Darius Jones // Sylvie Courvoisier // Otomo Yoshihide

18:30

Darius Jones’s fluXkit Vancouver (it’s suite but sacred)

(CA, US)

German premiere

One of the great American composers and saxophonists of the 21st century, Darius Jones, has spent his career straddling a serious devotion to jazz tradition with a restlessly creative intellect, one that’s constantly absorbing new input and dynamically reshaping it in a deeply personal fashion. He first emerged in the ferocious group Little Women as a saxophonist, but in subsequent years he’s reflected the conceptual audacity of Anthony Braxton in his shape-shifting projects. Still, Jones achieved a new apotheosis with fLuXkit Vancouver “(it’s suite but sacred)”, a commission from Vancouver’s invaluable arts space Western Front.

Jones adapted a personal view of how any idea is fair game in Fluxus thought, letting his adaptable compositional forms be shaped by his elite bi-coastal collaborators; drummer Gerald Cleaver, cellist Peggy Lee, violinists Jesse and Josh Zubot and bassist James Meger. This four-movement suite fLuXkit Vancouver (it’s suite but sacred) is a marvel, a masterfully designed vessel of deeply interactive chamber music fueled by Jones’s desire to celebrate Western Front’s enduring value and values. Jones replaces the movement’s absurdity with a direct emotional impact, crowned by his own angular alto saxophone playing, connecting the dots between Henry Threadgill and Evan Parker. He achieves a rare marriage of emotional heft and riveting sonic imagination.

Line-up

Peggy Lee – cello 
Jesse Zubot – violin 
Josh Zubot – violin 
James Meger – double bass 
Gerald Cleaver – drums 
Darius Jones – alto saxophone, composition
        

---

20:00

Sylvie Courvoisier Poppy Seeds

(CH, MX, US)

European premiere

Pianist Sylvie Courvoisier has been a regular visitor to Jazzfest Berlin and every new performance seems to come with a new project, each exploring different terrain. This year she presents the European premiere of a dreamy new band that mirrors the instrumentation of the legendary Modern Jazz Quartet, with her piano and the vibraphone of Patricia Brennan, a key member of Mary Halvorson’s Amaryllis sextet who’s perhaps the most exciting new vibraphonist of the last decade, along with the powerhouse rhythm section of bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Dan Weiss. 

Courvoisier has noted her love for twin keyboards – in recent years she’s been interpreting Stravinsky’s “Le sacre du printemps” alongside the great Cory Smythe, while her first band Ocre paired piano with the barrel organ playing of Pierre Charial – and she considers this new blend with Brennan as part of the same lineage. Both Courvoisier and Brennan have long straddled improvised and contemporary music – another echo of the Modern Jazz Quartet which helped pioneer the idea of third-stream music which combines elements of modern jazz with components of classical music. There’s little question that Poppy Seeds will bring new energy and concepts to that notion, wedding the pianist’s compositional rigour with the quartet’s quicksilver spontaneity.

Line-up

Sylvie Courvoisier – piano
Patricia Brennan – vibraphone 
Thomas Morgan – double bass 
Dan Weiss – drum

---

21:30

Otomo Yoshihide Special Big Band: “Stone Stone Stone”

(JP)

European premiere

Although he’s probably known as a fierce experimentalist, dwelling on the fringes of noise and free improv as an electric guitarist and turntablist, Japanese great Otomo Yoshihide has many different sides, including his acclaimed work as a composer for film and television. He first earned his international reputation leading the experimental rock band Ground-Zero in the 1990s, but when that group dissolved in 2001 he embraced a more austere style, exploring pure sound for its own qualities. 

At the same time, however, he transformed his long-time fascination with jazz into a string of projects that carry on to this day, whether interpreting classic albums like Eric Dolphy’s “Out to Lunch” and Albert Ayler’s “Bells”. More recently he’s helmed this dynamic big band, which has vibrantly concentrated his many stylistic loves within a single, multi-limbed entity. On the group’s spectacular 2022 album, he melds moody rock-fueled balladry with protean improvisation, channeling the spirits of Sonny Sharrock and his own guitar mentor Masayuki Takayanagi within kaleidoscopic originals and an inspired reading of the Charlie Haden classic “Song for Chè”. In this rare performance, Yoshihide presents the Berlin debut of his 17-strong Special Big Band.

Line-up

Otomo Yoshihide – guitar
Eto Naoko – piano, electric piano
Kondo Tatsuo – keyboards, harmonica
Okuchi Shunsuke – accordion
Kawai Shinobu – electric bass
Kobayashi Takefumi – drums, percussion
Itoken– drums
Aikawa Hitomi – percussion
Sachiko M – electronics, sine waves
Saito Kan – flute, piccolo flute
Inoue Nashie – clarinet
Egawa Ryoko – saxophone 
Suzuki Hiroshi – saxophone
Higashi Ryota – saxophone
Sato Shutoku – trumpet, flugelhorn
Imagome Osamu – trombone
Kimura Jinya – tuba