Various Venues, Berlin

Surprise and attack is at the heart of improvisation, and when moving to the magic of music, it is often its cerebral story that leaves the experiential imprint. (Of course sweat, blood, and tears are also some of these emotionally profound tangents.)

We love the continuity in hearing electronic and other music, because the conversation takes us somewhere. And those fortunate enough to discover the conversation in a genre like jazz are in for an erratic mental dance. It’s an opportunity for those willing to listen to the call and response of an orchestral dimension. 

In the case of the melting pot of Berlin’s music curiosities, the May 2015 edition of the XJAZZ Festival, (in its second year in the artist-centric Kreuzberg neighborhood), combined the contemporary and often freestyle jazz scene with some of the leading crossover electronic musicians in the city. 

Happening across 7+ different venues in the second weekend of May, with dozens of concerts every night, the programme roared full-on, with three-quarters of the line-up consisting of local acts and several more invited players hailing from this year’s partner city of Israel.

Personal jazz epiphanies included Günter “Baby” Sommer, an ex DDR 75 year old free- jazz drum legend, whose performance could best be described as ‘killing it with precision’, as he hammered on various surfaces in an improvised ‘dance’ of tactics, with synth and electronics musician Rabih Beaini, turning knobs, flexing waves. Mallets and towels and cymbals and stops became instruments of possibility; reflexes of the natural meditation on rhythm. 

Invited highlights included Dejan Terzic’s Melanoia, the Melt Trio with Jan Bang, The Apples, Ethiopian flavours of Hailu Mergia, and electronic hues of the Brandt Brauer Frick trio, Nightmares on Wax, Mo Kolours, Aybee, Max Graef, Louie Vega and more. For the electronic heads, David August also performed a first ever sold out show with a full ensemble. Promoter consensus put the attendance at 15,000, but the venues hardy seemed stifling, with a variety of options for every direction.

  • © Ulla C. Binder

  • © Ulla C. Binder

  • © Ulla C. Binder

Dejan Terzic’s Melanoia quartet, with elements of sax, piano, electric guitar and percussion, was an interactive beehive; active in instrumental singularity, while still wholly forming a bigger sound mass, maintaining movement individually and together. It delivered a watershed moment in the discovery of free jazz improvisation’s creative, curious joy. Dejan’s blue pearl drum kit, the minimal electric guitar pings, fingers dancing across the Yamaha piano: it was immersive, unplaceable.

Packing out the house on Friday night at Berlin’s Lido concert hall was Hailu Mergia, a seminal keyboardist from Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. He laid out funk infused melodies with his diligent band.

Later, legendary dance, house, afrobeat and otherwise DJ Louie Vega led Berlin to sunrise in his typical fashion, at a vibes-up Prince Charles.

Known as a ‘jazz singer for the hip-hop generation’, the smooth vocals and rock guitar of Jose James closed out the festival on Sunday night in the industrial frames of the Neue Heimat.

An endless amount of impressions, and a bold blend of demographics and genres, prove that Berlin and its promoters continue to feed innovation and contemplation back into the city experience, where it belongs. And jazz, if you haven’t experimented. It’s here and more vibrant than ever.