Day 3
The main programme in the Haus der Berliner Festspiele featured two of the concerts selected as highlights of the festival (link below) : Barry Guy’s Double Trouble and Mary Halvorson’s Amaryllis Sextet. The evening was rounded off with Patricia Brennan’s Sextet.
The evening worked brilliantly with the two New York groups topping and tailing the 18-piece London Jazz Composers Orchestra.
The Amaryllis Sextet presented Halvorson’s compositions that weave between the trumpet and trombone brass section and the guitar and vibes. The difference in texture between these instruments creates a very special and distinctive contrast that gives the compositions their character . This character of the sextet’s music is reinforced by the way that Halvorson creates a special effect in her solos in the way she alters the pitch of the note.
Barry Guy’s Double Trouble for pianists Marilyn Crispell and Angelica Sanchez and the London Jazz Composers Orchestra was truly an epic performance, and one that achieved a very successful balance between structure and freedom. This was only the third performance of the piece (see link below for the background to the composition).
The two pianists interacted furiously in the opening and closing sections of the piece, but in between the composition moved between structured improvisation, both collective and individual, and rich orchestral writing. The UK trumpet section of Henry Lowther, Percy Pursglove and Charlotte Keeffe were particularly impressive in the solo sections. Mention should also be made of the major contribution of drummer percussionist Lucas Niggli who was taking the role of two percussionists in previous iterations of the Double Trouble piece.
The set by Patricia Brennan’s Septet featured music from their highly regarded debut album Breaking Stretch. Brennan, making her second appearance of the evening, having played with Amaryllis, dominated proceedings on vibes creating along with the bass, drums and percussion a very strong and vibrant rhythmic base for her complex compositions. There was also plenty of space for solos from the front line of saxophonists Mark Shim and Jon Irabogan and trumpeter Adam O’Farrill (also making his second appearance of the evening) and percussionist Mauricio Herrera.
The evening started with the presentation of the Albert Mangelsdorff Prize for 2025 to the improvising vocalist Lauren Newton. Newton was a founder member of the Vienna Art Orchestra and has followed a career in improvised vocal music since leaving that ensemble. As part of the award ceremony, Newton performed in an engaging and witty duo with bass player Joëlle Léandre.
Day 4
With a number of concerts taking place in other club venues outside the Haus der Berliner Festspiele there are inevitably difficult decisions and choices to be made. On the final day the decision was made to go to the piano bass drums trio of Angelica Sanchez, Barry Guy and Ramón López at the A-Trane club. Sadly, this meant missing the solo piano performance by Pat Thomas in the main venue
The decision was probably the right one, as the Sanchez Guy López trio was playing for only the second time, having played for the first time at the Jazzdor festival in France, and who knows when we will get the opportunity to hear them again.
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Photo Fabian Schellhorn / JFB
Sanchez, Guy and López are renowned improvisers, but, interestingly, the set was based on compositions from both Sanchez and Guy, but these compositions led into some dramatic free improvisation. Sometimes they returned to the composition at the end, but on occasions they built up into a sudden dramatic stop. The interaction between the three players was of the highest order with each one listening carefully to what the others were playing and reacting in the moment, building up a high level of excitement. This was a magical concert.
Earlier in the day saxophonist Sakina Abdou played a solo set in the Kaiser-Wilhein- Gedächtnis-Kirche church. The short set had a clear narrative with movement between quieter and more uptempo passages, and a spirituality appropriate to the church setting. Her set was followed by The Handover, a fascinating trio of keys (Jonas Cambien from Belgium), oud (Aly Eissa) and violin (Ayman Asfour), the latter two musicians being from Egypt. Their music brings together classical Arabic music with shaabi Egyptian street music, and moves seamlessly from one theme to another, creating an almost trance-like atmosphere.
One of the strengths of JazzFest Berlin is its engagement with large scale contemporary ensembles. In addition to Barry Guy’s London Jazz Composers Orchestra described above, the final concert in the Haus der Berliner Festspiele presented a new line up and a new project of Mats Gustaffson’s Fire! Orchestra. The set moved through many different contrasting episodes, often led by conduction from Gustaffson, so we had passages of collective free improvisation followed by more structured ensemble writing, stunning vocals from Sofia Jernberg, a passage from UK turntablist Mariam Rezaei, fine individual solos from Mette Rasmussen on alto sax, Tuva Olsson on trumpet and, of course, from Gustafsson himself on baritone sax and flute. The performance did not quite have the impact or cohesion of that of the London Jazz Composers Orchestra, but it was an impressive set nonetheless.
The festival is well established on the Berlin music scene, attendances were extremely high at 99% of capacity, and were vocal in their appreciation of the music with many concerts receiving standing ovations.
One final point: there was quite a good British representation with the London Jazz Composers Ensemble, and Pat Thomas playing a solo set, and players such as Percy Pursglove, Kit Downes, Mariam Rezaei joining international ensembles.
