The Comet Is Coming, Joel Ross and Makaya McCraven make moves at Enjoy Jazz in Southern Germany

The majority of music festivals compress themselves into a single weekend, but there are a few that stretch to 10 days. There is one rebellious giant that languishes over a six-week period, presenting at least one show every evening. Such is the score with Enjoy Jazz, which uses venues in the three southern German cities of Heidelberg, Mannheim and Ludwigshafen, occasionally booking two gigs for one evening, and sometimes even three, across all locations. This was the second consecutive year that your scribe had attended the festival’s final six days, which offered a particularly fruitful climax in 2022.

Some venues are only used occasionally, but there are others that form a strong backbone to the festival, presenting shows on multiple nights. One of these was the Karlstorbahnhof, in Heidelberg, which was a funky old joint that had been open for decades. All music-heads in the city fondly recall their sonic upbringing, hanging out in its woody arts centre environs. Actually, Karlstorbahnhof remains in late 2022, newly opened in a much larger building, and further from the heart of town (on Marlene-Dietrich Platz!). It has great potential, although physically it’s a bit of a featureless shell, so far. This was the location for one of the best gigs during your scribe’s visit, although this festival end-run possessed a very high standard generally, with a starry artist concentration. Each night’s combo delivered one of their superior showings.

The Chicagoan vibraphone upstart Joel Ross used to provide a sparkling ingredient in Marquis Hill’s bands, but in recent years has been developing his own outfit, only just getting a chance to tour, post-lockdowns. Ross was joined by Jeremy Corren (piano), Kanoa Mendenhall (bass) and Joe Dyson (drums). A formally stately melodic advancement began the set, a structured tune of very gradual progression. Ross slowly built up the density of his embellishments, establishing a thoughtful, introverted aura. Corren took a solo, with Ross suddenly rushing back from the wings, realising the time was right to skim into the heart again. Even though these graceful beginnings soothed the audience into a sensitised contemplation, Ross soon revealed his inner power, his solos getting harder and faster, more elaborately virtuosic. Dyson answered with a stuttering bass drum, as some Thelonious Monk-ism emerged.

Already it was evident that Mendenhall provides a quietly powerful presence in this line-up, perhaps descended from Charlie Haden’s style in her spatial awareness and purposeful propulsion. The third number became a completely solo vehicle for a while, as Mendenhall displayed a set of shape-shifting fingerings, continually forming fresh string-patterns. Ross returned to solo, with his fingers directly on the bars. Your scribe has heard a few comments from audience members in recent years, being negative about Ross and his band, but Jazzwise can assure the reader that this quartet holds a very special quality that sustained fascination throughout a fairly substantial set that never settled down into complacency. These four were continually inventive and sensitive.

Across in Mannheim, there’s another crucial venue, Alte Feuerwache (Old Firehouse), one of the city’s most important haunts for jazz, rock, global and electronic sounds. Yes, it’s literally a converted historic fire station. They managed to present Chicago drummer Makaya McCraven and the UK’s own bombastic cosmic-jazz extremists The Comet Is Coming in the space of three days. King Shabaka, Betamax Killer and Danalogue The Conqueror have now reached their peak state, honed by a rigorous tour into an even tighter unit than usual. Your scribe has witnessed the Comets multiple times since 2016, and this was their best showing so far, combining a rapport so at ease that they’re free to fly off orbit, transporting a sold-out standing crowd towards a particularly electrified hysteria.

The Firehouse pulses with the trio’s glittering space-afterwash. Betamax squats at the centre, his rhythms quite brutally bedded, while Danalogue operates his bank of orchestral keys, sounding like he’s still improvising heartily within these groove frames. Shabaka Hutchings stands almost apart, a jazz soloist alien being, welded to the spaceship’s hull, perfecting his raunchy, obsessive tenor saxophone riffs, which have become increasingly muscular feats over the years. There’s a microphone slung down his bell, in search of bass-boom resonance.

Two nights later, McCraven had a seated audience, rows covering the entire length of the Firehouse. His gig was a much calmer experience, in contrast to the Comet. Unlike the expansiveness of his recent albums, the touring crew is a mere quartet, featuring Marquis Hill (trumpet), Matt Gold (guitar) and the ever-present Junius Paul (bass), although with these four still streaking out a broad palette. Hill was curiously discrete, rarely soloing and lurking to the side of the stage. The principal voice of the band, at least on this night, was Gold, soloing regularly, his guitar lending a distinctive exterior to McCraven’s mostly cushioned-grooving numbers. The leader’s also a good verbal communicator, introducing the tunes with a laid-back, confident flow. The encore was an unusual choice of Kenny Dorham’s ‘Sunset’, followed by ‘Spring In Chicago’ (after ‘Autumn In New York’), slowly slinking, with Gold remaining prominent on guitar, then McCraven accelerating with a whip-cracking drum solo, as Junius Paul mobilised on a stepping line. McCraven is lately not shy of mainline jazzing, freshening it for the youngsters with a healthy shot of mild groove.

On the jazz periphery was local Heidelberg player Christof Keller (keyboards, bass), at the cosy Leitstelle arts café. There was a feeling that this was a significant occasion on the Heidelberg scene, as the besuited Keller launched his Garden Path album, flanked by two other keyboardists, guitar, soft-skim drums and purring bass clarinet. Keller’s music revolved around classic German electronic rippling, with shapely acoustic trimmings, one of the keyboard players choosing an acoustic piano sound. The involved and twinkling compositions dealt with jazz, lounge, ambient and soft rock in equal measure.

The final night of the festival provided a Youssou N’Dour climax, as the Senegalese vocal star shoehorned his large band into the relatively intimate BASF Feierabendhaus in Ludwigshafen. An early sparseness of vocals, percussion and keyboards grew into a fully mobilised Afro-pop surge, N’Dour remaining a naturally charismatic presence. Twin guitars interlaced, but a tenor saxophonist was low in the mix. The music sounded more powerful when standing at the side, as the audience got wilder, rather than remaining seated in the sold-out rows.