Alike

Like classical, like jazz. A look at the Unterfaht jazz club’s November program had me drooling. The names I recognised were all Americans - Aaron Parks, SFJazz Collective, Christian Sands, Terence Blanchard, David Murray, Steve Coleman & Five Elements, Shai Maestro – but there’s jazz every night and weekly jams. My first surprise was bands I didn’t recognise at €38 ($A61) but I wanted to see this place so I went for the €5 Sunday night jam. The place was busy, in a basement, strangely down a long, coffered passage. Inside it was buzzing, busy, warm with great PA, dreadlocked soundman, nice stage, generous Steinway-Hof grand, cosy space. But this was not the ecstatic music of my Frankfurt jam. This was far more moderate, mainstream, cool. Still standards. The intro trio was capable, perhaps too cool for my wishes with calm, considered guitar, nicely fluent and melodic bassist, cool if sometimes explosive drummer. Amusingly, I recognised the drummer as Rick Hollander from my other Munich jazz outing. Then a string of players in the next set: trumpet, bari sax, guitar, pianox2, replacement bass and drums. The guitar raised the energy level; the second pianist had some nice contemporary, atonal ideas; the bari was amusing with satisfyingly blats as always. But the swing was fairly constant; the harmonies pretty defined; the changes mostly obvious. The band was hotting up with Oleo as I left. So, not David Murray. Nice playing if too cool for my ears, but cheap enough.

Paul Brandle (guitar) led the host band with Andreas Kurz (bass) and Rick Hollander (drums) for a jam session at Unterfaht jazz club in Munich.

PS. I later checked the prices of the visiting Americans and they were similar to my unknown others in the program. That could mean many things.,,