Jazz am Helmholtzplatz e.V.

Jazz am Helmholtzplatz e.V.

Promoting and enjoying jazz in Berlin.

The non-profit jazz initiative "Jazz am Helmholtzplatz" ("Jazz at the Helmholtz Square") aims to re-establish jazz again in Prenzlauer Berg and its neighborhood since march 2018.The sparking moment was a concert with the wonderful quartet "JAUL" (Allan Praskin, Lars Gühlcke, Jan Leipnitz, Ulli Bartel) in autumn 2017 in a shisha bar called "Café Aleppo" in Neukölln, which was about to be demolished and was assembled from sheets of corrugated iron in a rather improvised manner. In the meantime it had to give way to a skyscraper. Obviously there was a lack of sufficiently established locations for professional jazz musicians in Berlin. Since then Jazz am Helmholtzplatz e.V. wants to support the many national and international professional jazz musicians who reside in Berlin, provide them with more opportunities to play in public and strengthen the visibility of the local jazz scene in Berlin. In the future Jazz am Helmholtzplatz intents to connect local jazz scenes inside of Germany and on an international level. Since april, 20th, 2021 Jazz am Helmholtzplatz is a registered charity.

The initiative began in 2018 with a first jazz concert in the immediate surroundings of Helmholtzplatz. As a spot located in the heart of Berlin, it attracts people from all over the world. Meanwhile, jazz is a music that stands for vital and emotional intensity, for communication across borders and mentalities, and played an important role in Prenzlauer Berg in the years after the collapse of the Berlin Wall. Bringing these together, Helmholtzplatz is a place where neighbors meet each other, but also come into contact with the entire world. The square hosts an enormous playground were young and old can exercise their physical abilities and develop new fantasies. It is a real place, but equally a symbol for how to imagine a neighbourhood and community without borders. The Helmholtzplatz is everywhere!

"Jazz at the Helmholtz Square" stands for creative, exciting and international jazz for all music lovers, and operates in cooperation with different venues to present both internationally known musicians, as well as talents yet to be discovered on a non-profit basis. It is a mobile jazz club in Berlin that dispenses with a fixed location to address different venues and audiences, making new connections between them. In the future there should be a programmatical focus on thematical series and international exchange.

The term "jazz" refers to a stylistically complex musical genre of the 20th century. It encompasses a wide variety of historically evolved orientations that exist alongside one another on an equal footing today. This includes dixie and swing, but also contemporary experimental and improvised music, as well as various forms in an international context. A key characteristic of jazz is improvisation.