias Müller - trombone

Tatiana Paris - electric guitar

Belli Hié - balafon

Mélissa Hié - balafon, djembé

David Merlo - electric bass

Oumarou Bambara - djembé, bara

Emmanuel Scarpa - percussion

20:00 / Laureate concert Albert-Mangelsdorff-Prize for Conny Bauer

Bauer / Parker / Drake

(DE, US)

Trombonist Conrad Bauer is one of the great personalities of the East German jazz scene. As early as the early 1970s, he made a name for himself as a professional musician and integral part of various bands such as the Exis quintet, the Hans Rempel Octet and, most notably, as a member of the Ernst Ludwig Petrowsky Quartet. Bauer and Petrowsky, who sadly passed away in July 2023, continued their joint collaboration in the furious ensemble Synopsis with Günter "Baby" Sommer on drums and Ulrich Gumpert on piano, and later played in this constellation, including in the reunification year 1990 at the Jazzfest Berlin, under the name Zentralquartett. Already in his youth Bauer performed as a singer and guitarist in dance bands and proved that he was a born entertainer. His playing proved melodic qualities even in experimental contexts.

Reunited to celebrate his 80th birthday, Bauer is joined by arguably one of the most exciting and rhythmic constellations in improvised music in recent decades: bassist William Parker and drummer Hamid Drake. The trio had played together for the first time in 2010 at the famous New York venue Roulette Intermedium and later released the recording under the title "Tender Exploration". Their playing together releases an almost pulsating energy: a mix of solid grooves and rhythmic soulfulness that offers the trombonist a dynamic scenery full of surprises for his motivic forays, in which the wild enters into a union with the lyrical.



Line-up

Conny Bauer - trombone

William Parker - double bass

Hamid Drake - drums

21:30

Joyce Moreno "Natureza

(BR)

Long celebrated as a bossa jazz icon in her home country, Brazilian Joyce Moreno gained international attention last year with her release "Natureza." She had recorded the previously unreleased session from 1977 with a star-studded cast at the time, including Michael Brecker, Joe Farrell, Buster Williams and producer Claus Ogerman. The promising album was to herald her international career. But things turned out differently than hoped: the tapes were lost and the release failed. Fortunately, the singer had kept an unmixed cassette of the recordings, so the album has now seen the light of day after all, rekindling interest in Moreno's remarkable talent abroad as well. Moreno, who has never stopped making music, has been one of Brazil's most established musicians for several decades. Her album "Brasileiras Canções" from last year proves that her voice has not lost its supple agility. She moves deftly and nimbly through a thicket of harmonies and sophisticated rhythms.

Although Moreno experimented with folk arrangements in her early work and took a decidedly feminist perspective against Brazilian paternalism, in the late 1970s she increasingly focused on a jazz-inflected bossa sound that she still stands for today. Her touring band includes her husband and longtime drummer Tutty Moreno, pianist Helio Alves, bassist Rodolfo Stroeter, and percussionist Tom Andrade - all of them seasoned exceptional musicians who know how to handle both lines of tradition from which Joyces' music draws.



Line-up

Joyce Moreno - vocals, guitar

Tutty Moreno - drums

Rodolfo Stroeter - double bass

Helio Alves - piano

Tom Andrade - percussion