Discovering music

Music touches, surprises, delights and saddens like hardly any other art.

No matter if we call it “jazz”, “classical”, “rock” or “pop” – “good” music is full of passion and … yes, what actually?

With our new series we would like to introduce you to the fascinating world of contemporary sound art. In conversations with contemporary artists, scientists and journalists, we immerse ourselves in the diverse soundscape of the Jazzfest Bonn and take a look behind the scenes. In short videos you will learn more about the thoughts and work of musicians, about instruments, individual stylistic features and much more.

An introduction in video format that will spark and fuel your interest in the creative, captivating and charmingly challenging wonder world of contemporary music.

What does “new” mean to you?

Highly virtuosic is his music and full of creativity. Django Bates is a fascinating pianist and composer who is able to subtly challenge his listeners with beautiful, melodic arcs. What does "new" mean to him?

Does the world need another piano trio?

The pianist Django Bates has been described as the "Monty Python of Jazz" and has been awarded the "Nobel Prize for Jazz", the Jazzpar Prize, among others. He himself once claimed: I will never have my own piano trio. Why he changed his mind, he explains in the video.

Do you count on stage?

Already in the 1980s Manu Katché rocked with the "greats of the world", superstar Sting and world musician Peter Gabriel. At the concert in Bonn we asked the likeable musician a very banal question: Does an experienced drummer like you still count or are concerts above all emotion?

Harmonies

The drummer Manu Katché has a special feeling for groove and transparency. Harmonies are especially important to him, he says. Why?

What would Beethoven’s life sound like?

Once a year Iiro Rantala is a guest on a radio show in his home country Finland. People call him there, tell a story from their lives – and Iiro Rantala sets it to music live in the studio. What would it sound like if Ludwig van Beethoven called him? https://youtu.be/3hgIaNQLMmU

Was jazz invented in Germany?

“Jazz was invented in Germany,” says Iiro Rantala. More precisely, in Leipzig almost 300 years ago.

Every morning Bach?

Iiro Rantala is an internationally networked jazz pianist with a great preference for classical music. Every day begins with Bach.

What does “creativity” mean in music?

The American jazz pianist Jason Moran is distinguished by his creative, profound approach to musical tradition. He says of himself: “I am a modern pianist, not a pioneer, not an avant-gardist. I charge old things with new ideas.” But what distinguishes creativity in a contemporary musical language?

How important are the “great composers” for creative music today?

Jason Moran is one of the most important jazz pianists of our time. But for him his solo concert in the chamber music hall of the Beethoven House was something very special. Why? Because, in his opinion, we learn a lot about the “how” in music in and through our encounter with the “great composers”. […]

Always the same 12 tones …

The Grammy winner Joe Lovano is a titanium on the tenor saxophone. As a musician and composer, he collaborates with jazz colleagues and classical orchestras.

Are interpretation and improvisation two sides of the same coin?

... we ask Richie Beirach Richie Beirach is one of the greatest and most active jazz pianists of our time. Born in Brooklyn/New York in the 1940s, he devoted himself exclusively to classical music until the age of 13. It was only then that he discovered jazz and became a pioneer of improvisation and energetic [...]