Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic XVIII: Jazz Goes Baroque

The new recording from the Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic series captures a moment rich in both history and renewal, marking the series’ fiftieth concert while paying tribute to Siggi Loch’s early triumph as a producer with George Gruntz’s pioneering Jazz Meets Baroque in 1964. Six decades later, pianist Bernd Lhotzky revisits and reimagines this groundbreaking dialogue between eras, drawing a compelling parallel between Esperanto’s vision of universal communication and the shared expressive language of baroque music and jazz. The two traditions meet not as contrasts but as kindred forms: jazz infuses baroque with rhythmic vitality and improvisational freedom, while baroque lends jazz its structural depth and ornate richness. The stage opens up to reveal a German-French ensemble: two wind players of French origin and the three members of a German rhythm section, all of them happy to be united through music.