Having teamed up with a number of new partners for the Research and Community Lab, we aim to gain new insights into contemporary and trend-setting festival production. Both birthday specials are unique mobilisation and outreach projects that stand out from the festival's history, questioning what we take for granted, leaving our comfort zones and creating new sources of inspiration in tandem with this year's Jazzfest Berlin concert programme.
—Nadin Deventer, Artistic Director Jazzfest Berlin
From October 31 to November 3, Jazzfest Berlin is celebrating its 60th anniversary with 24 concerts at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Quasimodo, A-Trane and the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. This year, the concert programme is bolstered by two anniversary specials: the Jazzfest Research Lab and the Jazzfest Community Lab Moabit. The full programme.
Jazzfest Berlin, founded in 1964 in West Berlin as one of the first jazz festivals in Europe, is turning 60 years old. Reason enough to take a closer look at this legendary festival's rich history in the international Jazzfest Research Lab while also plotting ideas for a promising future with the Jazzfest Community Lab Moabit. Past, present and future come together in the anniversary edition's diverse concert programme, and style-defining icons of jazz history will share the stage with newer voices and projects from the global jazz community over the four days of the festival.
On the opening night Vilhelm Bromander’s Unfolding Orchestra, free jazz icon Joe McPhee and the one and only Marilyn Crispell will take the stage. On Saturday the legendary Sun Ra Arkestra meets Anna Högberg’s high-energy formation Extended Attack, and on Sunday the 17-piece Special Big Band of guitar pioneer Otomo Yoshihide from Japan will join the highly acclaimed saxophonist Darius Jones and the dynamic pianist Sylvie Courvoisier from New York City.
Other highlights include a performance by the trio Tapestry with saxophonist Joe Lovano, the world premiere of the new Joachim Kuhn French Trio with drummer Sylvain Darrifourcq and bassist Thibault Cellier, the Tropiques project led by Swedish trumpeter Goran Kajfeš and the Berlin debut of Kris Davis' “Diatom Ribbons”. New projects are coming from the USA: Saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin and the newly founded Brooklyn-based quartet Wrens with Elias Stemeseder.
The European scene is also represented by the BIDA Orchestra of percussionist Sun-Mi Hong from Amsterdam, the trio De Beren Gieren from Ghent, the quartet The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters led by electronic musician Mariam Rezaei from London and Camila Nebbia in a trio with Kit Downes and Andrew Lisle.
In a world premiere, the Malacoda String Quartet plays the last string quartet compositions by cellist Tristan Honsinger, who died in 2023. John Hollenbeck presents GEORGE with Anna Webber, Sarah Rossy and Chiquita Magic and on Friday evening in a Bühnenhaus special his current project “The Drum Major Instinct”, in which he explores one of the last sermons by Martin Luther King Jr. that he held in 1968 in Atlanta shortly before he was assassinated.
In addition, a diverse supporting programme will be offered: Panel discussions and artist talks, presentations of scientific research and oral history formats, poster and photo exhibitions as well as film screenings of ARD concert recordings.
The concerts of Jazzfest Berlin 2024 will be recorded by ARD and Deutschlandradio and broadcast live or with a time delay. Click here for broadcast dates.
During the second week of the autumn holidays, from 28 October to 3 November 2024, 350 participants will meet 10 interdisciplinary workshop leaders and around 40 musicians from the Jazzfest Berlin programme in workshops, interventions and pop-up concerts. The Jazzfest Community Lab Moabit is the first project of its kind in the history of Jazzfest Berlin, bringing together around 35 partners from Moabit, ranging from the SOS Kinderdorf Berlin, schools, choirs, churches, cultural venues such as Afrika-Haus Berlin, Petersburg Art Space and Theater X to neighbourhood kitchens, a saz school, neighbourhood shops, music schools and the Jazz Institut Berlin. Finally, the Sunday of the festival will be dedicated entirely to this multifaceted, intergenerational project: During the day on 3 November, audiences are invited to a grand walk through Moabit accompanied by collective music performances and other activities.
Jazzfest Berlin, founded in 1964 in West Berlin as one of the first jazz festivals in Europe, is turning 60 years old. Reason enough to take a closer look at this legendary festival's rich history in the international Jazzfest Research Lab while also plotting ideas for a promising future with the Jazzfest Community Lab Moabit. Past, present and future come together in the anniversary edition's diverse concert programme, and style-defining icons of jazz history will share the stage with newer voices and projects from the global jazz community over the four days of the festival.
On the opening night Vilhelm Bromander’s Unfolding Orchestra, free jazz icon Joe McPhee and the one and only Marilyn Crispell will take the stage. On Saturday the legendary Sun Ra Arkestra meets Anna Högberg’s high-energy formation Extended Attack, and on Sunday the 17-piece Special Big Band of guitar pioneer Otomo Yoshihide from Japan will join the highly acclaimed saxophonist Darius Jones and the dynamic pianist Sylvie Courvoisier from New York City.
Other highlights include a performance by the trio Tapestry with saxophonist Joe Lovano, the world premiere of the new Joachim Kuhn French Trio with drummer Sylvain Darrifourcq and bassist Thibault Cellier, the Tropiques project led by Swedish trumpeter Goran Kajfeš and the Berlin debut of Kris Davis' “Diatom Ribbons”. New projects are coming from the USA: Saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin and the newly founded Brooklyn-based quartet Wrens with Elias Stemeseder.
The European scene is also represented by the BIDA Orchestra of percussionist Sun-Mi Hong from Amsterdam, the trio De Beren Gieren from Ghent, the quartet The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters led by electronic musician Mariam Rezaei from London and Camila Nebbia in a trio with Kit Downes and Andrew Lisle.
In a world premiere, the Malacoda String Quartet plays the last string quartet compositions by cellist Tristan Honsinger, who died in 2023. John Hollenbeck presents GEORGE with Anna Webber, Sarah Rossy and Chiquita Magic and on Friday evening in a Bühnenhaus special his current project “The Drum Major Instinct”, in which he explores one of the last sermons by Martin Luther King Jr. that he held in 1968 in Atlanta shortly before he was assassinated.
In addition, a diverse supporting programme will be offered: Panel discussions and artist talks, presentations of scientific research and oral history formats, poster and photo exhibitions as well as film screenings of ARD concert recordings.
The concerts of Jazzfest Berlin 2024 will be recorded by ARD and Deutschlandradio and broadcast live or with a time delay. Click here for broadcast dates.
About Jazzfest Research Lab
In the Jazzfest Research Lab, seven academics from Germany, the USA and Australia as well as students from the Berlin University of the Arts and the University of Hildesheim examine the archive of Jazzfest Berlin from different perspectives since its foundation in 1964. The results will be presented as part of the festival’s supporting programme (Friday and Saturday) in November and will be included in the 2024 anniversary magazine.About Jazzfest Community Lab Moabit
With the Jazzfest Community Lab Moabit (28 October to 3 November), Jazzfest Berlin 2024 is looking to the future, supported by the Federal Agency for Civic Education. Building on the 2023 festival edition with 60 children, 30 of whom situated in Moabit, Jazzfest Berlin is exploring the cultural diversity of the neighbouring locality with this polyphonic participatory project and its enormous range of contributors.During the second week of the autumn holidays, from 28 October to 3 November 2024, 350 participants will meet 10 interdisciplinary workshop leaders and around 40 musicians from the Jazzfest Berlin programme in workshops, interventions and pop-up concerts. The Jazzfest Community Lab Moabit is the first project of its kind in the history of Jazzfest Berlin, bringing together around 35 partners from Moabit, ranging from the SOS Kinderdorf Berlin, schools, choirs, churches, cultural venues such as Afrika-Haus Berlin, Petersburg Art Space and Theater X to neighbourhood kitchens, a saz school, neighbourhood shops, music schools and the Jazz Institut Berlin. Finally, the Sunday of the festival will be dedicated entirely to this multifaceted, intergenerational project: During the day on 3 November, audiences are invited to a grand walk through Moabit accompanied by collective music performances and other activities.
