It's Toby's World
Tobias Delius, Practically Married, Branford Marsalis, Lisa Ullén
Berlin’s Treasure: Tobias Delius
For those readers that live in Berlin I have one perpetual admonition: if you have a chance to catch a gig featuring reedist Tobias Delius you should take advantage of the opportunity. Every time I hear him play he elevates whatever band he’s playing in, not only through his own stunning solos that somehow enfold a large chunk of jazz history into his spontaneous sallies, but through his mere presence. He’s an uplifter. I was reminded of his genius yet again last Friday, when he performed in Antonio Borghini’s excellent sextet Banquet of Consequences. The group played at the launch concert of this year’s Jazzwoche Berlin, an endeavor that always seems a bit haphazard in its attempt to focus attention on the city’s deep scene. I would suggest that presenting a panel discussion in the middle of a jazz concert isn’t the way to drum up enthusiasm or interest in the music. In fact, I initially felt bad for the sextet as they took the stage after all the talking, as the audience had dramatically thinned out, but once the music began listeners returned—apparently they had all been waiting outside.
I’ve previously written about the band, which also includes cellist Anil Eraslan, pianist Rieko Okuda, alto saxophonist Pierre Borel, and drummer Steve Heather. The group only plays in town once or twice a year, so those gigs only cement its status as one of Berlin’s greatest and most entertaining bands. A couple of weeks ago the group released its wonderful second album Resta Chi Va (We Insist!), another rambunctious collection of Borghini originals steeped in the tripartite jazz traditions of Italy, the Netherlands, and South Africa—to say nothing of the cool jazz, tango, and Ethiopian flourishes—but this time out those influences are more diffuse, further atomized in the distinctive personalities of the sextet’s members. Borghini resourcefully breaks up the ensemble into different sections as much as they blow as one, but no combination is as potent as the twinned lines of Delius and Borel, one of the best reed frontlines in jazz anywhere. You can hear them joust on the bebopping “The Dropper,” below, with Delius injecting some trademark yelps.
As brilliant as Delius has remained over the decades, he’s rarely led his own projects apart from a wonderful Amsterdam quartet with drummer Han Bennink, trumpeter bassist Joe Williamson, and the late cellist Tristan Honsinger, which released its last album 15 years ago. Delius also plays with Bennink in a quartet organized by Scottish pianist Declan Forde and British bassist James Banner. Those two work together so often they’ve earned the sobriquet Practically Married, which is also the name of a concert series they helm. Live in Berlin was recorded in May of 2024 at Kunstfabrik Schlot, and I caught a killer set by the same quartet a year earlier at KM28. Forde and Banner are rooted in old-school fundamentals, so they adroitly tailor the repertoire of this particular gathering toward the aesthetic Bennink and Delius explored as ongoing members of the ICP Orchestra, interspersing gems by Herbie Nichols, Misha Mengelberg, and Duke Ellington with a couple of tunes from Berlin violinist Megan Jowett, a frequent collaborator of Banner, and the reedist’s own “Luftlucht.” As I noted above, Delius makes everything he’s involved with better, and that’s no exception here, with Forde and Banner sounding the best I’ve ever heard them, facilitating an elastic kind of bebop that can ride out detours and disruptions a la ICP. Forde takes a slamming solo distinguished by deft feints and jabs on “Luftlucht,” while Banner embraces some meaty double stops all through Jowett’s “Tea and Cake,” revealing a forcefulness I haven’t often heard from him. Below you can check out the group’s reading of the Eubie Blake standard “Memories of You,” which begins in fits and starts before rolling into an easygoing swing, with Bennink’s imperturbable time and Delius’s rangy improvisation providing unfussy pleasure.
The Practically Married duo presents its 48th performance under that billing, joined by the great alto saxophonist Michaël Attias at Sowieso on Wednesday, July 2. Speaking of Delius, he’s scheduled to perform a couple of times at A-Minor, a new festival in Halle happening September 18-21. Among the members of Jazzkollektiv Halle, the organizers of the new event, is percussionist Hannes Lingens, a key member of Die Hochstapler—alongside Borghini, Borel, and trumpeter Louis Laurain. They’ve put together an excellent program featuring Banquet of Consequences, Silvia Tarozzi & Deborah Walker, Malacoda String Quartet, Dell/Lillinger/Westergaard, Pierre Borel, Saadet Türköz & Toby Delius, Crutches, Olicia and Lisa Hoppe’s YSOP, along with some workshops and film screenings. While they’ve secured some grants for the event, they remain short of the necessary funding so they’ve launched a crowdfunding endeavor which you can find here.
The Branford Marsalis Quartet Celebrates Another Favorite
Next Monday, July 7 the Branford Marsalis Quartet will perform at Großer Sendesaal des rbb, playing music from its recent Blue Note debut, a front-to-back treatment of the classic 1974 Keith Jarrett album Belonging (ECM). As nostalgia took over the rock music biz it became commonplace reconstituted bands to revisit their older recordings, often performing them in their original sequence with little variation. That practice remains a pretty rare occurrence in jazz, although the Marsalis band has done it live on numerous occasions, even releasing a live version its take on John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme in 2004. As a young musician Marsalis was familiar with Jarrett’s solo music, but he first discovered the Scandinavian line-up behind Belonging—saxophonist Jan Garbarek, bassist Palle Danielson, and drummer Jon Christensen, assembled for the first time to make the recording, but going on to become one of the pianist’s greatest units—while touring with pianist Kenny Kirkland.
Marsalis went out and bought all of the band’s recordings shortly after hearing Belonging. I wouldn’t want to make too big of a deal about the decision to record and perform this music—right down to its specific arrangements—but I think it does reinforce the notion that only stodgy gatekeepers will reject the evidence that the divide between American and European jazz communities has been eroding ever since Jarrett made the recording.
Apart from marking the group’s debut recording, the album is perhaps most famous for the Jarrett tune “Long as You Know You are Living Yours,” which resurfaced in big chunks six years later on the title track of the 1980 Steely Dan album Gaucho. Jarrett famously filed a lawsuit for copyright infringement, and rather than reach a financial settlement, he was added as co-author of the song, giving him an ongoing share of royalties. The Marsalis Quartet—with bassist Eric Revis, pianist Joey Calderazzo, and drummer Justin Faulkner—had previously featured a version of “The Wind-Up,” another tune from Belonging on his own band’s 2019 album The Secret Between the Shadow and the Soul, which convinced them to record the whole album. The pandemic delayed the project, but in March of 2024 they reconvened to make the album, which feels more like a love letter than a new statement. The recording reinforces the band’s strength, rapport, and poise. But the album cover is awful. I can’t find the evidence, but I’m pretty certain that the great Chicago drummer George Fludas posted a quip about it, accurately claiming the band photo suggested a shot of the principal attorneys of a law firm more than a group of musicians. You can hear the Marsalis version of “Long as You Know You are Living Yours” below, which also affords you the chance to stare at the album cover for almost nine minutes.
Postscript: Auf Wiedersehen Lisa Ullén
One final note: the remarkable Swedish pianist Lisa Ullén has spent the last year living here in Berlin, and in recent months she’s made a point of working with a variety of local improvisers. The city has been very lucky to be graced by her presence, but, sadly, she’s about to return to Stockholm. She has one last gig before her departure, playing with trumpeter Brad Henkel and drummer Devin Gray on Friday, July 4 at Sowieso. I’ll be out of town, so I can’t attend this swan song, but if you’re in town I highly recommend stopping by to experience what we’ll soon be missing.
Recommended Shows in Berlin This Week
July 1: Ustad Noor Bakhsh, 8:30 PM, Gretchen, Obentrautstr. 19-21, 10963 Berlin
July 2: Declan Forde, piano, James Banner, double bass, and Michaël Attias, alto saxophone, 8:30 PM, Sowieso, Weisestraße 24, 12049 Berlin
July 2: Bertrand Denzler, tenor saxophone, Derek Shirley, double bass, and Steve Heather, drums, 8:30 PM, Panda Theater, Knaackstraße 97, (i.d. Kulturbrauerei, Gebäude 8) 10435, Berlin
July 3: Neil Young & the Chrome Hearts, 6 PM, Waldbühne, Glockenturmstraße 1,
14053 Berlin
July 3: Fare (Valentin Gerhardus, piano, Felix Henkelhausen, double bass, and Marius Wankel, drums), 8 PM, Exploratorium, Zossener Strasse 24, 10961, Berlin
July 3: Marta Warelis, piano, and Mariá Portugal, drums, voice; Okkyung Lee, cello, 8:30 PM, Sowieso, Weisestraße 24, 12049 Berlin
July 3: Tea Trio (Peter Ehwald saxophone, Matthias Pichler, double bass, and Andreas Pichler, drums), 9 PM, B-Flat, Dircksenstr. 40, 10178 Berlin
July 4: Manou Gallo; Congos, 7 PM, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin
July 4: Michael Thieke, clarinet, Elena Kakaliagou, French horn, Michael Vorfeld, percussion, and Emilio Gordoa, vibraphone, 8:30 PM, Panda Theater, Knaackstraße 97, (i.d. Kulturbrauerei, Gebäude 8) 10435, Berlin
July 4: Lisa Ullén, piano, Brad Henkel, trumpet, and Devin Gray, drums, 8:30 PM, Sowieso, Weisestraße 24, 12049 Berlin
July 4: Microtub, 8:30 PM, Morphine Raum, Köpenicker Straße 147, 10997 Berlin (Hinterhof 1. Etage)
July 5: Dan Peter Sundland's Idea of a Good Time (Michaël Attias, alto saxophone, Jeremy Viner, tenor saxophone, Dan Peter Sundland, bass, and Moritz Baumgärtner, drums), 8:30 PM, Donau115, Donaustraße 115, 12043 Berlin
July 5: Kai Fagaschinski, clarinet, Fredrik Rasten, acoustic guitar, Mike Majkowski, double bass, and Steve Heather, drums, 8:30 PM, Sowieso, Weisestraße 24, 12049 Berlin
July 6: Maulwerker play Adrian Mocanu and Cornelius Cardew, 4 PM, Großer Wasserspeicher, Belforter Str, Eingang an der Belforterstrasse, 10405 Berlin
July 6: Nduduzo Makhathini Trio (Nduduzo Makhathini, piano, Dalisu Ndlasi, bass, and Kabelo Mokhatla, drums), 9 PM, Zig-Zag Jazz Club, Hauptstraße 89, 12159 Berlin
July 6: Layale Chaker & Sarafand (Layale Chaker, violin, vocals, Jake Charkey, cello, Phillip Golub, piano, John Hadfield, drums, and Sam Minaie, double bass), 9 PM, B-Flat, Dircksenstr. 40, 10178 Berlin
July 7: Branford Marsalis Quartet (Branford Marsalis, saxophones, Joey Calderazzo, piano, Eric Revis, double bass, and Justin Faulkner, drums), 8 PM, Großer Sendesaal des rbb, Masurenallee 8-14, 14057 Berlin
A friend observed that the cover looks like an 11:00 news crew. "And Joey Calderazzo with sports!"
Haha, Branford Quartet always has the worst covers. Cheers.