Live From Cologne (And Dortmund): Jordan White, Roger Kintopf, Luise Volkmann, Kiko Dinucci, The Dorf & The German Jazz Prize

Jordan White/Roger Kintopf
The Loft
Cologne, Germany
June 10, 2025

Here's an evening of electro-acoustic sounds from a pair of local investigators, each using their instruments as a foundation for expansion via plugged-in tinkering or other sonic-altering techniques. The music of both artists gave the impression of improvisational abstraction, but ultimately featured some prepared content. Cologne's own Roger Kintopf used an upright bass to establish subtle patterning, with curt bow-strikes, low on the bridge. He made gentle finger-taps and provoked a loose rattling, as drones held sway, with a drag-and-pull technique crafting simultaneous layerings of fade and decay. His left hand swept down the neck, ending its journey with a percussive hit, a glissando glider with precise bow vibrato, and subliminal vocal urgings. There were only nine beings in the audience, but they were entranced. Kintopf is a shamanic outsider. He made his strings sing and howl, with a sharp cessation of friction-strokes, cutting to some soft fingering, toying with the resonant bass properties.

The electronic surround adopted by guitarist Jordan White was more obvious, pedals arrayed. He's Australian, but has now been living in Cologne for a while. He set off on a freely improvising journey, shawled with echo, and sending out spurts via his SuperCollider software treatments. White also slapped and rapped on the body of his axe, although very much retaining its core tonality. He used chopstick percussion on held chords, and around 15 minutes in, he expanded to a more orchestrated electronic sound, emphasising an artificial ensemble concept, with what sounded like a colliery brass band style of backing. A hefty strum-action evolved, closing the set with some funk-descended climaxing. The long-established Loft is a key Cologne venue, unafraid of presenting a very alternative gig on this Tuesday night.

Luise Volkmann & Kiko Dinucci
Jaki (at Stadtgarten)
Cologne, Germany
June 11, 2025

The other chief jazz and improvisation (and more) venue in Cologne is Stadtgarten, which is not so far from The Loft, nestled in the western 'Brussels quarter' part of the city. Their relatively new basement venue Jaki was the location of this meeting between exploratory Brazilian tunes and Cologne abstract jazz. Your scribe had expected the gig to happen upstairs on the main Stadtgarten stage, but we guess that Cologne doesn't have much of an alternative Brazilian music community, as guitarist Kiko Dinucci is quite a hot player right now, as a member of the Metá Metá band. Luise Volkmann is much younger, a saxophonist who's involved with the NICA artist development scheme, having engaged in a São Paulo residency in 2023. Volkmann and Dinucci improvised together and made an album, Enxame, or Swarm, and so the guitarist now came to Cologne.

Rarely have soprano saxophone and acoustic guitar sounded so aggressively brittle, as these sudden champions of targeted vigour showcased their already apparent wild rapport for instantaneous creation. Melodies and themes were allowed, but the ratios of preparation and spontaneity were tricky to unthread. And why should the audience attempt such a process anyway? Danucci strummed out brisk riffs, while Volkmann capered, both of them nail-hardened, with little reverb encroaching. The duo's dry, metallic sound had the soprano looping naturally, showering notes, Dinucci shocking after a while by singing. He's well known for using his voice, of course, but this aspect wasn't so expected given this pair's musical attack. There was violent string-abuse as this song climaxed, the saxophone becoming ever more intricate in its circular enquiries. Dinucci preferred a loosened-string feel, sometimes, moving into a second phase, with an echo surround. Volkmann took a short break, returning on alto, with a manic pitch.

The set played with 'phases' rather than distinct numbers, and it became possible for a softer tone to emerge from Volkmann's horn, sounding akin to a breathy flute. Dinucci's song-spine turned back to the folkloric, with the alto getting multiphonic, making fierce lung-blasts, sharp blows coming from the guitar strings. Everything hurtled, but remained on the tracks, intense with a santeria style vocal from Dinucci. Sometimes we might be wary of duo performances, and the artist effort required to make bonds and maintain flotation, but these two globe-flung players locked together naturally, both set on the finesse of the high wire aggression of accelerated music.

The Dorf
Domicil
Dortmund, Germany
June 12, 2025

And on the third day, your scribe ventured to Dortmund, a much smaller city than Cologne, but blessed with a compact arts scene. Its principal venue for jazz and other adventurous musics appears to be Domicil, a centrally-located edifice that's a converted old cinema. Stepping off the train, in search of sustenance, your scribe crawled past all the ubiquitous kebab joints, and soon espied an eatery called Kilimanjaro, specialising in pan-African cuisine. It's run by a Cameroonian-rooted journalist Veye Tata, who publishes her own magazine, and it also creates a range of fruity brews called Bolingo! (ginger and hibiscus a-go-go), so the physical café emanates a background energy of diverse activities. This lies between the central train station and Domicil, a short walk to the two-tiered venue, with its ground floor cocktail bar and upstairs performing spaces. Domicil was founded way back in 1969, opening its present location in 2005.

Song Of Mu, a trio, opened up the evening in the upstairs bar jazz club, an intimate setting for intimate sounds. Bo-Sung Kim (percussion), Matthias Mainz (piano) and Oliver Potratz (acoustic/electric basses) performed to a highly attentive audience, very fortunate as much of the music was sparse or very carefully considered. The three began with a big gong, bowed bass and interior piano probings, with clips or thin sticks working on the prepared strings. Kim's Korean drum was struck with a mallet and a thin stick, as the piece became ever more agitated. Dextrous bass fingering, bowed metal and chatter woodblocks facilitated an active spread, Kim making precise strikes around an array of metal and wood, with hand-muting stops for increased emphasis. All three worked on a riff, with anchoring electric bass, wild stippling and a likely input from Mainz's laptop, adding a rare touch of artificiality to this set.

The Dorf are a long-standing (and sometimes sitting) large ensemble of a collective nature (unsteady for two decades now), pivotal to the weirdsome music scene around this part of Germany (and beyond). They run a monthly residency at Domicil, and their hearts are in free-composed jazz, but they are more than usually receptive (and conversant) with outer styles, such as funk, punk, oompah and mod-classical. The very active Jan Klare is their guidance-officer, shaping extended works, conducting, and bringing along his alto saxophone. They may well be hyper-organised, but this helps when wanting to display a front of barely harnessed chaos and dangerous style-driving.

The Dorf made a grand fanfare blast, with doubled drums, sousaphone, twinned guitars, bass, violin and a notably present-and-thrusting singer (even though she stands on the back row), operating in a post-punk vein. Klare's 'finger-curtains' signal brought an extra weight and portent to this driven roller of riffage. A pair of electronicists piled on surf'n'scurf, with small waves of variable motion. Fuzzed guitar cycles spumed across jostling horns, as electronics squirmed on the wet surfaces, having the audience relish all of this anarchic simultaneity. Dorf's third piece actually sounded quite jazzed, acting as a smoother interlude, before another angular guitar strafe from the fast-rising Raissa Mehner shattered the mood.

Heaveeeey!

Catch The Dorf this month!

German Jazz Prize (Deutscher Jazz Preis)
E-Werk
Cologne, Germany
June 13, 2025

Cologne seems to be turning into more of a German nexus, set to host the Europe Jazz Network conference in 2026, and having presented the Deutscher Jazz Preis this year. The modern, transformed power station E-Werk venue (built in 1905, re-opened in 1991) was eminently suited to an awards presentation evening, with its large ground floor hall, and its upper mezzanine zone, the latter being your scribe's choice for an eyrie's view down onto a floor of large circular tables (for factions!), and rows of individual seats to the rear. The ceremony was conducted mostly in German, of course, but there were live subtitles in English, as well as many of the presenters and artists choosing to speak in that language anyway. Django Bates was one of these presenters.

Before, during, but mostly afterwards, there was a very positive attitude toward the victual vending for the invitees, from fine red wine to a climactic currywurst vat, preceded by a build-up of more delicate nibbles, all distributed very liberally. Many Berliners were sighted, naturally, but the local Cologne scene was out in full force, representing a musical clan that's becoming increasingly significant within Germany, and outwards, internationally.

This awards-fest is relatively young, launched in 2021, and features a full range of categories. Cologne has fared well already, with Stadtgarten and The Loft acquiring Venue Of The Year placements, and Cologne Jazzweek garnering a Festival Of The Year award.

Before your scribe weighs in with his opinions, he should clarify his own Germanic experience. For the last decade he has been a frequent documenter of the scene, regularly visiting (some on an annual basis) Jazzfest Berlin, Enjoy Jazz, Cologne Jazzweek, Jazzfestival Münster, Winter Jazz, the Monheim Triennale and the Moers Festival, plus a few one-offs, such as Week Of Surprise and Oluzayo: African Music Futures (both in Cologne). He has also frequently trawled the clubs, concert halls and alternative haunts of Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg, Heidelberg and Mannheim.

Puzzling, then to be so unfamiliar with so many of the prize nominees. Were these artists from the more mainstream scenes? Was this just the roll of the dice, in terms of subjective experience? Nevertheless, there were also many artists and institutions represented that were very known to your scribe. He will focus on a few examples of what transpired.

The Festival Of The Year award went to a pretty darned obscure event called Peng (in Essen), a newcomer to the scene. That might be acceptable if this prize-giving had been established for decades, but the other three nominees are three of Germany's greatest, most innovative and dynamic festivals. Jazzfest Berlin and the Moers Festival have not so far won this award. For both of them to be ignored in '25 is scandalous.

Let's take the drummer-percussionist category. The winner was Philo Tsoungoui, a complete jazz unknown, who played live on the night with fellow drummer Ludwig Wandinger. The latter player has not so far won this prize, yet he's been rising stratospherically during the last five years, as both a sticksman and an electronicist, blanketing the zones of jazz, improvisation and discombobulated beat music. He was a signature artist at the Monheim Triennale this year (hey, by the way, where was that wonderful festival in the nominations?). Why was Wandinger (for instance), not the winner? Or Mariá Portugal, an actual nominee, who has been making a similarly swift rise to artistic prominence.

Kit Downes wasn't able to haul ass from Berlin, to grab his piano/keyboard award, but Marshall Allen (International Artist Of The Year) sent a cool video message, complimenting the Cologne experience. Ingrid Laubrock (woodwinds award) made the most succinct and directly motivational acceptance speech of the night, regarding the freedom of jazz, and beyond, with its politicised tentacles.

The evening generally had a very welcoming vibration, but the actual musical performances were invariably brief and ill-chosen, and the distribution of the awards was often puzzlingly mysterious, in terms of its recipients. Next year, Bremen...

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