JazzTube August

Benedikt Hesse Trio

It’s been a hard week. So take a leisurely walk with me – and occasional short tram ride – as we wind down to Summer in the City and the cool sounds of JazzTube in Bonn. You know you deserve it…

Stepping off the underground at Bonn Main Station to the sound of – silence? There’s a crowd at the top of the steps though waiting for the break to end and the music to begin. Yassmo’ is the name of the band, and of the man in a cap behind a mini moog. There’s a bass, drums and sax too but it’s Yassmo’ himself who very much catches the eye and the ears, especially when he creates sound carpets through the use of a Talk-Box added to his keyboard. There’s relaxing vibes and also some lively rhythm playing and handclapping. These guys know how to entertain and they have an imaginative touch to their music that transcends all the way to a quirky and enjoyable web homepage.

Yassmo’

There is very much a temptation to stay here for the rest of the JazzTube evening, but we really should be going. Oh, alright, one more song then – the next tram is in ten minutes.

Stepping off at Universität/Markt was very different. No silence between sets – before one foot hits the platform the sound of a pounding drum rhythm runs down from the curling entrance corridor to greet me. No guessing which instrument the name provider for Benedikt Hesse Trio plays then. Benedikt is indeed something of a German Wayne Procter. He also has a quartet (BHQ) playing funk and fusion, is house drummer at the Hänneschen Theatre in Cologne and has toured Europe with the ‘Dirty Dancing’ Musical. Tonight he’s with Stefan Rey on bass and letting Ivan Polyanski get all the attention with his cool sunglasses and even cooler alt saxophone. You want to stay awhile here? Great idea, only we have to get the tram down to the next JazzTube band and it’s always a ten minute wait it seems – whatever time I leave. Add on eight minutes journey… we have to go now…

Ivan Polyanski (Benedikt Hesse Trio)

Okay, sorry, but it really is best to hear everyone. Three good bands in a row is stretching it I know, but let’s give everyone a chance shall we?

Silence greets us again at Museumsmeile/Heussallee. In the dim light though is a throng of people and an expectant air. We’ve had a moog, two saxophones, drums and bass, here it’s all change again with a neat row of flutes on stands. I’m sure each one has a particular name (how else could you ask a music store in advance if they had one in stock?) but I don’t know how they are called. I do know what I like though and I liked the sounds Peruvian ‘Flutemeister’ Daniel Manrique Smith got from his instruments. Often breathy sounds. Whales singing came to mind for some reason – odd as I’ve never heard a whale sing in my life. Compas A Tres are listed as ‘Flamenco Jazz’ and indeed Eva Folch’s singing pinned the music firmly their, as did the flamenco guitar of Johann May. It was the flute that gave everything a sugar coating of specialness though. Aren’t you glad I made you leave the last band and come here?

Compas A Tres

How was that for an ideal journey after a week of work? Some uptempo happy soul funk at Hauptbahnhof, with a more calming New Orleans Jazz sound at Uni/Markt to ease down the tempo – and finally we arrived at Compas A Tres with a heavenly and calming version of Chick Corea’s La Fiesta. It certainly floated my soul back along the Rhine to the recent Corea/Gary Burton concert at Kunst!Rasen. Yes, okay, we’ll stay here until the end now. No more tram-rides tonight. It can’t get any better than this anyway…