Abdou’s set will be followed by The Handover, a singular trio that experiments with two very different Egyptian music traditions. The group’s signature piece, composed by oudist Aly Eissa, melds classical Arabic music and old-school shaabi, a rustic street-pop, and even without a drummer, violinist Ayman Asfour and microtonal keyboardist Jonas Cambien deliver performances that move from solemn to explosive.
The Main Stage programme at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele opens with the German debut of Danish saxophonist Amalie Dahl’s Dafnie EXTENDED, transforming the core post-bop quintet into a Scandinavian powerhouse with renowned players like Lisa Ullén, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten and Paal Nilssen-Love. Their performance is followed by a rare Berlin solo performance from British pianist Pat Thomas, an overlooked exceptional artist who’s been garnering well-deserved attention for his work in the quartet أحمد [Ahmed]. But even without collaborators Thomas kicks up serious dust, surveying jazz history with an abiding love for Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk and ferocious percussive attack that leaves no doubt that the piano is a drum with 88 keys. The great Swedish reedist Mats Gustafsson concludes the programme at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele with the world premiere of “Words”, a new composition and a brand-new line-up of his Fire! Orchestra which includes familiar faces of the festival like saxophonist Anna Högberg, turntablist Mariam Rezaei, singer Sofia Jernberg and alto saxophonist Mette Rasmussen along with new members like cellist Emily Wittbrodt, pianist Kit Downes and drummer-vocalist Mariá Portugal.
Earlier in the evening, A-Trane hosts the second ever performance by pianist Angelica Sanchez, bassist Barry Guy and Spanish drummer Ramón López. Two years ago, the group debuted in France, and they’ve been yearning to reunite ever since, a desire explained by the recording of that concert, “Live at Jazzdor”. The great tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis closes out this year’s Jazzfest Berlin with a performance at Quasimodo. Earlier this year, his excellent quartet with drummer Chad Taylor, bassist Brad Jones and pianist Aruán Ortiz released the moving album “Abstraction is Deliverance”.