Økse ft. Mette Rasmussen, Val Jeanty, Petter Eldh & Savannah Harris

young and experienced players from improvised music will encounter each other for three days at international jazz platform amsterdam. on the last evening, the participants will join forces for a concert on our stage, where they will form three new bands. then the room will be taken over by kuhn fu, a spectacular band from berlin mixing psychedelic rock and jazz while leaning towards cabaret, surf, metal, zappa and monty python. the unknown talents will be introduced on stage by three european music greats, vocalist greetje bijma, drummer gard nilssen and saxophonist otis sandsjö. after the break, guitarist christian kühn will appear with his red telecaster and richly varied compositions. in his band kuhn fu we see familiar names alongside rising stars of european improvised music: frank gratkowski, otis sandjö, ziv taubenfeld, sofia salvo, esat ekincioglu and george hadow.

the bad plus has been pushing the boundaries of jazz for over twenty years. the american formation instantly became famous with their imaginative interpretations of music outside the genre, from pop and punk to classical and avant-garde, from nirvana via aphex twin to ligeti and stravinsky. with this approach they have successfully set a new standard. the bad plus has a reputation for hyper-energetic performances and is loved all over the world because of that, by fans of all genres. in 2022 the group returned in a new form. the piano was replaced by guitar and tenor sax, played by renowned masters. guitarist ben monder has previously collaborated with, among others, maria schneider, paul motian, and david bowie. saxophonist chris speed played with, among others, john zorn, craig taborn, and kurt rosenwinkel. this four-piece released its second album towards the end of 2024, entitled complex emotions.  ‘the chemistry between the foursome sounds incredible, burning brightly with endeavour and fierce originality that doesn’t just take this band into a new era, but actually launches them head-first from an exploding cannon’ (uk vibe).