Jazz in Concert

Jazz songs can also be classics – they are then called ‘standards’. The format JAZZ IN CONCERT deals with the eternal hits of jazz history. Fifth to seventh graders can get ready to feel the groove and give jazz their voice.
One of these great classics of jazz history is ‘Take the A-Train,’ a swinging allusion to the subway line of the same name that led to Harlem, the Mecca of jazz. Since Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington made the song famous in the 1940s, it has been part of the Great American Songbook. The ‘A-Train’ is one of the songs from JAZZ IN CONCERT, a format developed in collaboration with the project ‘Jazz and Improvised Music in Schools!’ When presenter Gernot Dechert and five jazz musicians take the young audience on a journey into the world of jazz, participation is expressly encouraged. And that means giving free rein to one's own vocal abilities, for example in free scat singing, as practised by the great jazz legends, or in circle singing. In this experimental form of choral singing, the group becomes a human loop station, creating surprising soundscapes through repetition and layering of voices. The concert includes optional training for all teachers who wish to attend the concert with their classes.