EXBERLINER Issue 164, October 2017

CHARLOTTENBURG
Nov 9–12
Giorgio Carioti
over. The former designer, basketball player
and jazz purist meticulously soundproofed
the room down to the air conditioning vents
and began bringing in the likes of Herbie
Hancock, Diana Krall and Wynton Marsalis.
Over the past two decades, Sedal has been
able to maintain A-Trane’s stature as one of
Berlin’s two premiere jazz clubs (with B-Flat
in Mitte) while cultivating a mass of local
regulars. One of them is Kelvin Sholar, an
African American pianist from Detroit who
moved to Berlin in 2006. The 44-year-old
shifts seamlessly from jazz to classical to
blues as he sits at the keyboard, dressed in a
pink patterned suit of his own design. “I’ve
had some really great moments at A-Trane,”
he says. “One night, I presented Stravinsky’s
Rite of Spring and Firebird suites with acoustic
piano, synthesizer, drums, electronic
drums and two ballet dancers... another
time, we did all the major hits of Detroit
techno, orchestrated with live musicians and
vocalists. I had Wendell Harrison there from
Detroit, to do some of his early songs from
when he had his record label in the 1970s. I
brought Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts and David Gilmore
there...” How does the jazz scene in Berlin
compare to America? “It’s a microcosm,”
Sholar muses. “It doesn’t quite touch on
everything the scene in America has to offer.
Historically, Jazz is an American art form,
particularly an African American one, so I
do consider myself closer to the source of it
than people from other countries, like Germany.”
He concedes that a place like A-Trane
helps the scene, though. “It does a great
job bringing in international acts while still
focusing on local groups as well.”
THE HAT: MORE THAN
BACKGROUND MUSIC
Right down the road from A-Trane, under
the tracks of the S-Bahn, is the newest addition
to the Charlottenburg jazz scene: The
Hat. Imported here from St. Petersburg in
2015, it’s a long, brick-lined tunnel with a bar
on one side and a tiny stage on the other.
The clientele is decidedly younger than at
A-Trane or Quasimodo – groups mingle, talk,
laugh and drink the bar’s top-shelf liquor
while a ragtag group of musicians play in the
corner. The atmosphere isn’t serious or reverent,
like at other Berlin jazz venues. Here,
the live music seems more background than
the centre of the evening. The Hat doesn’t
have a house band, an emcee or a cover
charge – all the music is provided by jam sessions
where musicians, some of whom have
never met, perform improvised versions of
old-school standards.
“As far as I know, we’re the only jazz bar
in the city – the other places are jazz clubs.
Here, there’s a jam session every night, and
for us the point is putting the traditions of
New York from the 1920s until the 1950s back
on track,” explains Michael Shpaizman, one of
the bar’s three Russian owners. And it’s true:
even though the interior of The Hat looks very
new, there’s an old vibe to the place, like it’s
connecting to the wild, free-styling mood of
the beginning of jazz. “Sometimes you have 12
people on this really small stage who want to
play, and sometimes it’s two or three. A few
months ago, on a Friday, this huge brass band
– 15, 16 people – played, half on the stage and
half out on the sidewalk.”
Everything about The Hat reads footloose
and fancy-free, even the way they ended up
in Charlottenburg to begin with. “I chose
this space because there aren’t any neighbours
at all.” Shpaizman says. “The closest
residences are blocks away in either direction,
so it was perfect. Only then did we
consider that it’s across the street from Quasimodo
and two blocks away form A-Trane.”
You won’t find free jazz or Echtzeitmusik
here, as pushing the envelope isn’t Shpaizman’s
primary concern. “Jazz has become
something very sophisticated
for intelligent people with big
glasses pretending like they’re
professors. But a song like ‘Summertime’
is like Michael Jackson,
everybody understands it. We
want our clients to get drunk if
they like, listen to some good
jazz, go home, and come back the
next day.” And every so often, he
says, those old standards provide
moments of transcendence.
“You have somebody who looks
totally ordinary, half-drunk, and
suddenly starts really singing
from their soul, and everybody
is like ‘Wow’. This kind of magic
is only possible with jazz. If it
were any other kind of music, it
would be karaoke.” ■
Viktor Richardsson
Pussy Riot
matana RobeRts
Pan Daijing
Nihilist Spasm Band
Feat. AlexandeR Hacke
Bill DRummond
ARRiGo BaRnabé
jandek
and OTHERS
with maRy OcheR
Zugezogen maskulin
ClaiRe Tolan
PeReRa ElsewheRe
jolly Goods
and OTHERS
CONCERTS
FIlMS
TALKS
TICKETS:
HKW.DE/en/nomusic
OCTOBER 2017 17