Quick Review: Vocuhila + Ansgar Wilken

Alley & entrance to Bei Roy

I went to Bei Roy for an evening of free jazz last night. Yes, you read that correctly. 

And I had no idea what I was going to await me. Adventure took me and I put up with the rain and headed to Bei Roy to meet J.. The room wasn't nearly as full as it was the time when Digger Barnes played there. Yet the atmosphere was cozy this time, too. The venue draws people from very different backgrounds and age groups, which I find refreshing: youngsters hungry for new music, nerds who want to indulge in nerdy music talk about nerdy music projects, hip neukölln folk, punks and indie kids.

Let's just say I love Jazz but I am not necessarily a free jazz kind of person. Both acts impressed me with their abilities and the variation with which they played a handful of instruments. But overall, I noticed that I lack the patience to watch two hours of semi-improvised sounds. And while Ansgar Wilken, a native solo project on cello, built on sound scapes interrupted by melodic rhythms, Vocuhila, a French free jazz trio, were going for wild ecstatic play. Playing two saxophones at a time or hitting the drums so hard a cymbal fell off made for a great visual experience and some of the songs were rhythmic and danceable. But overall, it was all a little bit too exhausting to endure for me. 

I concluded that it was great to try something new, that I never regret supporting Bei Roy, and that it was good to catch up with J.. But I also had to admit to myself that I am not ready for free jazz yet. And I left early. Give me rock'n'roll any day.