JAZZKALENDER

50 years of the SUM jazz band in Leipzig

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The fact that Leipzig was already a bustling jazz city in GDR times is not only evidenced by Jazzclub, but also by the band Sum: one year after our club - in 1974 - the formation was founded with a brilliant performance in the former Klub der Intelligenz in Elsterstraße.

In the years that followed, they indulged their passion for swing and modern jazz, always garnishing their sound with borrowings from hard bop and Latin jazz. According to band founder and pianist Reinhard Bohse, they wanted to be provocative at the time. After all, jazz was seen by many as an ideological import from the USA.

Today, the band is only provocative to a limited extent. And the band's name has also changed after a few line-up changes - they now appear as Sum II Jazzgesellschaft Leipzig. But the music is as much fun then as it is now: sophisticated brass arrangements meet an infectious joy of playing, with instrumental pieces and vocal tracks playing hand in hand. The band will be accompanied at their anniversary show in September by a number of surprise guests - Reinhard "Stone" Rössler (dr, voc), Eberhard "Ebs" Amende (db), Reinhard Bohse (p), Steffen Seifarth (tsax), Bernd Brückner (bsax), Henry Wilhelm (tb)

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