Live Jazz in Berlin

The first seventeen jazz clubs - play it first and tell us what it is later

Live jazz in Berlin just isn't what it used to be. The variety of styles and venues used to be simply awesome. But the times change, the people move, the people change, the times move (though not necessarily in that order) and well, now? Now Berlin has turned a new page of notation. Now everything has gotten a whole lot better! That's right, even better than "simply awesome". Am I allowed to say absolutely awesome?

It's almost as if the open source movement has found its expression in jazz music here. When it comes to software, the idea is very simple. If programmers can read, improve and redistribute the code, the software evolves very quickly. Conventional software development just doesn't move that fast. When it comes to jazz in Berlin, it's pretty much the same thing. This city quite literally became an open source just a few short years ago. It had enjoyed a long and prestigious jazz tradition already, but has opened up dramatically since the fall of The Wall. The musicians here now improve and redistribute their open code at an alarming rate. And as for conventional "software" development, Berlin has never been known for being a conventional kind of place.

There is conventional music here, however. Let us just assume that you are one of those solid jazz traditionalists. Well good for you. It's here for the listening. Or is mainstream your main kind of thing? How about Ragtime and Dixieland? That's fine, too. Enjoy it in Berlin. But, then again, there are just as many of "you" out there who prefer Cool Jazz or Free Jazz or Cocktail Bar Jazz or Latin or Funk or Bebop and/or Hard Bop and Jazz Rock or Fusion or West Coast or even mad improvisation or good old-fashioned Blues. Oh yeah, I almost forgot. They even play something called European Jazz here. Nobody's going to feel the pinch in Berlin.

How should I put it? Jazz is NOT an underground movement in Berlin. You just get there best using the underground. So keep in mind that the following list of clubs is not an exclusive one, although the clubs certainly are, and should be enjoyed with caution. Once you start down this road you may not get much sleep. And should you get confused about what's going on up there on stage, don't ask too many questions at first. Jazz, as they say, is like several painters working on the same painting at the same time. And as Miles Davis put it: "I'll play it first and tell you what it is later."

Quasimodo
Kantstraße 12a
10623 Berlin
Tel. 030 312 80 86
www.quasimodo.de
U-Bahn and S-Bahn Zoologischer Garten

A-Trane
Pestalozzistraße 105
10623 Berlin
Tel. 030 313 25 50
www.a-trane.de
S-Bahn Savignyplatz

B-Flat
Rosenthaler Strasse 13
10119 Berlin
Tel. 030 283 31 23
www.b-flat-berlin.de
S-Bahn Hackescher Markt

Badenscher Hof
Badensche Straße 29
10715 Berlin
Tel. 030 861 00 80
http://www.badenscher-hof.de/
U-Bahn Berliner Straße

Mudd Club
Große Hamburger Straße 17
10119 Berlin
Tel. 030 440 362 99
www.muddclub.de
S-Bahn Hackischer Markt

Tränenpalast
Reichstagufer 17
10117 Berlin
Tel. 030 206 100 11
www.traenenpalast.de/
U-Bahn and S-Bahn Friedrichstraße

Kulturbrauerei
Knaackstraße 97
10435 Berlin
Tel. 030 44 31 51 52
www.kulturbrauerei.de
U-Bahn Eberswalder Straße

Eierschale
Podbielskiallee 50
14195 Berlin
Tel. 030 832 7097
www.eierschale-berlin.de
U-Bahn Podbielskieallee

Schlot
Kastanienallee 29
10115 Berlin
Tel. 030 44 82 16
www.kunstfabrik-schlot.de
U-Bahn Eberswalder Straße

Flöz
Nassauische Straße 37
10717 Berlin
Tel. 030 861 10 00
www.floez.com
U-Bahn Berliner Straße

Podewil
Klosterstraße 68-70
10179 Berlin
Tel. 030 247 496
www.podewil.de

Haus der jungen Talente
Klosterstraße 68-70
10119 Berlin
Tel. 030 210 33 03
www.hdjt.org/
U-Bahn Berliner Straße

The Junction
Gneisenaustraße 18
10961 Berlin
Tel. 030 694 66 02
www.wcities.com/en/record/,11622/9/record.html
U-Bahn Gneisenaustraße

Aue
Berliner Straße 48
10713 Berlin
Tel. 030 57 49 76
www.kneipen-suche.com/berlin-aue-5946.html
U-Bahn Blissestraße

Die Trompete
Lützowplatz 9
10785 Berlin
Tel. 030 25 46 40 39
www.kurfuerstendamm.de/cms/cms/tablestruktur.php?kunden_id=231&a_show=info
U-Bahn Nollendorfplatz

Zosch
Tucholskystraße 30
10117 Berlin
Tel. 030 280 76 64
www.berlinonline.de/essen-und-trinken/_bin/details.php/gastronomie/?id=5055
S-Bahn Oranienburger Straße

Die Insel
Alt-Treptow 6
12435 Berlin
Tel. 030 57 49 76
www.kneipen-suche.com/berlin-die_insel-3347.html
S-Bahn Treptower Park