JAMIE BAUM QUARTET & ANKE HELFRICH TRIO - JAZZNIGHTS SPECIAL
Transcontinental jazz summit:
US flutist Jamie Baum and German pianist Anke Helfrich performing together with highly acclaimed ensembles
Transcontinental phenomenal: the "JazzNights Special" with the bands of the multiple award-winning American flutist Jamie Baum and the German pianist Anke Helfrich, "one of the figureheads of German jazz, a pioneer" (NDR), will deliver what many promise. The two outstanding leaders and their highly acclaimed ensembles embody not only improvisational and compositional excellence, diversity, and all the qualities that make jazz particularly exciting today, but they are also strong female voices beyond their instruments in a still male-dominated music world. The two bands explore the question "What Times Are These," the title of Jamie Baum's seventh album, in different musical ways and come together at the end of the concert evening for an inspiring conclusion that is also found in the title of Helfrich's current work and encourages us all: We’ll Rise, roughly: "it goes upwards." There is much that connects Anke Helfrich, who grew up in Namibia and Weinheim, and Jamie Baum, who was born in Connecticut and has been a fixture in the New York jazz scene for decades. Obviously, their love for the jazz metropolis New York, where both received their education, is one. Both are not only active in composing and performing but also share their experiences and insights through teaching: Anke Helfrich as a lecturer at the jazz department she founded at the Dr. Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt am Main, and Jamie Baum at the Manhattan School and New School University. They are also united by a penchant for the piano, as Anke Helfrich has studied with icons like Kenny Barron or Larry Goldings, and Jamie Baum’s biography features close collaborations with pianists such as Jaki Byard or the recently deceased Richie Beirach. No wonder that in Baum's current quartet, which will perform live with us now, one of the most original pianists of the current scene will be featured, the Argentine Leo Genovese, who lives in New York and is known for his own formations, alongside Esperanza Spalding or in the Wayne Shorter Group, or as part of The Mars Volta. It goes without saying that Baum and Helfrich prefer charismatic rhythm sections as leaders and soloists. On the evenings of this "JazzNights Special," Anke Helfrich will perform with her well-rehearsed "We’ll Rise" trio featuring two world-renowned figures from the newer German jazz scene: Dietmar Fuhr on bass, who has played with Enrico Rava, Nils Wülker, or Richie Beirach, and Jens Düppe on drums, whose musical career spans from Albert Mangelsdorff through Wolfgang Dauner to Shreefpunk, Simin Tander, or the NDR Big Band. Their counterparts in the also long-established and internationally touring Jamie Baum Quartet are equally esteemed. New Zealand bassist Matt Penman has played with Madeleine Peyroux or Kurt Rosenwinkel, is part of the band James Farm with Joshua Redman, Aaron Parks, and Eric Harland, and has led his own bands with Shai Maestro, Mark Turner, or Allison Miller. The music of Jamie Baum and Anke Helfrich captivates with melodic finesse and strength and elegance in the grooves that respects and contemporarily interprets what one might onomatopoeically call swing in its wonderful tradition. When it comes to a joint "jam" of all seven musicians towards the end of the evening, possibly even with additional guests, this "JazzNights Special" will become unforgettable – and a valuable memory of the unifying energies of jazz. Across borders, tastes, and genders.
Hallo, ich bin Maya.
