Being there

Now for a change from buskers on the street and even from the Berlin Phil’s Digital Concert Hall. A virtual reality concert, seen in the foyer of the Konzerthaus Berlin. The camera was located amongst the strings in front of the conductor, so looking forward was to see the conductor and audience. Looking around was to see the other players and even the floor and ceiling. Looks like it's visual only, no 3D audio, but impressive. Never seen that before.

Virtual Concert hall at Konzerethaus Berlin

Demo on YouTube

Bursting with Beethoven

They are called the Klassische Philharmonie Bonn (Classical Philharmonic Orchestra of Bonn?) and they seem to be a touring orchestra celebrating their 50th year, if I’ve understood the German correctly. We caught them at the Berlin Concert hall (Konzerthaus Berlin) for a full Beethoven program to start their Wiener Klassik series. The leader was Heribert Beissel and the piano soloist was Florian Glemser. The Beethoven program was Egmont overture, Piano concerto no.3 and Symphony no.7. Not quite Berlin Phil (that’s no great put down to most any orchestra) and not too loud in that large box space, but a very capable orchestra skimming through some busy lines. I particularly liked the Symphony no.7 but it’s well known and I’ve played the second movement. Again, solid dynamics, quick and capable playing, if a small a group for the space (I counted ~50 players including four basses). But how can you miss with music like Beethoven 7th? A worthy outing in an impressive concert hall with its oddly tiered access to the performance space.

The Classical Philharmonic Orchestra of Bonn performed Beethoven at the Konzerthaus Berlin under Heribert Beissel (conductor) and with soloist Florian Glemser (piano).

One for James

Amongst a plethora of jazz and jams, I chose the Hank Mobley Project at the Bardenscher hof jazz club, because ‘50s hard bop is close to my heart (and to my Tilt colleague James) but also for the new musos and new club. I arrived to find Tony and Olaf (trombone and bass) standing outside and we chatted. Inside, it was fairly small and informal, more Sowieso than A-Trane. But again that immense commitment and great skills that I’ve come to expect amongst musos (and maybe even more broadly in society) in Berlin and Germany. This is not the music to find twisted syncopations or dense polyrhythms, but if you want earth blues-infused drive and nicely formed heads and plays of rhythm changes and the blues, this is it. Funny titles, too. They started with Funk in deep freeze then No room for squares. I’m thinking bongos and goaties. All Blue Note hard swing, solid grooves and blues scales (but not only) and laid back sensibilities (one solo was so far behind the beat I could have fallen from my chair) and occasional quotes. I was wondering if the quotes suggest how this music was learnt, by listening and playing with others. It’s a strength. I checked the Hank Mobley discography and it’s big: his own albums and subbing with Miles and Jazz Messengers and Horace Silver and Lee Morgan and Donald Byrd and more: so many of the names of that period. The music started hot but just grew more loud and insistent. Not much rest here. The band was all Berlin residents other than saxist Martin who’s now in Vienna but this was a get together: they have played together before; the smiles and easy conviviality showed it. Both Martin and trom Tony up front would sit in lovely harmonies on the head or in fills against piano solos. Tony would insert various grunts and vocalisms amongst some rabidly quick and tuneful and rhythmically playful soloing. Martin was more a quieter stage presence with the melodic twist. Pianist Reggie was all full handed chords and choppy left-right combinations with playful touches of stride and jazz history. Bassist Olaf walked with authority and drive and could take some devastating solos himself. (Just another hugely strong bassist in Berlin and another using Genssler strings). Drummer Michael sat in the rear with volume and drive but he, too, took on solos with verve. Two sets eventually running well past midnight. That’s another thing with this blowing music: it doesn’t let off easily. Soul station, blues and rhythm changes, Solftly, I think of you. A great night of authentic ‘50s hard blowing in contemporary Berlin. How could you not love it.

Martin Kern (tenor) and Tony Hurdle (trombone) led a quintet with Reggie Moore (piano), Olaf Casimir (bass) and Michael Kersting (drums) playing the music of Hank Mobley at the Bardenscher hof jazz club in Berlin.

Busking the drizzle

It’s been bitingly cold when the wind is out, so maybe that explains why I haven’t noticed many buskers. But we were on Museum Island as tourists, so we caught some. Adote was on a bridge and exposed so well rugged up. I heard his short, flighty, clever jazz soprano sax lines from a distance so went over for a chat. Turns out he’d been to school with Christof Titz who I’d heard a few nights before at ZigZag. The other busker was around the corner playing a far more obscure instrument, a glass harp. I’ve rung crystal glasses at a dinner party with a wet finger on the rim like many others, but I’d never heard the technique developed to play classical hits (I asked about jazz but he was reticent; his CD features Bach, Mozart and Boccherini). Sergey Karamyshev’s collection of glasses was a veritable instrument, chromatic and with a multi-octaves range, tuned for each performance by adding water, all crystal mounted and moveable in a flight case with its own period-styled, curve legged table. And he was fluid (excuse the pun) playing light classics (inevitable for such an audience) and friendly in answering many questions about his instrument (also inevitable). It’s a lovely soft and ringing tone when played with such rapid, multi-fingered skill. It has been drizzling rain but even so I wondered how he kept fingers moistened and I feared for any chipped edges, which seem a too common occurrence for our crystal glasses. But I was entranced by something truly new to me. Nicely played.

Adote (soprano sax) and Sergey Karamyshev (glass harp) busked in the drizzle for tourists on Museum Island in Berlin.

Afters

It was after the Berlin Phil so late and we just caught two tunes. Back to ZigZag for a Miles Davis Tribute. We arrived to Freedom Jazz Dance that lasted a good while and that was to finish but we got an encore of So What. Even this was a generous bit of music, perhaps 20 min of playing. More excellent performers, two from the jam session host band a few days before, with different bass, trumpet and added sax. At least for these two tunes that we heard, this was all strength, harmonic and rhythmic freedom with driving pulse, intriguing solos. So What was all relentless speed; FJD all twisting melody. Solos for all players and all wonderful but I particularly noted the extended play on diminished triplets up and down the bass neck. Relentless, extended and a tour de force. I mentioned that one to bassist Igor and he’d obviously enjoyed it. I also chatted with drummer Tobias and his accent immediately surprised me. It turns out he’d lived in Melbourne and recently recorded in Berlin with Jeremy Rose, Jackson Harrison and Kurt Rosenwinkel. The recording is not yet released. Germans often observe the distance to Australia (and it’s annoying talking to European visitors to Berlin who can come for just a few days) but the world can seem small, too. Just a taste of Miles with some more wonderfully capable Berlin playing.

Christoph Titz (trumpet, flugelhorn), Marc Doffey (tenor), Uri Gincel (piano), Igor Spallati (bass) and Tobias Backhaus (drums) played a tribute to Miles Davis at ZigZag Jazz Club in Berlin.

Type specimen

Hearing the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra was a very great pleasure but I was surprised how I responded to it. We attended the Berlin Phil playing in their home concert hall, the Berliner Philharmonie. They were led by a guest conductor, Tugan Sikhiev, and pianist Nikolai Lugansky featured for the second work. They played Cesar Franck Le Chasseur Maudit (=The accused huntsman), Rachmaninov Variations on a theme of Paganini and Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade. The program listed all members of the orchestra rather than those playing on the night, and the number is large (11 basses listed, 6 played this performance). Sadly, our local product, principal bassist Matt McDonald, was not playing. If I counted right, the orchestra was 26 or 28 violins (first and seconds), 10 violas, 6 basses, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 6 brass (2 trumpets, 3 trombones, 1 tuba), 6 percussion. Only about 12 players were women, mostly amongst the strings. The sound seemed great, not least from hall acoustics. We were seated above and just behind the violins. The audience sits right around, including some on choir benches. This was the Grosser Saal, but it was surprisingly intimate although seating 2,440. That intimacy was one surprise for me but the big one was just how little I felt this was outstanding or unusual. This just felt like what an orchestra is, or at least should be. I so often just sit and hear errors (not always reported here) and faults there are in most music. There were even some minor ones here (very minor). But what stunned me was how it felt just right, as an orchestra sounds (or should sound) like. Berlin Phil as a type specimen: the originally described example of its type. So tight, full bodied, balanced, playing at the service of melody and development, well timed, detailed, delicate with explosive hits and immediate decrescendos. More too, of course. All just as it should be, so I heard detail I’d not known of, and struggled for the quiet passages and bathed in the lush, loud lines, and wondered at the support from strings and the immediacy of their changes and the endless float of that long high harmonic from the solo first violin. And the pianist was equally a pleasure. I wondered how the conductor could, at times, be leading, but no doubt he was, sometimes spelling the beat but also sitting back on rubatos or just prompting entries or dynamics. This was all a huge pleasure but just as it should be. Is the Berlin Phil the type specimen of its species in a hall that may also be its own type specimen?

The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra performed Cesar Franck, Rachmaninov and Rimsky-Korsakov in the Berliner Philharmonie under Tugan Sikhiev (conductor) with Nikolai Lugansky (piano).

Rings true, what they say

It’ a common refrain that the standard of musicians in Berlin is very high. I went to one of many jam sessions in Berlin, this one at the ZigZag club, and I can only confirm it. The host band was as good as I can even imagine! A trumpet tone to die for, soft and fat like a flugelhorn but not, playing some long devastating runs and lovely melodic snippets and space around them all. Astounding harmonic flexibility that saw the piano all over and outside the structure. I could follow most (with great pleasure) even if I felt one got beyond me (and perhaps the rest of the band). But this was hugely driving and infectious and an improvisational tour de force in the modern jazz vein. Bass was immensely strong, along with drums. No let off in intensity or commitment, but there were changes of feel and groove all over. Bass could lay out syncopated lines with firmness and power but also with dense improv, both embellishing the obligatos and laying out wonderfully expressive solos. This was a jam so I got up. The bass was strung with gut (and Spirocore E string) and I can confirm it was a handful, so there was plenty of strength in Paul’s hands as well as in his ideas. A later addition to the host band was guitar, and he, too, was strong as. Happy to sit out but wonderfully effective when he played, soloing idiosyncratically in short bursts or comping some interesting chords. Then the jammers. Mostly not in the ballpark of the hosts, but none-the-less worthwhile and skilled. I liked that no charts were allowed. Pianist and host band and jam leader, Uri, was colourfully damning of their use and it worked. We negotiated known tunes and sometimes just faked it and so learnt from the experience and grew confidence in our ears. A true jazz lesson learnt there. Then, the jokes and good-natured chatter and drinks after. This was a memorable night and perhaps the best exposure to jazz in Berlin that I could imagine. And there are numerous other jam sessions around this town, most nights, amongst a plethora of jazz venues, then there’s the experimental scene too. And, of course, the classical scene, Berlin Philharmonic and the rest.

ZigZag jazz club staged its weekly Tuesday night jam sessions. The host band was led by Uri Gincel (piano) with Sebastian Studnitzky (trumpet), Paul Kleber (bass) and Tobi Backhaus (drums). Igor Osypov (guitar) sat in with this band later.

Jazz guide Berlin

Jazzy Berlin - jam sessions

Experimental music & free jazz in Berlin

Classical jazz

The Berliner Philharmonie (the concert venue for the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra) stages free weekly lunchtime concerts, now on Tuesdays. This was our second: a trio of cello, bass and vibes. It’s an unusual combination and also an unusual program. Not for the pieces, for they were classical pop hits. But unusual for the arrangements and what seemed like occasional improvisation by all three players and the long medley that made up the first part. I’d expected the first piece, Bach cello suite no.1 G maj Prelude to be played on cello. Instead it started with improv intro, then into bass playing the melody in thumb position with cello counterpoint, then vibes accompaniment through to the final lines on cello played rubato. Then attacca into Grieg with the melody played by cello then bass then cello with bass counterpoint, pizz to arco, then a harmonised melody and a unison ending. Attacca into Sculthorpe from Tailitnama song, obviously Australian to my ears, with urgent summer heat and cello obligato underlying the whole in 3. A break then Bach’s Air on a G string (Orchestral suite 3 mvt.2) played pretty much as I remember from playing it with Maruki. Another break for some words to the audience. Piazzola Libertango with cello improv. Two Vivaldi movements and Satie Gnossienne no.1 including solos from cello, bass and vibes and walking bass (to add to my perplexity, the bass was amplified). All a slightly odd proposition in this location. Then Ortiz Tratado de glosas. I didn’t know this but it’s early (1553) and a lithe then bouncy piece, much enjoyed. Obviously this is a popular program for the masses and masses there were. Seats are reserved for “severely disabled” (not sure I saw too much of that) and others hung over balconies or sat on steps or on the floor or just stood (as we did last time). There’s a rush at noon when the doors open for the 1pm concert. Given seats are reserved, I’m not sure early arrival is worth it. So, nice playing of mostly easy and popular works with a touch of classical jazz, an unexpected pleasure to hear the Sculthorpe and well worth the price.

Anna Carewa (viola), Oli Bott (vibraphone) and Janne Saksala (bass) played a lunchtime concert in the Berlin Philharmonie foyer.

Tomas meets his guests

Organisation Meets is a play on words in several ways. It’s the name of an event or perhaps a band that runs regularly at Blue Note Dresden led by organist Tomas Kreibich. So, organ meets wechselnde Gäste, changing guests. Tonight he was playing with singer Fama M’Boup and drums Jannik Kerkhof and I was enthralled. Two sets, mostly standards that I recognised. First up, Alone together, then a trawl of oldies, That old feeling, I remember you, Tangerine, Comes love, Like someone I love, I didn’t know what time it was, Softly. Also a few funkier songs that I didn’t recognise. Standards can be old and tired, but this was anything but. There was real exploration here. Fama mostly led, counting in, setting the musical agenda. Tomas ably accompanied, swinging with that two handed, two manual, virtually two-instrument-two-mind organ capability, bass and choppy chords and interpolated leads all in one. Nice. Jannik provided a rhythm bed, sticks and once with brushes, taking a few solos, at least once with rhythmic accompaniment from voice and keys. But I was fascinated by Fama, taking her voice as a lesson in improv and interpretation. It’s said that Miles used to anticipate new albums by Sinatra to study his sense of timing and interpretation. In the same vein, many bassists (perhaps fewer other instrumentalists) sing with solos. I was delighted by Fama’s sense of time, of intervals, of phrasing, on heads, on scat. Wonderfully varied from the original but essentially speaking to it. And not just in obvious spots, but also in riffs and instrumentally against that drum solo I mentioned above and intriguingly repeating and playing polyrhythmic games against vamps to end. She did that one several times and it was really a stunner. There was variation in tone, too: growls and gruff slurs and the like. Every note planned and considered; no blather of scales and arpeggios that instrumentalists can fall into. It’s a commonly observed problem and perhaps vocalists have an advantage here: the words actually mean something so there’s a solid story to portray, and it’s not quite so easy to just run scales, or perhaps the training doesn’t promote this. Whatever, Fama’s singing was a lesson in melody and interpretation and a great pleasure. But then singing is a core human activity, so there’s that advantage too. It’s not the first time I’ve been enraptured by vocals, but this was one. But more background. Both Jannik and Fama are late year students at the local music school, HFMDD Dresden, the Carl Maria von Weber College of Music. Mother Princess, support for Nils Petter Molvaer at Tonne the other night also studied at HFMDD. I asked who Fama listens to: the answer was broad, the jazz singers, but also popular styles and even singer-songwriters: wide influences. But then everything’s merged and coalesced and intermingled these days and that itself is both thrilling and inspiring. So, a great night at a hip little music bar, the Blue Note Dresden. Congrats to all.

On the night, Organisation Meets were Tomas Kreibich (organ) with Fama M’Boup (vocals) and Jannik Kerkhof (drums).

How new

Megan warned me that I’d like this. We have an ongoing dig about liking new music; she’s the classicist and I’m the modernist. There’s some truth in it. This was the second musical outing for the day. Dresdner Philharmonie, the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, playing a modern program: Takemitsu String around autumn, Bartok Miraculous mandarin and Stravinski Petrushka. The location was a large space, obviously an enclosed courtyard of the Albertinum palace, with temporary seating and stage. I wondered about the sound and the sightlines weren’t great and I fretted about what seemed like a church or clock bell that turned out to be a warning timer for the audience. That was a lovely, rich, loud bell: so different from the electronic tinkles at our concerts. It all worked in the end, and the interval included a stroll through the sculpture museum in the room next door. How civilised! Takemitsu was indeed modern. It features viola, played by Nobuko Imai, with orchestra. All unexpected long intervals, colour and shimmers, no obvious pulse (that I remember). Attractive, but floating and indistinct and filmic. Then Bartok with a pulse that gave life, but still plenty of unexpected, dramatic, changes. This was a one act pantomime ballet of three tramps and a girl forced to dance for three men, the third of which is the Mandarin. Musically it was big city chaos depicted by wave-like scales; minor seconds in 6/8 depicting the tramps; glissandi and 5/8 depicting two potential lovers; pentatonics and tritones depicting the Mandarin. Also waltzes, fugues, fanfares. This was interesting. I was amused to notice the basses counting and the brass playing: quite a turnaround. Then after interval, Stravinsky Patrushka with dissonances and polyrhythms and diminished scales and polychords. It’s the story of the loves and jealousies of three puppets: Petrushka (our Punch), the ballerina and the Moor. I loved the music but wondered about the ballet, famously a Ballet Ruse production. But what an orchestra! Big, generously loud, neat and correct with lovely intonation and big dynamics. My impression is they do serious dynamics over here. 95 performers plus conductor and soloist for a fabulous outing. And one thing I’ve learned on this trip. Any professional orchestral bassist plays 5 string in Germany (tuned with a low B), probably also Austria, and obviously German bows.


The Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra performed Takemitsu, Bartok and Stravinsky at the Albertinum under Robert Trevino (conductor) with soloist Nobuko Imai (viola).