Jazzfest Berlin 2018 Going New Routes
The first year for new artistic director Nadin Deventer shows a lot of new features for one of the oldest German jazz festivals. Day 1 (November 1st) will have 10 acts on five stages – all in the main building, the Haus der Berliner Festspiele. Highlighted as the “Haus Of Jazz”, the first day will have seven hours of live music, including Nicole Mitchell and her Black Earth Ensemble opening the main stage that night.
The main focus this year will be Europe and Chicago. For the Chicago night, poet Moor Mother and her Irreversible Entanglements will bring new sounds to Jazzfest visitors. She will also headline a duo set with saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell who will later perform with the Art Ensemble Of Chicago as well. Trumpeter Jaimie Branch is bringing his Fly Or Die project to Berlin. As part of this theme, there will be a Chicago-Berlin-London special at Prince Charles on November 3rd. The Kreuzberg-located club is hosting for the first time with a late-night programme featuring Nubya Garcia and Makaya McCraven who will perform solo sets with their respective groups and then join together.
15 projects from 10 different European countries show the diversity and power of Jazz in Europe. The queer French artistry of violinist Théo Ceccaldi and his group is something definitely worth checking out. At least the “Freaks” come out at night. This year’s bigband concert will be played by the prestigious WDR Bigband who will feature singer Jazzmeia Horn. And artist in residence, guitarist Mary Halvorson is present throughout the festival, among the groups she’s going to perform with is a quartet with Taiko Saito on vibes and marimba, Liz Allbee on trumpet and Chris Dahlgren on bass. Mary will also play with her octet and she will be featured in an artist talk.
You can check out the full programme on http://www.www.berlinerfestspiele.de/
