Jasper van’t Hof – Archie Shepp

The saxophone player Archie Shepp appears here in a completely new musical constellation with a special ambience: his duo partner, Dutch pianist and keyboard player Jasper van’t Hof, was one of the first to play free jazz in Europe with bands such as “Association P.C.” and “Pork Pie” before embarking on the path of world music with “Pili Pili”. His passion for playing church organs is generally less known, where he never fails to let his connection to jazz shine through. Egon Eiermann’s Gedächtniskirche, bathed in blue light, is transformed into a magical place for this European-African American encounter, and for dialogues between blues and standards that are reminiscent of love songs and prayers. Martin Luther King, Jr., to whom the Berlin Jazz Festival pays tribute elsewhere, spoke of “sweet songs of sorrow and of joy” that relieve people of the burdens of everyday life and give them new strength. This is a place to pause for a moment and refuel.

Jaspervan’t Hof homepage
ArchieShepp homepage