JazzFest Berlin meets NewYork: a livestream extravaganza

The programme will also be broadcast on nine radio stations across Germany and specially commissioned video works will be premiered online via Berliner Festspiele on Demand.

With the pandemic affecting everything, artistic director Nadin Deventer has decided to focus on improvisation, with the Berlin performances taking place in new venue Silent Green, Kulturquartier’s underground concrete hall; and the more intimate domed hall. Twelve projects from both cities will be presented to their local audiences as well as to those across the Atlantic, played live on location and streamed to the other city, while simultaneously broadcast globally live online.

Works commissioned by JazzFest Berlin include TRAINING – the Berlin duo of Max Andrzejewski and Johannes Schleiermacher – who meet the American musician John Dieterich (Deerhoof) and the Berlin-based Turkish video artist Işıl Karataş. Award-winning saxophonist Silke Eberhard and her band Potsa Lotsa XL will pay tribute to revered US multi-instrumentalist Henry Threadgill. Artists appearing from New York include Anna Webber Clockwise Septet; Tomas Fujiwara’s Triple Double with Gerald Cleaver, Mary Halvorson, Brandon Seabrook, Ralph Alessi and Taylor Ho Bynum; Craig Taborn Trio; Lakecia Benjamin’s Pursuance – The Coltranes; Tomeka Reid Quartet; and Joel Ross’ Good Vibes performing music from his new album Who Are You?

The concerts from Berlin also include: trumpeter Lina Allemano’s Ohrenschmaus power trio; MEOW! with drummer Jim Black; emerging four-piece Y-Otis with Otis Sandsjö, Petter Eldh, Tilo Weber and Dan Nicholls; plus the Jim Black Trio featuring Elias Stemeseder and Felix Henkelhausen.

Details of the substantial ‘Off Stage’ programme and the many hours of radio broadcasts – as well as tickets for the livestreams – can be found at the official festival website: www.berlinerfestspiele.de