This concert covers two generations of German jazz – matching one of the greats and one of the newest hopes
Günter ‘Baby’ Sommer is one of the great drummers of European jazz and improvised music. A member of the seminal GDR scene in bands like Zentralquartett (which was briefly featured in the film ‘Lives of Others’!), and a list of collaborators as long as your arm. He has an amazing grasp of the history of jazz, with, as his seminal hero, Baby Dodds, drummer with Louis Armstong.
His last performance in the UK, we think, was with Wadada Leo Smith and Peter Kowald about 30 (THIRTY) years ago.
So we jumped at the chance when alto player Raymond MacDonald, who has shown his mettle at the Vortex with his well regarded duo with Marilyn Crispell on several occasions (and on a recording on Babel). Raymond is also the founding father of Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra.
Many of his recent albums are released on INTAKT which will be hosting a festival here in April 2017.
Julia Kadel is one of the new pianists to watch on the German scene. She has just released her second album on Blue Note. This will be her first performance in the UK. She fits in well as Günter was her teacher, and she has waited a long time for the chance to appear on the same stage as him. She was introduced to us at the Vortex by Richard Williams, who writes the blog thebluemoment.com and is Artistic Director of the Berlin Jazz Festival. As we know, the newest generation of the German piano panorama is exceptionally strong at present, with the likes of Michael Wollny, Pablo Held and Achim Kauffmann. Julia is worthy to be one of those.