Cologne Jazzweek: Daniel Erdmann’s Thérapie De Couple

Théo Ceccaldi (violin) Hélène Duret (clarinet) Vincent Courtois (cello) Daniel Erdmann (saxophone) Robert Lucaciu (bass) Eva Klesse (drums)

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Because Daniel Erdmann lived in France for more than 20 years after completing his studies in Berlin, the saxophonist—born in Hanover in 1973—is well acquainted with the mentality of people on both sides of the Rhine and understands the complex relationships between the neighboring countries. That’s why he named his sextet Thérapie de Couple (in English: Couples Therapy), with which he recently released an album with the tongue-in-cheek title “I Wanna Hold your Hand, François”.

Germans and French people probably need therapy to be able to understand each other again. But seriously: Anyone who experiences this sextet—comprising three French and three German musicians—live on stage can observe how the string players, woodwind players, and rhythm section seek contact with one another and begin to communicate, how they break away from each other and come together ad hoc in new sound combinations. The sextet’s music is in constant motion not only because of the improvisational element, but also because of the interplay between the instruments.

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Venue:

Stadtgarten

The first concert in the newly built Stadtgarten concert hall in the mid-1980s launched a program unlike anything Germany had seen: an independent, artistically driven concert series devoted to contemporary improvised music. It was guided neither by attendance figures nor by public subsidies, yet it guaranteed musicians minimum fees and was run on professional terms. The conditions mattered just as much: an acoustically optimized, street-level concert space offering a strong setting for audiences and performers alike. Operations were financed through the adjoining hospitality business, the Stadtgarten restaurant and beer garden, a model that drew attention well beyond Germany.

Today the Stadtgarten Köln ranks among Europe's internationally recognized venues for contemporary and improvised music. The American magazine Down Beat features it regularly in its listings; it has received Germany's federal APPLAUS venue program award several times, including "Venue of the Year" in 2016, followed by the German Jazz Prize in the same category in 2022. More than 400 events across the full spectrum of contemporary music now take place there each year. Its international standing rests above all on the high proportion of demanding, experimental programming.

A programming mission of this kind depends on reliable public support. The venue's 30th anniversary in September 2016 opened that prospect: through a partnership between the City of Cologne and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, programming work is being substantially strengthened, and from 2017 onward the Stadtgarten Köln is being developed step by step into a "European Center for Jazz and Contemporary Music" – with the goal of becoming one of Europe's leading music centers.

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