Kelvin Sholar presents the "Black History Month" (BHM) in the B-sheet. A long-standing tradition in America and Canada: the BHM for the memory and promotion of African roots and culture. From North America to the Caribbean, Asia, Europe and Africa, the musicians discover the emergence and evolution of various styles of jazz and influences. From Cuba, America and Europe, the UNITY 5 is formed around the drummer Ernst Bier. They combine and expand combinations of classical jazz, Latin jazz and world music to create a new, unique sound that transpires across borders

Kelvin Sholar presents the "Black History Month" (BHM) in the B-sheet. A long-standing tradition in America and Canada: the BHM for the memory and promotion of African roots and culture. From North America to the Caribbean, Asia, Europe and Africa, the musicians discover the emergence and evolution of various styles of jazz and influences. From Cuba, America and Europe, the UNITY 5 is formed around the drummer Ernst Bier. They combine and expand combinations of classical jazz, Latin jazz and world music to create a new, unique sound that transpires across borders

Dominique Vantomme is Belgium based pianist, keyboardist, composer and producer. Origi- nally working as a blues/jazzpianist, he has spent the past 10 years playing with numerous acts in pop, rock and jazz. He has recorded and toured as a pianist, musical director and arranger for artists such as Axelle Red, Ana Popovic, Hindi Zahra, Vaya Con Dios, Viktor Lazlo, Louisiana Red, Theresa Malenfant, An Pierlé. Creating music and sound has always been a constant factor in his life, which has resulted in several records with his bands ROOT and Mahieu-Vantomme Quartet.

FOR FREE HANDS is perceived as part of Berlin's international jazz community. This year, a new line-up has been established, with echocaster Diego Piñera (UY) on drums and Roberto Badoglio (I), who studied with Matthew Garrison in NY, playing bass. Christian Erber - NDR: "... Europe is growing together and a quartet from Berlin is supplying the soundtrack."

A rendition of many great smooth jazz standards rearranged as well as modern blues and pop, by many composers and singer-songwriters as George Benson, John Mayer, Al Jarreau, Jobim, Duke Ellington, Pat Metheny etc.

The "Vandojam" known from Paris and New York now also takes place in the B-Flat. Supported by Vandoren / Paris. Under the direction of Robin Draganic and Reiner Witzel

Kjetil Mulelid Trio consist of some of Norway‘s most interesting jazz musicians that are involved in projects like „Hegge“ (Norwegian Grammy Award winner 2017), „Megalodon Collective“ (Norwegian Grammy Award nomination 2016, and winner of JazzIntro 2016), „Wako“ and the „Trondheim Jazz Orchestra“. They play modern acoustic jazz, and the music is a mixture of compositions written by Mule- lid and pure collective improvisations.

The Crusaders Project is a collective ensemble of American and French musicians all living in Berlin, Germany. Comprised of band members Fuasi Abdul-Khaliq (ten sax), Reggie Moore (Piano), Geoffroy De Masure (trom- bone), Charles Sammons (Bass) and Jesus Vega (Drums), the ensemble was formed with the intention of preserving and honoring the music of the legendary group from the 60‘s and 70‘s, The Jazz Crusaders.

The Crusaders Project is a collective ensemble of American and French musicians all living in Berlin, Germany. Comprised of band members Fuasi Abdul-Khaliq (ten sax), Reggie Moore (Piano), Geoffroy De Masure (trom- bone), Charles Sammons (Bass) and Jesus Vega (Drums), the ensemble was formed with the intention of preserving and honoring the music of the legendary group from the 60‘s and 70‘s, The Jazz Crusaders.

Swedish jazz harp player Stina Hellberg Agback and jazz guitarist Jonas Isaksson team up again for their second full-length album, Quiet Now, tackling the rich compositions of Wayne Shorter, John Coltrane and others. Both being two full-register string instruments, the harp and guitar essentially compete for the same frequency spectrum, so needless to say, any successful simultaneous performance between the two require thoughtful, balan- ced and attentive musical interplay to begin with.

POTSA LOTSA XL Berlin-based saxophonist Silke Eberhard founded the wind ensemble Potsa Lotsa in 2009 to record all compositions of the African-American multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy that have been known to date. The XL version includes cello, vibes, bass and drums for the first time. With this constellation, Silke Eberhard presents works of his own. Their pieces are inspired by the Blue Note sound of the 60s, Westcoast, Third Stream, Free Jazz and allied genres, the arrangements written especially for this group.

The B Flat Jazz Orchestra stands in the tradition of the great New York jazz clubs such as Village Vanguard and the Jazz Standard with their own big bands, which are always performing on Mondays. The members of the B - Flat Jazz Orchestra reflect Berlin‘s extremely lively jazz scene in a special way.

The legendary jam session with Robin Draganic

Kelvin Sholar presents the "Black History Month" (BHM) in B-Flat. "South Africa United" is a formation around the African music legend Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba. Together with other African-born musicians, such as the well-known Viva Jalashe, they devote themselves to the sound of Shebeen and the historical resistance of South Africa. Experimental, powerful, after-effects.

DYKI LYS ("Wild Fox" from Ukrainian) is a Berlin jazz band for which Ganna is composing and arranging. The ensemble combines the melancholy of Ukrainian folklore with traditional jazz music as well as the influences of classical and experimental music. Long-sought-after melodies are embraced by the harmonies rooted in jazz and carried by powerful grooves, some of them shaped by Eastern European rhythms.

"The Green Unicorn" is a jump to the next level for Jasmin Bayer. She no longer relies on the existing repertoire, but writes along with Roberts numerous own songs that determine the program of the album. Here, too, it is about love and everyday life, the small and the big escapes, only now it is their own and no longer that of others. Thus ¬aThe Green Unicorn¬ assembles into a self-confident statement of an artist who has found her second vocation. With soul, with swing and a pinch of blues.

"Flickstick" is a German-Swedish-Finnish band founded in 2008 in Sweden. From the beginning, the five young jazz musicians played compositions written by the Berlin saxophonist Birgitta Flick and the Hamburg trombonist Lisa Stick for the quintet. Flickstick plays concerts regularly in Germany and Sweden, both in clubs and at festivals such as Elbjazz, Jazz Baltica and Eldenaer Jazz Eveings. In 2012, Flickstick won the Jazz Baltica Award.

Kelvin Sholar presents the "Black History Month" (BHM) in B-Flat. "Afrobeat Alive" brings together musicians from Ghana, America and Europe around the drummer and singer Ekow Alabi Savage. The result is a powerful fusion of African beats, timeless jazz and classics from Fela Kuti to Manu Dibango.

Kelvin Sholar presents the "Black History Month" (BHM) in B-Flat. "Afrobeat Alive" brings together musicians from Ghana, America and Europe around the drummer and singer Ekow Alabi Savage. The result is a powerful fusion of African beats, timeless jazz and classics from Fela Kuti to Manu Dibango.

The legendary jam session with Robin Draganic

The Berlin quartet AZOLIA with the Belgian singer Sophie Tassignon and the German-American saxophonist Susanne Folk promises the finest vocal jazz. There are sound worlds that you can fall in love with at the first fugitive listening. Like in the voice of Sophie Tassignon, when she paints her stories in front of her ear accompanied only by bass and saxophones and clarinets. This is music for melting away or dreaming away from any kind of kitsch suspicion. That's romanticism in the best sense of the word.

INDIJANA and the BANDITS ... stands for individuality, intensity and true joy of playing. Her weapons are extremely feminine! Powerful female voices, catchy guitars and keyboard riffs, supported by the pulsation of the rhythm section, ensure a round sound and convince of the professionalism of the musicians. But do not worry, they do not shoot ... They only rob you of your last breath! Blues and Soul à la Etta James and Bonnie Raitt lay the foundation for the soulful and funky sounds of the Berlin band.

From 1900s motifs of Greek folk music, instruments from the Balkans and the Orient, and European musical structures, the Rembetico music emerged in the dim light of shady entertainment districts. The six musicians of ZOTOS KOMPANIA take up the old musical traditions of the Mediterranean area and impress with a virtuoso show, sometimes wistful-soft, sometimes wild-jazzy. An evening for connoisseurs and lovers of world music and jazz, an evening for people who still want to sit back and listen.

„Each piece shall have its own face“- this is the compositional attitude of the Russian-born leader of this band. Mischa Vernov Quartet plays own compositions of the band leader, which sound rather modern, but don‘t neglect the jazz tradition. The ultimate goal is to create a perfect balance between the new and the old. Complex harmonies, strong melodies, energy, forward motion, – these are a few characteristics of this music. In the end it just has to feel good.

Stephan Schrader Solo Cello / Bremen. His cello sounds like an orchestra. "Celloloop: Surrounded by a lot of foot pedals, I'm sitting alone with the cello on stage - but it sounds like a band, like a whole orchestra. With the help of the loop machine I multiply myself; the cello sounds like bass, then like banjo or percussion, then like violin or vocals. My moderation is part of the program: she humorously creates the transitions between swinging original compositions and surprising arrangements of well-known melodies from classical, pop and film (the song of death must never be missing!).
The duo KARPAROV & BRUNN plays urban world-jazz, which combines the sound of Berlin and the sound worlds of occident and orient. The two musicians were laureates of the Berlin State of Culture-oriented Studio Jazz Prize. The Bulgarian exceptional saxophonist Vladimir Karparov is equally at home in the tradition of the Balkans and modern jazz. Andreas Brunn, who combines a variety of influences in his style, replaces a small orchestra with his seven-stringed instrument: his guitar is a magical instrument, can be drum or bass in equal measure.

Frederik Villmow Quartet brings together four outstanding representatives of the young Norwegian and German jazz scene. Born in Cologne, drummer Frederik Villmow now lives in Trondheim / Norway, where he met pianist Philip Edwards Granly and assistant Julian Haugland. The quartet will be completed by saxophonist Marc Doffey, who lives in Berlin. Together, the four musicians present an exciting mix of their own compositions, as well as some pearls of the 'Great American Songbook'.

The legendary jam session with Robin Draganic

Aarón Castrillo 5tet is aninternational collective of musicians led by the drummer and composer Aarón Castrillo (Sevilla, Spain, 1990). The band was born in the Basquecity Donostia - San Sebastián, in the middle of 2016, and was origi- nally formed by the musicians Álvaro del Valle (1992, Madrid) on guitar, Daniel Juárez (1992, Toledo) Chuchi García (1984, Salamanca ) on double bass and Aarón Castrillo on drums and compositions. Aarón Castrillo launches an ambitious project as a result of learning both at a musical and personal level that thanks to the wealth of his peers, the schools where he has beentrained, thedifferentcitieswhere he has lived, givinghimthestrength and inspirationto- focusonthecomposition and formthis band. A project of original compositions, which pick up influences from different musical disciplines given the drummer‘s desire for differents styles such as pop, rock, classical and electronicmusic, combining all this with jazz musical elements, and thus creating a avant-garde style that is not allowed to be pigeon holed.