For nine days Ebersberg celebrated jazz, the revival of the cultural scene and himself.
We accompanied the final spurt behind the festival scenes.
Ebersberg
- Frank Haschler is under stress.
Right now, it is 9.30 a.m. on Sunday morning, preparations for the dress rehearsal for the final concert at this year's Ebersberg Jazz Festival are underway in the old warehouse.
After all the stars of the past few days, the local jazz musicians from the district are on stage today, the amateurs.
As part of the festival, the band leader, electric bass player and composer Schalk Joubert and the singer Tutu Puoane, both from South Africa, conducted a one-week workshop as “artist in residence”.
Haschler is enthusiastic: “We learned a lot.
With 7/4 or 11/8 beats, we first counted nicely until we realized that this is not the point, but simply about feeling the pulse. "
Jazz in Ebersberg: international class from start to finish
The concert is scheduled for 5 p.m.
Cables are still being laid and the lights are being adjusted.
Stage Fright.
But there is a lot more on the program for the final day.
At 11 a.m., a matinee with the Greek musicians Christos Anastasiadis and Sotiria Kollia is invited to the Café Mala in the monastery building yard.
And at 2.30 p.m. the Munich Panama Ensemble will play a concert for children in the old cinema.
Nine days of jazz are now behind Ebersberg.
"It was an absolute success," says Haschler happily, who always believed that EBE-JAZZ 21 could actually take place.
His plan worked, even if the audience wasn't as large as at regular times.
The opening concert with the legendary, almost 93-year-old American jazz singer Sheila Jordan, "New York's First Lady of Bebop" was already sold out.
The second evening with Mario Biondi and his band, which was more about pop than classical jazz, but with a wonderful soul voice, was also sold out.
The same could be reported for the concert marking the 50th anniversary of the ENJA jazz label.
With record covers mainly from the early days of the label, there was even an exhibition at the Ebersberger Kunstverein.
Jazz Festival Ebersberg: The BR records concerts
The concert by Franco Ambrosetti and the Anke Helfrich Trio will be broadcast on BR Klassik on December 10th.
The Ebersbergers applauded for the microphones, after all, what could be heard did not read anything else.
The BR recorded a second evening, the concert with the Swiss drum legend Daniel Humair and his band.
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From the matinee in the morning with Christos Anastasiadis and Soitra Kollia (photo) to the final concert with The Three Continents Jazz Ensemble, the Ebersbergers left nothing to burn on the last festival day.
© Peter Kees
The conclusion of the festival: nine intense days with international jazz greats and lots of different styles, from old-time jazz to the experimental.
"I'm a little tired," reveals the festival boss at the dress rehearsal for the final concert.
The evening before, says Frank Haschler, they celebrated with the musicians until four in the morning.
Yes, that is also part of the job of the festival management: taking care of the guests.
Concerts in Ebersberg: A few concessions to the pandemic are inevitable
The only downer: the venues were only allowed to be half filled due to the corona pandemic. “But it was important to us,” says Haschler, “that our audience can enjoy the concerts without a mask. So we had to keep our distance. ”Did everything work out mathematically, in other words: financially - the festival's budget was just under 100,000 euros? You don't know that yet. The cash drop is still pending. In any case, some additional costs have been added, whether for delayed flights or for expensive PCR tests. It all adds up. Overall, however, the festival was a bit cheaper than it was two years ago, because they did without all supporting acts, otherwise the microphones would have to be disinfected every time they changed.
The bottom line of the non-professional festival: ten days of internationality in the district with exciting music, supplemented by film screenings, readings, exhibitions and jazz talk.
All of this was very well received by the audience.
Haschler: "We are looking forward to the next festival in two years, then hopefully without Corona restrictions."
But now the makers of the past few days should take a deep breath first.
15 people were involved in front of and behind the scenes, for them the EBE-JAZZ 21 was fun and work at the same time.
You can read more news from the Ebersberg region here.
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