Berlin Jazz Fest 2011 intro

Berlin JazzFest  2011 – Jazz from Poland!
(based on Berlinerfestspiele press release)

The focus of this year edition was jazz from Poland. That’s why it formally started 15 of October with an opening performance of IRCHA ,the latest output from one of the most dynamic polish jazzman – Mikolaj Trzaska and his Clarinet Quartet. It took place at Martin-Gropius-Bau and was related to the opening of the exhibition titled “Side by Side. Poland –Germany. A 1000 Years of Art. And History”. Next to follow ,a week later ,was an ATOM String Quartet. Another interesting project which came from a young artists ,but took audience by storm with his freshness and vitality. Then as usual the main part of the Fest  took place from 2 to 6 November and as always supposed to be long awaited by every jazz lover . A special highpoint of this year’s festival was music from Poland, with appearances by trumpeter Tomasz Stańko, pianist Leszek Możdżer, and many other Polish jazz musicians.

Stephan Micus is one of those artists who does not appear on the stage too often. There is a few reasons for that. First of of all that possibly there is just simply a lack of time. As opposed to artists who are recording particular projects and then touring with them, Stephan would rather explore the whole music universe ,putting his output on the tape and then trying to find a way to give the overall concept its final shape.