Last weekend I traveled to Berlin, Germany to see Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic, a concert series curated by Siggi Loch, boss of the label ACT. The series yielded some very nice albums so far (seven I think), however not every concert ends up on CD. This in fact was concert no. 20 with the title Swing, Swing, Swing – A Tribute to Benny Goodman. And swinging they certainly came out! What a great lineup, so much fun to see those world class musicians in action!
- NDR Bigband (one of three full time radio big bands we have in Germany)
- Rolf Kühn clarinet
- Émile Parisien soprano saxophone
- Christopher Dell vibraphone
- Iiro Rantala piano
- Lars Danielsson bass
- Jeff Hamilton drums
They tried to recreate the historic Goodman concert in Carnegie Hall 80 years ago but did a little more modern interpretation. Rolf Kühn was still spot on despite his 88 years. Seeing Iiro Rantala live was very cool, he is really great. The unexpected star of the night for me was Émile Parisien, a young sax player from France, he was awesome! Expect to hear more of him.
There is a short clip from the local news channel and this selfie from Rantala and Kühn backstage on instagram.