Three days with female bandleaders

Since its founding in 2020, the rejazz festival has been dedicated to promoting female bandleaders in jazz. It will take place for the fifth time from November 21st to 23rd – this year in the Berlin jazz club Kunstfabrik Schlot. Women are still underrepresented in jazz. The festival, founded by the Dutch singer and composer Jacobien Vlasman, is trying to remedy this – and beyond all gender issues, what matters to her is quality, not quota.

The concerts, each consisting of two acts, begin on Thursday, November 21st. at 9 p.m. with the performance of Nancelot, the band of Bernese flautist Nancy Meier and AKI, the quartet of singer Lucia Cadotsch, also from Switzerland.

On the following days, vibraphonist and marimba player Taiko Saito, winner of the 2023 Berlin Jazz Prize, will perform with her four-member Berlin Mallet Group. She is followed by the duo of singer and guitarist Heidi Heidelberg and her partner, the Colombian flautist Mauricio Velasierra, who perform under the name Witch’n’Monk.

The Sheen Trio of Iranian bass clarinetist Shabnam Parvaresh closes Saturday, followed by the quartet of French bandoneon player Louise Jallu. She draws a bridge between compositions by the Tango Nuevo master Astor Piazzolla and her own pieces.

Details about the program and the musicians can be found at rejazz-festival.de. The day ticket costs 20 euros, reduced 15 euros, the festival pass 50 euros, reduced 30 euros.