The opening concert of this year’s Stadgarten Season at Alter Zoll was a showcase evening for JazzTube. An interesting musical mix, with the Leon Dehne Quintet providing a more traditional Jazz show after which Bernard & The Mibus indicated how young Jazz musicians are taking the music – with a strong hip-hop element to their musical mix. It will be interesting to see what the Kulturamt here in Bonn has put together in 2024.
The one thing that Bonn Kulturamt is not responsible for in its planning is of course the weather. It can make or break an outdoor event. Today it is doing very much the former. There are smiles on the faces of Regular visitors to the Stadtgarten Season and the friendly, inviting atmosphere seems to be luring passers-by onto the grassy embankment like moths to a flame. The sun is shining and the sky is blue. even better, those happy picnickers are now facing directly onto the stage, and the relaxing sound of the Leon Dehne Quintet is wafting across to them on a gentle evening breeze. As the German contingent will agree I’m sure – ‘Einfach Traumhaft!’.
The quintet has the ideal sound for relaxing on a sunny Friday evening. I particularly love it when trumpeter Nico Wellers is joined front of stage by saxman Leon Dehne for harmonious duets. Whether their own material, or by others such as Kenny Barren’s ‘Voyage’ this was the perfect way to kick off the Season.
Bernard & The Mibus (feat. CTO) is an odd name, and the band’s music was similarly, how best to describe it, unique. The combination of hip-hop via frontman Bernard over a laid-back jazz fundament is not really my own cup of Jazz tea, but they brought a good contingent of young fans and no one can fault their enthusiasm. They lack a bit of stage presence when Bernard is not singing, so I’m thinking that their fans usually get into the groove and dance – making them a dance band in the background. Despite Bernard’s cajoling them though, the audience this evening never quite gets into a dancing groove. Blame it on the heavy Summer air perhaps.
A cracking start to the Season overall then. The big audience for tonight’s JazzTube Stadtgarten Edition will have made Stadt Bonn’s Hajo Over, JazzTube’s Thomas Kimmerle and SWB’s Press Spokeswoman Stephanie Zießnitz very happy for sure. Hopefully there will be no complaints about the music now that the stage has been relocated (to a better location). I definitely recommend a visit or more between now and the end of August. Every Friday/Saturday evening from 7 pm and free.
