Jazz stage Berlin

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Logo of the Jazzbühne Berlin

The Berlin Jazz Stage was an annual international festival of contemporary jazz organized by the GDR radio between 1977 and 1989 . The band leader and trumpeter Klaus Lenz had the idea and turned to the head of the music department, Horst Fliegel , who in turn hired the chief producer of dance music, Klaus Hugo , to organize the concerts. From the beginning, the radio staff Karlheinz Drechsel , Rolf Reichelt , Karlheinz Deim and Walter Cikan were involved in the content and organization of the Berlin Jazz Stage . Karlheinz Drechsel presented the festival as moderator and made a significant contribution to the program through his international contacts. As editor and producer of the “Jazzwerkstatt” at Berliner Rundfunk, Rolf Reichelt expanded the spectrum of content, especially by reflecting current national and international trends. From 1986 the youth music production department (chief producer Walter Cikan) was responsible for the design and implementation of the festival.

All radio stations ( Radio DDR I , Radio DDR II , Berliner Rundfunk , Voice of the GDR , youth radio DT 64 ) broadcast the concerts of the Berlin Jazz Stage - some of them as live broadcasts .

history

Albert Mangelsdorff (Münster 1987)

The first two concerts of the Jazzbühne Berlin took place in April 1977 in the Volksbühne Berlin . In addition to the Studio IV jazz ensemble, an association of radio musicians from Berlin and Leipzig, u. a. the Klaus Lenz Big Band, Extraball from Poland, Rhythm & Brass from Hungary, the Günther Fischer Quintet , the Russian pianist Leonid Tschischik and the West German trombonist Albert Mangelsdorff . With this the concept of the later festival became clear: the presentation of different styles and varieties of contemporary jazz in the encounter of national and international exponents. From 1978 onwards, the Radio Big Band Berlin, led by well-known conductors and arrangers, was part of the program concept. Another focus of the program was the introduction of young jazz musicians from the GDR. The contractual obligation of the international artists took place exclusively through the artist agency of the GDR . That would not always have been easy if the course had not been set in advance through private contacts. The shortage of foreign exchange in the GDR also played a hurdle to be overcome time and again. Nevertheless, over the 14 years of the Berlin Jazz Stage, there were over 50 concerts with 173 different formations from 30 countries.

In 1979 the concerts took place in the old Friedrichstadtpalast Berlin, from 1980 until the opening of the new Friedrichstadtpalast in 1984 again in the Volksbühne Berlin. During this time, the program concept was expanded to five concerts, three evening concerts and two afternoon concerts. The latter is mostly dedicated to an instrument (piano, guitar, percussion) as a recital . In the year of 750 years of Berlin festivities, the Friedrichstadtpalast was not available. But a solution was found in the Kammerspiele at the Deutsches Theater, where the “ Jazz in the Chamber ” series of events has been held for years . Your organizer and author of contributions for the programs of the Jazzbühne Berlin , Martin Linzer , made the Kammerbühne available for a concert at the 152nd “Jazz in the Chamber”. In the new Friedrichstadtpalast there were 1,800 seats available, which were almost always sold out. There was also good cooperation with the House of Young Talents Berlin and Berlin jazz clubs. With the end of the GDR and the transfer of central broadcasting to the federal media structure, the Berlin Jazz Stage came to an end. The last concerts took place from July 14th to 16th, 1989. The orchestra Vielharmonie (GDR), the Ensemble Arkhangelsk (Soviet Union) and the John Scofield Trio (USA) performed in the final concert .

Television of the GDR

As a media partner, television radio recorded the concerts of the Jazzbühne Berlin from 1981 and broadcast them from April 1982 as concerts by individual artists or as summaries of individual Jazzbühne years, mostly in the late evening hours. So z. B. the Dizzy Gillespie Quintet (September 4, 1982), Abdullah Ibrahim (May 7, 1983), the Max Roach Quartet (June 10, 1985), the Johnny Griffin Quartet (September 14, 1985), Betty Carter & Her Trio ( September 27, 1985), the Anthony Braxton Quartet (January 17, 1986), the Zentralquartett (April 25, 1986), Albert Mangelsdorff (January 16 , 1988), the Orchester National de Jazz (May 28, 1988), the Sun Ra Arkestra (July 25 and August 25, 1988), the GDR Jazz Orchestra (March 1, 1989), Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers (January 10, 1990), the John Scofield Trio (January 23, 1991). In total, there were 63 programs that are now stored in the archives of the German Broadcasting Archive (DRA).

AMIGA records

Conny Bauer on November 24, 2007 in Club W71

The label Amiga (VEB Deutsche Schallplatten Berlin DDR) published records with recordings from the Jazzbühne Berlin from 1978 , initially annually until 1984 as a cross section, for example in 1978 under the title "POP-JAZZ International" (8 55 474) with one take of each the Rundfunk Big Band Berlin, Jazz Q Praha, Eberhard Weber Colors and Fusion. The Amiga music editor in charge, Jürgen Lahrtz, negotiated the contractual conditions with the artists on site.

In 1980 “Jazzbühne Berlin '79” (8 55 479) was released with the Conny Bauer Quartet, the Duo Jeremy Steig - Eddie Gomez , Mal Waldron , Nucleus and the Ganelin Trio.

In 1981 the "Jazzbühne Berlin '80" (8 55 800) appeared with Eyeball, the Johansson Ahvenlahti-Quintet, Jasper van't Hof , the LA Four , the Petrowsky Saxophone Workshop and Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia.

In 1982 “Jazzbühne Berlin '81” (8 55 876) was released with Christoph Spendel and Wolfgang Schlüter , the Enrico Rava Quartet, the Tone Jansa Quartet , Martial Solal , Gunter Hampel and Jeanne Lee as well as the Akira Sakata Trio.

In 1983 the "Jazzbühne Berlin '82" (8 55 987) appeared with the Theo Loevendie Quartet, the Philip Catherine Duo, the Trio Humair - Jeanneau - Texier , the Lester Bowie Ensemble and the Radio Big Band Berlin under the direction of George Gruntz .

In 1984 the "Jazzbühne Berlin '83" (8 56 035) appeared with the Yosuke Yamashita Quartet, the Duo John Surman - Karin Krog , the Trio Rainer Brüninghaus - Markus Stockhausen - Fredy Studer , the Hannibal Marvin Peterson Quartet, the Duo Han Bennink - Conrad Bauer and the Wolfgang Fiedler Sextet.

From the Jazzbühne Berlin '84 onwards, Amiga only released records with individual performers, such as this year with the Johnny Griffin Quartet (8 56 089).

The recording of the “Jazzbühne Berlin '85” was released with the Vienna Art Orchestra (8 56 168). The “Orchester National de Jazz” was recorded on sound carrier by the “Jazzbühne Berlin '86” (8 56 234).

Recordings by the Paris Reunion Band (8 56 418) and the “Jazz Orchestra of the GDR” (conductor: Conrad Bauer) (8 56 455) have been published by the “Jazzbühne Berlin '88”.

In 1990, twelve CDs with recordings from the Berlin Jazz Stage were released on the Repertoire Records label , including a (illegitimate) recording of Ornette Coleman's Prime Time 1987 concert . More were planned. In 1989 the United One Records label released a recording of “ Embryo feat. Chris Karrer , El Hussaine Kili, Yoruba Dun Dun Orchestra ”from the Jazzbühne Berlin 1989 without reference to the organizer. In 2007 jazzwerkstatt 022 released " Steve Lacy - Mal Waldron Live at Jazzbühne Berlin '84".

literature

  • Reviews in daily newspapers and specialist magazines such as “ Melodie und Rhythmus ” and “Unterhaltungskunst” from 1978 to 1989
  • Ulf Drechsel (Ed.): Karlheinz Drechsel - My life with jazz . Greifenverlag, Rudolstadt / Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-86939-005-5 .
  • Mathias Brüll: Jazz on Amiga - The Amiga label's jazz records from 1947 to 1990 . Pro Business, Berlin 2003, ISBN 978-3-937343-27-3 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. cf. J. Litweiler Ornette Coleman: A Harmolodic Life William Morrow & Company New York 1992, p. 207
  2. There were no contracts with the musicians to “publish these recordings on CD…. In the case of at least one CD, distribution was stopped by an injunction. “ The engine of jazz in Berlin jazz newspaper