jazz

Is it Jazz? Is it Hip Hop? Soul, RnB, Reggae or House? We Out Here festival 2024 unites voices from across the jazz spectrum including artists like André 3000, Yaya Bey, Sampha, and aja monet. A dense lineup, yet the festival leaves enough space to dance. Anna Grubauer shares her experiences at We Out Here.

This year, the Berliner XJAZZ! Festival premiered their first album. "Entangled Grounds" is a collaborative effort, much in the spirit of the event. Each song features a different artist from the local jazz scene and their (re)interpretations of the genre. Anna Grubauer experienced the festival and spoke to artists and organisers about the recording process.

The Berlin-based singer Anna Hauss released her first solo album "how long is now". In an extended conversation with NBHAP, she talks about the struggles of being a female solo artist, the process of writing the record and her thoughts on the question that the record poses. Alongside the interview, we updated our Introducing Playlist in collaboration with Anna Hauss.

The singer Enji gives her jazz conservatory education a twist by breaking open its structures and drawing from her background in thousand-year-old Mongolian folk tradition. In conversation with NBHAP, the artist talks about her new album "Ulaanbaatar" and explores the personal connection to the color red and how trust and communal singing shaped the music.

"when the poems do what they do" is the title of the debut record by poet and organizer aja monet and it takes us on a musical and lyrical journey of what words can do. From ancestry to political activism and vulnerable self-expression, the record is a document of the true power of poetry and jazz. In our conversation, aja shares detailed insights about the visions behind it.

Berlin-based sound artist and singer Dumama has a special relationship to XJAZZ!. Following the event in May, Dumama now shares a live video of their performances. Working with the body and voice as modes of tapping into ancestral vibrations, Dumama collaborates with many artists across Berlin's boundary-pushing music scene. Read her personal reflections on the festival below.

The alternative jazz singer muva of Earth graced the stage at Berlin's XJAZZ! festival with their voice and tranquility of their harp-playing. Based in London, the artist draws on their Yoruba roots and embraces serenity and spirituality in their music. With only a few releases so far, muva of Earth crystalises a distinct artistic voice incorporating afrofuturistic rhythms and horns.

One of Britain’s rising jazz musicians, the acclaimed London act delivered one of the most brimming shows at this year’s XJAZZ! edition in Berlin. We caught up for a quick chat with the artist after the show to talk about the British scene and what it means to honour the legacy of jazz music.