Category: Concerts
Photos by Vera Marmelo – Gulbenkian MúsicaHow do you know on what soundyou’re dropping the needle?I’ve never understood this, being a long time LP enthusiast, but by no means a DJ, I shakily aim the stylus for the blank area before the starting groove, placing it anywhere else is simply random. So when the Berlin based electronic musician Ignaz …
Last year, Jazz 2020, a scaled back and localized version replaced the venerable Jazz em Agosto for its traditional two weekends at the end of July and start of August. It was supposed to be the Covid-19 version of festival, but as we all know, 2021 hasn’t been the light at the end of the tunnel that we all hoped for, however at least Jazz em Agost…
Well, it’s a stream, I can bring it to wherever I am, and just as easily as I pick it up, I can drop it. I’m not in the concert hall, rather I’m in the kitchen, or in the home-office, or who knows where. I’m not packed into a seat, and I’m not exactly glued to one either. What does it mean? It means that no one would notice if I showed up late for …
The connection between Berlin and New York for Jazzfest Berlin 2020 was fully realized today. Starting at 4 p.m. CET (Central European Time) or 10 a.m. EST (ya know, New York Time), WBGO’s Nate Chinen introduced alto saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin who led her group through a set of John and Alice Coltrane’s music.Lakecia Benjamin ©Wolf DanielSuffice…
Jazzfest Berlin opened with a 90 minute live-cast ‘show.’ Of course, it was not supposed to go down this way. The previously scheduled meet the artists panel had to be swiftly reconfigured as a broadcast event, and the result was an inviting tour of the long weekend of music ahead. Streamed live, the event took on a variety show format with the fe…
If anything, Jazzfest Berlin’s curator Nadin Deventer and the team behind the Jazzfest Berlin have taken the constraints and unpredictability of these Corona ravaged times and crafted them into something even bigger. Other mediums that had already played a part in the previous two festivals have become core elements: namely the extension of the con…
© Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian – Vera MarmeloI’m very thankful for the excellent condition of my rented mountain bike’s brakes at the moment. Since picking it up from a shop near the river, I had been riding up, up the Avenue de Liberdade, past the tourist shops with cork hats and colorful tiles, past the many restaurants and upscale shops, pa…
© Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian – Vera MarmeloJuly 31, 2020PrologIt is quiet in Lisbon, relatively speaking. The same streets that were teeming with tourists this time last year, even impassable at times, now allow for wide berth. Even the precipitous, winding streets of Barrio Alto, with its (at best) foot wide sidewalks, seem spacious. The se…
The evening of Jazzfest Berlin’s final night began with a lively duo with guitarist Florian Sotffner and percussionist Paul Lovens, and ended with a passionate set from Marc Robot, between which we experienced a uniquely Berlin ‘fungus’ opera and the holistic sound world of Antony Braxton.
Photo by Cistina Marx
The opening event was the awa…
AMM Photos byChristina Marx
About mid-way through AMM’s second set of the evening at Berlin’s Exploratorium, my mind wandered to the street that I lived on in central N.J. for thirteen years. When I moved in, the street was lush with majestic oaks and maples. Then, over the years, the large shade trees began disappearing. Some because of age,…
8/11/2019, Lisbon
The final day of Jazz em Agosto and I found myself on a plane at 6:40 a.m. heading towards Frankfurt. There was a family event to attend and so I bid my adieus the night before and lamented the fact that I’d be missing the closing shows.
I was particularly interested in catching the trio of guitarists Han-earl Park, Nick …
8/10/2019, Lisbon
Sometimes a little context can go a long way. On Friday afternoon, I took the 15 Tram to the neighborhood of Belem. Located about where the Tagus river (on which Lisbon sits) meets the Atlantic Ocean, it is home to several sights, including the 16th century river fortress Torre de Belem, the Padrão dos Descobrimentos monume…
