Thursday
26 June 2025
GIU JazzNight
The Stochelo & Mozes Rosenberg Trio
26 June 2025, 7:00 pm
Jazz Manouche at its bestIt is still little known today that the first European jazz style was developed by French Sinti. The Ferret brothers and Django Reinhardt courageously mixed the music of the French ‘Manouches’ with stylistic elements of American jazz and the melodies of the French valse musette.
The Rosenberg family is one of the most prominent musicians of ‘gypsy jazz’. With the brothers Stochelo and Mozes, the two most prominent representatives are coming to Saarbrücken. They have already played at all the major jazz festivals – from Marciac to Vienne to Montreux and in the world’s great concert halls such as Carnegie Hall and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
Her guitar playing is characterised by a grandiose technique, great elegance and a very personal vibrato. It vividly conveys the joie de vivre of the Sinti and yet is concertante.
However, both musicians are also virtuoso jazz musicians with a great love of improvisation. This year, the Rosenberg brothers will release an album dedicated to a little-known chapter in film history. Charlie Chaplin had Roma ancestors and incorporated this culture into his work. Last year, the Rosenbergs took part in the highly acclaimed documentary film ‘The spirit of the Tramp’ by Chaplin’s granddaughter Carmen, which for the first time addresses Chaplin’s Roma heritage in detail. The brothers are currently recording an album of Charlie Chaplin’s most beautiful songs.
Cast: Stochelo Rosenberg (git) | Mozes Rosenberg (git) | Matheus Nicolaiewsky (b)
Lakecia Benjamin
26 June 2025, 9:00 pm
Cool VibesUS saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin is one of the stars of the New York jazz scene. In her post-bop-inspired music, she confidently mixes various jazz styles with R&B, soul, hip-hop and funk. Her warm and resonant playing is unmistakable.
After the highly acclaimed album ‘Pursuence: The Coltranes’, she released her album ‘Phoenix’ in 2023, which earned her three Grammy nominations. It featured the voices of African-American civil rights and women’s rights activists Angela Davis and Sonia Sanchez. Their themes are also those of Lakecia Benjamin: the injustice of American turbo-capitalism, women’s rights and the fight for the rights of African-Americans. Benjamin succeeds in keeping the spirit of her idols alive in her own compositions and arrangements, while at the same time combining traditional jazz with her passion for R&B.
The live album ‘Phoenix reimagined’ was nominated 4/7 this year in the categories ‘Best Jazz Performance’ and ‘Best Jazz Live Album’. This proves Benjamin’s qualities as a live musician and increases the anticipation for this unique musician.
Cast: Lakecia Benjamin (asax) | Zaccai Curtis (p) | Ivan Taylor (b) | E. J. Strickland (dr)
