Kesselhalle

jazzahead!
TRADE FAIR & FESTIVAL

Die jazzahead! ist Messe, Konferenz und Showcase-Festival - mit zeitgenössischem, hochkarätigem Jazz aus Deutschland und Europa sowie aus Übersee. Vom 24. bis 26. April 2025 trifft sich die Jazzwelt, um sich zu vernetzen, auszutauschen, Konferenzen und Panels zu besuchen und 38 Showcase-Konzerte im offiziellen Programm der jazzahead! zu erleben.

Showcases in der Kesselhalle:

14-14.30: Manon Mullener 5tet (CH)
“My interest in Cuba and the Caribbean goes beyond music,” says Swiss pianist-composer Manon Mullener. “I very quickly felt the need to immerse myself in the culture, learn the language, meet the people.” Mullener is one of Europe’s promising young jazz musicians. She weaves her musical stories between jazz, Latin music and the melodies of her native Switzerland. Her compositions are like travel diaries, blending the echoes of stages all over the world, from New York to Havana, via European festivals. Her playing, intimate and vibrant, invites you on a sensory voyage, immersing you in a universe where every note tells a story. Her album STORIES, recorded in New York, is released in early 2025.
Line-Up: Manon Mullener (p), Lucien Mullener (dr), Rodrigo Aravena (el-b), Pere Molines (tb), Manuel Schwab (as)

16.15-16.45: Unleashed Cooperation (PL)
“When creating this band, we wanted the word ‘cooperation’ to be an important element of it,” say the five members of Poland’s Unleashed Cooperation. “It has a symbolic meaning for us, both in musical and social context. We believe that through cooperation we’re able to change the world around us for the better.” Their debut CD “8 Years” is the result of years of experiences and explorations of the depths of free jazz, improvisation and ethnic music. Their latest album is called “Trust” and JazzViews hears in it “the anarchic, free-spirited mixture of circus music and folk tunes that you often hear on East European free-jazz and the rhythmic grace of German free-jazz.”
Line-Up: Krzysztof Kuśmierek (sax), Patryk Rynkiewicz (tpt), Patryk Matwiejczuk (p)

17.45-18.15: Marco Mezquida Trio (ES)
Menorca-born pianist Marco Mezquida has been described as “the best thing that has happened to jazz piano in our country in this century.” (El País). He has appeared on 98 albums, 28 of them as leader. He won both jury and audience prizes at the 2022 BMW Welt Jazz Awards, just 2 of his more than 20 awards. He has done a host of exciting duo projects - with Silvia Pérez Cruz, recording a live album in Tokyo released by Universal, with a tap dancer. His regular trio with cellist Martín Meléndez and percussionist Aleix Tobias made a very well-received 2022 album “Letter to Milos”, lovingly dedicated to the pianist’s son. It has been described as “eclectic, varied, brilliant and calm.” (Distrito Jazz)
Line-Up: Marco Mezquida (p), Martín Meléndez (clo), Aleix Tobias (perc)

20.45-21.15: Eva Klesse Quartett – STIMMEN (DE)
The Eva Klesse Quartet is one of the pivotal groups on the German jazz scene. In continuous existence since January 2013, it is always in demand, and has toured extensively in Europe and overseas. It has won both the ECHO Jazz and the SWR Jazz Prize. Alongside Klesse herself, Evgeny Ring and Philip Frischkorn are founding members, and bassist Marc Muellbauer joined the quartet in 2022. Their new album, STIMMEN, “makes voices heard that might not otherwise be heard very often”. And Eva Klesse? “Decisive, insistent. On the drums, she finds a balance between rhythm and melody, between grand gestures and small details, between energy and calm.” (Citation for SWR Jazz Prize)
Line-Up: Evgeny Ring (sax), Philip Frischkorn (p), Marc Muellbauer (db), Eva Klesse (dr) feat. Zuza Jasinska (voc), Michael Schiefel (voc) Philipp Rumsch (elec, sound design)

22.30-23: Sam Newbould Quintet (NL)
From early years in the Yorkshire Dales, saxophonist Sam Newbould’s music studies took him to Berlin and Amsterdam, where he now lives as part of the vibrant scene, and leads a quintet which has performed at North Sea Jazz, Love Supreme and the Bimhuis. As a prolific and multi-award-winning composer, his compositions combine a passion for storytelling with a clarity and originality which traverse a range from introverted and intimate to exuberant. His third, newest album “Homing” (Zennez) has been called „a jazz pearl” by NRC Handelsblad. The album is inspired by – and named after – his temporary adoption of a Polish homing pigeon, as well as his own reflections on building a life abroad.
Line-Up: Sam Newbould (as), Bernard van Rossum (ts), Xavi Torres (p), Jort Terwijn (db) Guy Salamon (dr)

⁠00.15-00.45: Robinson Khoury (FR)
Robinson Khoury is one of the revelations of the French jazz scene. Superb instrumental technique and astonishingly fluent improvising are combined with a compelling, expressive way of communicating melody. His way of working is also characterised by an insatiable wish to try new avenues - collaborators have included Ibrahim Maalouf, Théo Ceccaldi and the Metropole Orkest with Quincy Jones. The albums he has led are impressive too: “Broken Lines” (a Coup de cœur Charles Cros in 2021), and more recently MŸA, in which jazz co-exists thrillingly with Middle Eastern sounds, ancient music and electronic music - “touches on the sublime on more than just one occasion.” (a ‘Choc’ in Jazz Mag)
Line-Up: Robinson Khoury (tb, voc, modular synth), Anissa Nehari: (perc; voc), Léo Jassef (p, key, voc)