Taking place from November 4th to 8th, JazzFest Berlin '09 is dedicated to the theme Blue Note: 70 Years. Honoured through appearances by Blue Note artists from the USA and Europe are the two cofounders of this celebrated label, Alfred Lion (the source of the legendary motto: “It must schwing!") and Francis Wolff - both Berlin Jews who emigrated to the United States.
Opening on October 30th and shown in tandem with the festival will be a special exhibition held at Berlin's Jewish Museum featuring unpublished photographs by Francis Wolff and Jimmy Katz, Blue Note's current house photographer. Attending the exhibition opening will be Blue Note producer Michael Cuscuna. Bruce Lundvall, current Blue Note CEO, also plans to attend the festival. Taking place on November 8th in the presence of the director and Mr. Kenneth Wolfe (GB), a nephew of Francis Wolff, in the cinema of the Martin-Gropius-Bau will be a screening of Julian Benedikt's film Blue Note - A Story of Modern Jazz.
Presented in the framework of JazzFest Berlin '09 beneath the glass-topped courtyard of Berlins Jewish Museum will be four trio concerts, including appearances by piano trios featuring the celebrated Yaron Herman (born in Israel and now living in Paris) and Aaron Park, the youngest Blue Note pianist. Numerous appearance by top-notch pianists at this years JazzFest Berlin is no happenstance, but represents a special focus of this year's festival program. The list of keyboard virtuosi is impressive, and extends from seasoned masters like Hank Jones, now over 90 (with saxophonist Joe Lovano), and Sheila Jordan's duo partner Steve Kuhn, and all the way to celebrated pianists of the younger generation, including Vijay Iyer, Jason Moran (of the Overtone Quartet), the Brit Gwilym Simcock (in Tim Garland's Lighthouse Trio), and Berlin born Jacky Terrasson (appearing as a soloist with the NDR Bigband in “A Blue Note Tribute to Horace Silver").
Also structuring the programme of JazzFest Berlin '09 are concentrations on other instruments, including a focus on the trumpet, often favoured by bandleaders (Terence Blanchard, Mathias Eick, Sebastian Studnitzky, Erik Truffaz (Blue Note France) and Paolo Fresu (Blue Note Italy)). Featured this year in a variety of contexts are four greats of the jazz guitar: Lionel Loueke, John Scofield, Elliott Sharp, and Jean-Paul Bourelly. Bassists Barry Guy, Dave Holland, and Arild Andersen are found not so much in the foreground, and instead at the very centre point of the ensembles they lead at JazzFest Berlin '09.
Besides the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, this year's venues include the A-Trane, Quasimodo, the glass-topped courtyard of the Jewish Museum Berlin, and the Georg-Neumann-Saal, the concert venue of the Jazz Institute Berlin at Einsteinufer beginning in January 2009.
As usual, all concerts of JazzFest Berlin '09 will be recorded by the ARD and Deutschlandradio Kultur, and a selection of performances will be broadcast live.
Advanced ticket sales began on September 24th. Tickets and information are available at www.jazzfest-berlin.de or at (030) 254 89-100.
