Jazz at the Kaisersteg – outdoors & free / For Hannes – marking the 10th anniversary of Johannes Bauer’s death

This Saturday, following the April event at Peter Edel, they will pay tribute to him once again. Conny Bauer, Nils Wogram, Helmut Joe Sachse, and Joe Hertenstein will perform in various duo combinations and, to conclude the evening, as a quartet.

Conny Bauer is considered a master of melodic improvisation on the trombone. His music encompasses a wide spectrum of sound sequences and melodies, in which he employs his very own tonal inventions, described by John Corbett as “Conradisms.”

Conny Bauer shines with his outstanding technique on the trombone, his virtuosity, and his improvisational ideas.

Trombonist Nils Wogram is one of the most exciting and prolific musicians on the German jazz scene, with international appeal.

His music is deeply rooted in the tradition of jazz. Nevertheless, he seeks to expand this language by using musical materials that do not originate from jazz. These include other forms of rhythm, structure, as well as melodic and harmonic material.

Here, Nils Wogram forms a duo with the legendary trombonist Conny Bauer. They play free, improvised music with a distinct formal rigor.

NILS WOGRAM JOE SACHSE DUO – FREIES GERÖLL

How is it that all of this seems so natural, so friendly, joyful, and captivating… Probably only because two kindred spirits have come together here.

Both—Nils Wogram and Helmut “Joe” Sachse—agree that they feel at ease in the flow of this duo performance.

You can tell from the warmth of the sound, from the ease with which they find each other, in the interplay—whether in rapid unisons, in the interplay of melodic lines, in the confident progression through the chords, and in navigating intricate rhythms. Ultimately, everything seems quite simple, effortless, leaving intellectual considerations behind, joyful in the best sense of the word, attentive to one another and to the listeners.

The musical languages find each other, and the instruments come together in a shared sound.

Guitarist Joe Sachse has been playing in a duo with various drummers for many years—including Baby Sommer, Ernst Bier, and John Marshall (Soft Machine), with whom Sachse worked for many years and who sadly passed away in 2023.

This is how he also sees the new duo with Joe Hertenstein: “Free improvisation as a foundation, but also rhythmic passages with standards or songs, etc. It worked wonderfully with David Moss, Paul Lovens, Wolfram Dix, Ernst Bier, Baby Sommer, and also with John Marshall.”

The collaboration with Joe Hertenstein is a continuation of this concept.

Joe Hertenstein is a drummer who is well-connected in both the German and American jazz scenes. He has been and continues to be a regular at Jazzkeller 69 with many interesting ensembles.

To wrap things up, you’ll experience a quartet that has never performed together in public like this before.

A quartet that, in terms of instrumentation, might remind you a bit of the legendary group Doppelmoppel, but strikes a different musical note.