The small jazz festival at KlangWert/werk3
The Caspar Rutsch Quartet is made up of musicians from the Hamburg jazz scene. Caspar Rutsch is a young saxophonist from Schwerin who was awarded the Schwerin Jazz Prize in 2025 for his compositions and individual playing. His pieces are characterized by driving rhythms, as well as carrying melodies and, inspired by musicians such as Paul Motion or Seamus Blake, move in the tradition of jazz modernism (start: 19:30).
Quintet Jean Paul / Ken Norris, vocals / Gabriel Coburger, saxophone and flute / Marta Winnitzki, piano / Sven Kerschek bass / Konrad Ullrich, drums
"When I play the saxophone, I want to express the whole spectrum like the
human voice," says Gabriel Coburger, one of the greats of the Hamburg
scene, winner of the Jazz Prize, he lived in New York for years. The quintet
Jean Paul is one of his favorite projects. The band has performed at major festivals such as Jazz Baltica and can also be found time and again in clubs, very close to the audience - and to the authentic development of the music. This results in delicate, sensitive moments and the intimacy to bring the sophisticated music to a boil, in collective flights of fancy, until everyone melodically takes each other by the hand again. And they also manage the feat of expressing the challenges of our time: being dynamically overrun and its surprising solutions.
Anthemic power. Rarely does German jazz sound so anthemic, as if Coltrane had been the direct inspiration. The quintet thrives on the dialogic tension between Coburger's expressive playing and the versatile voice of Ken Norris: his velvety, soulful vocals easily hold a candle to Gregory Porter.
Norris also indulges in breathtaking lines, loose scat,
philosophical lyrics and spoken word impromptu - all carried by the groove of the rhythm
groove of the rhythm section with Sven Kerschek, Marta Winnitzki and Konrad Ullrich.
Konrad Ullrich Although the quintet takes every liberty, the music remains
transparent, like clear, bright water.
