As with many of this year’s performing ensembles, the trio refuses to draw lines between composed and improvised material, instead letting each side of the equation impact and infect the other, giving the music a constant air of surprise. While the festival prides itself in presenting artists from around the globe, it also recognizes the remarkable scene that exists right here in Berlin, among them the bassist Felix Henkelhausen, whose music reflects extraordinary talent, vision and range. Tonight he presents his gritty septet Deranged Particles, a name that draws a connection between the chaotic machinations of atomic science with the style-shifting attack and multilayered complexity of a band that includes scene fixtures like vibraphonist Evi Filippou, keyboardist Elias Stemeseder and tenor saxophonist Philipp Gropper.
Closing out the action at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele is a rare duo performance by veteran trumpeter and composer Wadada Leo Smith and keyboardist and composer Vijay Iyer, performing music from their recent album “Defiant Life”. The festival is honoured to present Smith, a bona fide legend who at 83 is in the midst of his final European tour. As usual, the action spills out into the clubs around the Haus der Berliner Festspiele. Within the cosy confines of A-Trane, the New York-based Spanish pianist Marta Sánchez plays music from her acclaimed album “Perpetual Void” – a musical meditation on the loss of her mother – where she’s joined by bassist Matt Penman and the explosive drummer Savannah Harris. The brilliant American saxophonist Tim Berne, one of the most influential figures on European jazz over the last few decades, makes a rare Berlin performance at Quasimodo leading his new trio CAPATOSTA, featuring his long-time colleague Tom Rainey on drums and Gregg Belisle-Chi on electric guitar.