Tremendous Aron and Moses Yoofee Trio provide jazz and beats in full hall of Werk 2

Werk 2, which in recent Jazztage years had always been the venue for all kinds of danceable alternatives to intellectual sit-down jazz, was able to fulfill its mission again this year. This time there were two young bands to see. From an evening full of jazz and hip-hop sounds to nodding heads and feeling along...

Tremendous Aron, the Berlin drummer who recently moved to Leipzig, played the first part of the double concert evening with his band. A full Werk 2 couldn't take its eyes and ears off the stage from this point until the end. A mixture of rap lovers and soul enthusiasts gathered in the first rows, nodding their heads like city doves with wide grins.

Aron Hentschel aka. Tremendous Aron is always on the lookout for suitable samples, which he then packs into a sound mixture of bebop, modern jazz and hip-hop. For example, he snipped a funky guitar riff from the "Summer of Soul" documentary and crafted a track out of it that made you want to dance right away. The four musicians skillfully brought the feeling of the "Summer of Soul" from 1969 to the stage and mixed it with something of their own - perhaps something like the Berlin snout of jazz? In any case, it was a tribute to the many legends up there, to whom the band with their sympathetic manner and their joy in playing pressed a smack on the cheek.

Then a short break. Until it was allowed to continue with the second session.

People slowly came back, the hall wrapped in blue fog, synth sounds separated the air and you waited for the bang of Moses Yoofee Trio. Here he came: Drummer Fürbringer now set the pace. The dreamlike, almost trance-like start was quickly broken - dreams are gone - as if one was suddenly taken out of sleep. But nobody wanted to sleep here anyway, the city doves with fat grins had returned, were activated for the second half head nodding. The Werk 2 now dived into an atmosphere of funk, soul and groove.

"What's going on in Leipzig? What can I say? It couldn't be better!" bassist Roman Klobe shouted to the crowd after about a quarter of an hour. It was the band's maiden voyage on a Germany-wide tour, he continued.

First berth so Leipzig and the response of the crowd seemed perfect. The trio as well! Even without guitar they brought the funk into the full hall of the Werk 2. Moses Yoofee conjured up on the keys - virtuosic and yes, wonderfully sensitive.

Parts so finely spun that you wanted to lie down and sink into them passed the baton to fast, repetitive but never boring rhythms.

What can we say? It couldn't be better. Werk 2 and the Jazztage together cut a pretty good figure. Jas Kayser and Theo Croker, who will take to the still warmed (no, hot!) stage from the night before tonight, should be the next evidence of that.