"courage is a thing of the heart, the center of a person; the word courage is a derivative from the french word for heart, coeur." (inspired by Paul Tillich "the courage to be").
Jazz singer Esther Kaisers new program "songs of courage" is about that. Jazz as a genre has been courageous, bold, by no means indifferent since its beginning - it stood its ground. Esther Kaiser has worked with many a strong, courageous artists, this side of the atlantic and the other - she is influenced by Eisler and Brecht just as much as by Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach. "I grew up with the music of the eighties, really, but my mums political records were by Bob Dylan and joan Baez", the singer remembers "We shall overcome for instance, is one of the first songs i can remember, I wanted to sing this song in a new way, to separate it from the sixties-nostalgia and interpret it fitting to our current reality. the musical result can't be pigeon holed - it lives somewhere between jazz, urban songwriter pop, improvisation and world music. And you won't think about sorting it into a genre, when she uses instruments like a kalimba (thumb piano) or an indian shrutibox to play it.

I am very proud to present this transatlantic quartet featuring one of Canadas most versatile and interesting musician along with NorwaystenorwizardPetterWettre combined with two of europeans most compelling rhythm men.
In February 2016 this quartet finished aEuropan tour recording their first album. Along the recording we had a set of video recorders.

Our legendary jam session with Robin Draganic!

In this remarkable big band, 18 professional musicians meet to play challenging arrangements and have fun with them. They are called the BERLIN GROOVE MACHINE. They don't limit themselves to any stile, so the repertoire is remarkably broad spectrum of big band jazz from the 60ies until today - latin, swing, funk, jazz, rock and more!

The band "Les colorés" was founded in the spirit of Hervé Hartocks roots in caribbean jazz. The multicultural mixture of musicians gives the group its meaning. Groovy like Zouk, Biguine and Soca, Afro, newly arranged standards and original compositions, melodic and rhythmical at once, they inspire to listen and move. This music as an invitation to dance and to travel into colourful sound worlds.

"Ray Blue has a majestic presence…when playing, his sense of purpose is obvious. It's one thing to be a good composer, it's another to be a great performer.
Ray Blue's got the whole package."
- Jean Szlamowicz, Jazz Hot, Down Beat
Ray Blue’s music can be described as a fusion of straight ahead jazz and African groove. Ray is a New York bred saxophonist and composer, who performs and conducts workshops and master classes internationally.
Over the years this award winning New York based saxophonist has shared the stage and studio as leader and sideman with John Gilmore, Dr. Art Davis, Benny Powell, Kirk Lightsey, Bernard Purdie, Alicia Keys, Patience Higgins, Reuben Wilson, Danny Mixon, Benito Gonzales, EssiettObonEssiett, Wycliff Gordon, Bruce Cox, George Grey, Wayne Dockery, Clifford Adams, Steve Turre, Belden Bullock, Ted Curson, Joe Lee Wilson, John Betsch, Calvin Hill, Michael Cochrane, Charlie Persip Super Band, The Sun Ra Arkestra, Cotton Club All Stars, Harlem Blues and Jazz Band and many others.

MAX HACKER WHAT DO YOU MEAN? (IN + OUT Records/in-akustik)Max Hacker presents himself masterfully understated on his new album "What do you mean?". Hackers music exudes grandeur, without any cheap tricks and entirely free of platitudes. It is the accomplished solidity in his play, the incorruptible, that makes this album shine. Hacker grew up in modern jazz since he was 15 - travveling to the US and later at the New York New School of Music. And this jazz socialisation has clearly worked: he plays on a native level. Just as audible is his current home, Berlin. Its the mixture that makes him unique: He plays in perfect form, but with a lot of fun. "What do you mean?" is his third recording, after „Who The Heck is Max Hacker“ and „Deconstructing“. Although he has been a guest on many a record on both sides of the pond. He doesn'T heed every new trend, it is his cultivated sound, pure jazz beauty through and through, that makes him special. And it is his innovative play, that exeeds fashions. His compositions shine with great clarity and beauty.

The musicians of this quintette are internationally sought after improvisatoin artists, who meet in this constellation.
The quintette plays with a broad palette of sounds and in a wide dynamic spectrum. They communicate in a sound language, that ventures into many different directions, like avant guarde music, real time compositions, fine soundscapes and echoes of free jazz. Cooking at its best! unexpected, spontaneous, fresh, surprising and seductive!
Each one inspired by dance, theater, flim, painting....it's going to be a pleasure of the most fascinating kind.

The Bamesreiter Schwartz Orchestra makes difficile program music that was composed for presicely this orchestra.
It reaches from impressions of the concrete world, to constructs of abstract aesthetic and logic. these highly abstrac forms may be interpreted as absolute music by the audience. the resulting subtle interplay of subjective understanging and instinctive emotions profits from the intense character of the orchestra. Alls works are specifically created for this formatiaon by Richard Schwartz and Lukas Bamesreiter.

"Known from Paris and New York, Vandojam comes to B flat. Supported by Vandoren/Paris."
hosted by Reiner Witzel and our very own Robin Draganic!

Jannis Zotos new album "Zotos sings Theodorakis" was released in spring 2016. Tonight, music from this album, as well as a few pieces from earlier releases will be presented by this exception musician, who has been a friend to Theodorakis for 37 years, in an intimate trio formation.
Jannis Zotos played with Mikis Theodorakis in 1980. From this developed a collaboration that streched over 20years, many tours and records. Now, after 36 years, Zotos recorded a solo album - paying tribute to Theodorakis for his 90ieth birthday - on which he interprets 15 of the lesser known songs of the master. On this album he accompanies himself only on the guitar. The music gains a deeply personal, fragile quality.
In the live setting, this quality will be achieved by joining forces with his brother Thanassis Zotos and the incredible cello player Ulrich Maiß and staged between songs from his lst two records "Siganes Phones tis Mnimis" (Lyric: Mikis Theodorakis) and "Amour fou" (Lyric: M. Polodouri/K. Karyotaki)

Alpha agents BETA, GAMMA and ALPHA plus specialist DELTA have been transferred to our dimension by quantum machine with the task to lift the earthlings' oscillation frequency. They achieve that by way of a retro futuristic agent beat, tropicana, girly music and souljazz and produce an energyfield of rhythm, melody and love that perforates the matrix and creates a new consciousness.
Peace, Love and Happiness for everyONE !!!

Yvette Norwood-Tiger, vocalist, songwriter, vocal coach, recording artist and Recording Academy (GRAMMY) voting member, is a Detroit, Michigan native who hails from a family of musicians, including a father who played guitar and a mother who played drums.  Her CDs, A'LA ELLA!andwhYNoT... Love, Peace, Joy, Jazz, features music from great composers such as Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, and the Gershwins.  Yvette performs with vocally clean and pure interpretations of the great American Songbook, while emphasizing intonation and storytelling.  Her vocal styling and texture is often compared to that of Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, and Sarah VaughanShe also performs songs in other languages which include French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.  Her mission in music is to uplift, inspire, and heal the heart, mind and spirit of the listener.
She performs worldwide and has sat in several times with jazz orchestra - the Cotton Club All Stars, at the famous Cotton Club in Harlem, NY. She has also sat in with Latin music artist, Tito Puente, Jr., the late saxophonist David Fathead Newman, family members of Celine Dion, and band members of SpyroGyra - Jay Beckenstein and Tom Schuman. Yvette now resides in south Florida where she performs extensively, including performances at the Raymond F. Kravis Center in West Palm Beach. She travels frequently and does regular visits to the New York/New Jersey area where she performs to sold out rooms.

Fotis Siotas (Violine, Viola) and Costas Pantelis (Guitar)are Sancho 003, an electro acoustic duet, that was founded in Thessaloniki in 2006. Their purely instrumental compositions are improvisations with loop technique, between noise and silence, repetition and abstraction. The result is pretty experimental, something that you could just as well encounter in a film score. no wonder then, that Sancho 003 have collaborated with various theater and dance troups. Their live gigs catch the audience in well known soundscapes, as well as weird and wild places straight out of fantasy.

The trio built around london based sax player and composer Guido Spannocchi is completed by Jason Simpson (bass)and Marco Quarantotto (drums). Nurtured on a diet of classical music, Hungarian folk, alpine yodeling artists and work songs from Kivu, the program surfs close to Joe Hendersons structural approach with - at times avant guaresque - elements after Ornette Colemans facon. We create our personal story while looking fo our own "Lullabys" and make a unique future from improvisation. The analogue tape album is currently being pressed to vinyl and will be released as a limited edition during the tour.

The accordeonist and her trio offer colourful and varied, groovy, smiley, melancholy music with the warm feeling of southern breezes, happy, concerty and quite individual. something for heart, head and feet!
A modern approach to the accordeon, that doesn't shy away from complex rhythms and jazzy arrangements. The artists compositions are inspired by sundrenched blues and something quite hard to put ones finger on. she breaks and mixes genres like brasil, latin, afro groove and blues waltz, even tangoesque influences with many a complicated rhythm.

Our legendary jam session with Robin Draganic!

„Maria Baptist is in a league with the key figures of modern Big Band Jazz such as Schneider, Gruntz, McNeely and Bley.“ – ALL ABOUT JAZZ
In her 25-year career, Maria Baptist has developed a stand-alone sound. The Berlin-New York based composer-pianist inspires her listeners over the world with her positive energy. Maria Baptist’s energetic stage presence and fascinating personality have pushed her into the forefront of the current jazz scene: she has conducted world famous orchestras such as the NDR-, hr-, or RIAS Big Band and was nominated for the highly acclaimed award ‘ECHO Jazz’ with her collaboration with the BuJazzO.
The 16-member international ensemble creates an unique style, that demonstrates how permeable the line between jazz and classical music can be, what an instrument of both strength and fragility a jazz orchestra can be.
Inspired by philosophy, painting, and natural phenomena, their first recording ‘Here & Now’ reflects a positive and inspiring spirit. This album is nominated for the German top ranking award ‘Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik’.

With this project, the audience will experience the influences of the Yoruba, Bantu, Ewe-Fon and Mandinga peoples of West Africa combined with the impressions of the Hispanic culture which includes energetic, danceable Salsa, Bolero, Mambo, Cha Chacha and Bossa Nova rhythms which together becomes a melting pot of African and European harmonies, melodies and rhythms.
The group plays a variety of selections that include Latin dance rhythms, adding Colombian Cumbias, Puerto Rican Plenas, and even Argentine tangos to Cuban and Dominican beats. Along with the African-American improvisational art form (so-called Jazz), this group shares with the audience the hot & spicy rhythms and sounds of this music which has, since the 1960’s, been known as Salsa ("Hot Sauce").

In the spring of 2000 Fuasi Abdul-Khaliq (Sax & EWI), Max Hughes (Bass), Till/SjanSahm (Keys), Kenny Martin (Drums) and Loomis Green (Git) came together to form FuMaTiKeLo. Performing original compositions inspired by the spirit of some of Fusion Music​'​s finest they drew inspiration from the likes of among others, Miles Davis, Weather Report, Pat Metheny and Michael Brecker. 
Back together for the first time in over 12 years FuMaTiKeLo will be bringing a fresh set of tunes and taking their "Jazz-Funk Electric Groove Project" for a spin at the ​B Flat​.

This vocal sextette pays homage to the great chanson, the poetry and songs from France...
The group EGO SYSTEM exists since 2012 and performs classics by Nougaro, Brel, Ferré, Gainsbourg, Sheller, Minvielle, RitaMitsouko, Montand, Noir Désir…to name a few. Theiy are known for their signature current arrangements. These hand picked voices, that sing songs from traditional vocal art, to scat, to energetic vocal improvisations enchant every audience with their live performance and their charme.

Nana Simopoulos, the internationally acclaimed multi-instrumentalist, singer, composer and educator, is presenting her album Skins, her seventh recording
Skins features eight Simopoulos originals, brilliantly performed by a band of world-class jazz musicians and first-class world musicians, including saxophonist Dave Liebman and sarangi maestro Ustad Sultan Khan. The beautifully recorded album draws from sources and influences spanning centuries and the globe, with the composer referencing various cultures and her own past.
Simopoulos has played with jazz legends including Don Cherry, Charlie Haden, and Billy Higgins; world music icon Nana Vasconcelos; and appeared with the New York City Opera and RAI Symphony Orchestra. She’s performed in venues from the intimate Café Sabarsky to the imposing Cathedral of Saint John the Divine to the open-air Montreux Jazz Festival.

Aaron Shragge& Innocent When You Dream
The music of Tom Waits
Innocent When You Dream brings a new element to Waits' music while remaining true to its essence. The quintet interprets Waits' stylistically diverse repertoire by creating instrumental versions of his most memorable songs. Using lyrical content and mood as the starting point for exploration, the band moves beyond the realm of covers creating a distinctive sound that draws from Jazz, rock, blues, World music and the avant-garde. The sextet regularly performs in NY area, LA and has been featured at notable Jazz clubs: The B-Flat (Berlin), Upstairs (Montreal) and The Rex (Toronto). Their first record "Celebrating The Music of Tom Waits" was release on Jazz Collective Records (2010) and their second recording "Dirt In The Ground" will be available May 2017. Interpreting the music of Tom Waits, ​Innocent When You Dream​ dives deep into the diversecollection of Waits' material, exploring the colors and tonality of his distinct lyricism, through unique instrumentation and arrangements. The new album, Dirt in the Ground, covers a wide period of Waits' career and includes such songs as "In the Neighborhood", "Ol '55" and "Down in The Hole". Aaron himself graduated from the distinguished New School Jazz Program and furthered his education receiving a masters from NYU. Having collaborated with such notable musical as Dave Douglas, Ben Monder, and William Parker, Shragge has performed at notable festivals, The Montreal International Jazz Festival, L'Off Jazz Festival and the Festival of New Trumpet Music.

Our legendary jam session with Robin Draganic

„Moviemusic“, the new live program by Berliner composer and piano player Zoran Terzic is inpired by film scores of the sixties and seventies. catchy, fearlessly crossing over to kitsch, they fathom ever new facets of musical expression and combine populism with avant guarde, freedom with beauty. It is music that unfolds before the ears of the audience like a film: scenes and cliff hanger, moments and montages, hit songs, bad guys, and of course a happy end.
The band presents their new album at B-flat.

"Its quickly noteable, that there is a techinically adept, highly gifted musician at work here. But the way, Bačikin translates his ideas into music, makes him more than just a talented musician. The sound of this band is balanced without ever being boring. It is full and warm, but always transparent. the same can be said about the trumpets sound. And the man knows how to tell a story, as a composer as well as a soloist." -Jan Tengeler, Deutschland Radio

"Its quickly noteable, that there is a techinically adept, highly gifted musician at work here. But the way, Bačikin translates his ideas into music, makes him more than just a talented musician. The sound of this band is balanced without ever being boring. It is full and warm, but always transparent. the same can be said about the trumpets sound. And the man knows how to tell a story, as a composer as well as a soloist." -Jan Tengeler, Deutschland Radio

Nominated in 2014 for a Paul Hamlyn Award for Artists, Simon Vincent is a performer and composer of acoustic and electronic music, who has been challenging the boundaries of genre and musical expression with a highly personal language since the early 1990’s.
“Visionary and expressive”, “rich and surprising”, “beautiful music”, “intelligent”, “delicate”, “impressionistic”, “fresh”, “incredibly individual”, “masterful compositions”, Simon’s music has attracted praise and radio play from critics as varied as Ben Watson, Julian Cowley, Nick Luscombe, Massimo Ricci, Gilles Peterson, Mr. Scruff, Fourtet, AtJazz, and has been reviewed internationally in many publications including The Wire, De:Bug, Knowledge Magazine, Dragon Jazz, Extranormal and Kudos.
Releasing work on Erstwhile Records, EMANEM, L’innomable, Good Looking Records, as well as  own label Vision of Sound, Simon’s unique work has led to appearances worldwide at the Glastonbury Festival, Rotterdam Film Festival, Akademie der Künste (Berlin), ICA London, London Fashion Week, Club Transmediale (Berlin), National Museum (Stockholm), Progression Sessions (London), Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, InternationaleFerienkursefürNeue Musik (Darmstadt), Q-02 (Brussels), Visiones  Sonoras (Mexico City), Making New Waves (Budapest), >Sync 2013, as well as on Resonance FM, BBC Radio 3, Ministry of Sound Radio, and FM4-Austria among many others.
Simon started Vision Of Sound Records & Publishing in 1997 to promote his contemporary classical and experimental music, and will be touring a new solo piano CD in April/May 2017.
3 new works for London-based trombonist Matthew Gee will be released in summer 2017, a new work for Malmö-based pianist Jesper Olsson will be premiered in Autumn 2018, and further concerts with Simon’s acoustic project The Occasional Trio will be performing in Berlin later this year.

Indiana University Professor and jazz pianist Monika Herzig comes for a short visit and presents a special concert of original compositions and arrangements with her husband, guitar and bass player Peter Kienle and drummer Thomas Alkier.
More info http://www.monikaherzig.com

Our legendary jam session with Robin Draganic.