Dottendorfer Jazznacht kicks off 2025 with Pangea Ultima

A live music performance featuring three musicians: a man playing a guitar and singing, a bassist, and a pianist in a dimly lit setting with colorful stage lights.

In case you’re not a geographer, Wiki describes Pangea Ultima as “a hypothesized future supercontinent, expected to form in approximately 250 million years as tectonic plate movements, specifically the subduction of the Atlantic Ocean floor, cause the Americas, Africa, and Eurasia to collide into one landmass”. The German Jazzband of the same name melts together continental musical forms rather than continental plates. Bandleader José Díaz de León even joked that we might have noticed this happening – It certainly made for a bit of a whirlwind of music at times on this, the opening night of Dottendorfer Jazznacht 2026.

The band was founded in 2016 in Cologne’s Sudstadt but its sound is a result of de León’s World travels, particularly through South America, Africa and India. When your ears get used to the idea it actually becomes quite mesmerising trying to keep up as the sound switches. South American percussion hits you right between the eyes thanks to the twin attack of Christian Fehre’s conga drums and Niklas Wittig’s drumset and sticks. Add Johannes Knoll’s trumpet with Christine Corvisier’s saxophone and you have a very powerful combo indeed, as evidenced on ‘Cascade’ in the first half and the second sets ‘Nueve Vidas’ as well as on the evenings official closer ‘Rickshaw Boy’.

A musician playing a red keyboard on stage, gesturing with his right hand while focusing on the performance. A grand piano is visible in the background, with blue and warm lighting illuminating the scene.

The attacking tempo and volume when all seven musicians at once played was at times almost overwhelming. It did though make the lighter moments (note lighter ‘moments’ rather than musical pieces – each track had, as described, so many changes within it) seem even lighter in comparison. Indeed, the closest we really came to a lengthy stretch of quiet calm was on ‘Alfonsina y el mar’. Beautifully sung by de Leon who switched to acoustic guitar for it. The tempo changes here were less turbulent, the sound pleasantly mellow. Sometimes less is indeed more.

The best moments were those where the individual musicians got a chance to shine. Norman Peplow’s piano particularly impressed me with the dynamics of his playing – really hammering out the notes before drifting into gentle passages. Johannes Knoll’s trumpet playing was also a pleasure, as was the sax of Christine Corvoisier although she seemed a bit sidelined at times – would love to have heard more from her, but this is jazz and I’m sure the playing time changes according to where the music goes on the night. Most oddly, I enjoyed possibly most of all Christian Fehre’s hand drum expertise. Possibly because it’s something you don’t hear every day – and certainly not as good as this on a jazz stage every day.

A musician playing conga drums on stage under colorful stage lights.

So there we are. Not packed out to the gills, but a decently sized audience for Dottendorf’s first Jazznacht of 2026. The concerts are so well established here now that organizer Herbert Kaupert also has Jazznacht mugs and calenders available. He tells me that Silje Nergaard’s appearance last December (which I missed!) was a highlight of 2025. The programme for 2026 (see link below) is again testament to Dottendorf’s success. Book early!