On Thursday, December 3,  Simone Lee,  a singer born in Jamaica and now living in Germany, performed a passionate and varied American gospel music concert on the Christmasmarket stage at Sterntor. Simone Lee, also called the “Gospel Queen”, was accompanied by piano player and keyboarder Lutz Angermann, a versatile professional performing musician from Cologne with good vocals.

For two hours Baum’s Bluesbenders entertained the visitors from far and wide at the traditional Bad Godesberg Santa Claus Market with their powerful blues & roots late afternoon show, on Sunday, November 29.

Baum’s Bluesbenders is a band composed of 4 experienced musicians namely: Bill Baum, guitar player, keyboarder and singer; Francis Holzapfel, drummer; Jan Laacks, bass player and finally Uwe Placke, harp & guitar player and singer.

Most vistors obviously liked Baum’s Bluesbenders dynamic melodic music, from Chicago Blues to Boogie and Rock ‘n’ Roll and seemed to have much fun. Right from the start, animated by bandleader Bill Baum, the crowd was clapping hands and singing along. After a while some people even began to dance to the music  in front of the stage. Great applause after each song for the four local heroes.

“Jazz up Close” (Jazz zum Anfassen) was the title of a swinging concert by Semmel’s Hot Shots on the Christmas Market stage at Sterntor on Sunday, November 29.

Semmel’s Hot Shots was formed in 1975 by Reiner Brothuhn, alias “Semmel“, trumpet player, singer and ex-member of the Chicago Footwarmers.  The band is not only Bonn’s oldest existing traditional jazz band but probably also one of the most popular formations in the Rhineland producing hot jazz sounds. During the 1980s  the band performed for five years every Friday evening on Geert Müller-Gerbes’s RTL-talkshow “Bonnfetti” at Contra-Kreis-Theater. Meanwhile, the original lineup has almost completely changed. The only original Hot Shots left are Reiner Brothuhn (tr), Elmar Schaffmeister (ts) and Eberhard Hertin (p).

On occasion of this year’s Christmas Market concert Semmel’s Hot Shots was composed of: Reiner Brothuhn (tr, vocals), Thomas Heck (ts),  Achim Hamacher (bs), Jörg Möller (drums) and Johannes Zink (banjo).

The Bonner Saxophon Ensemble gave the official opening concert for the 2009 Bonn Christmas Market with an entertaining selection of  Christmas songs. The event took place on the open air-stage at Sterntor on Saturday, November 28.

Bonner Saxophon Ensemble was formed in 2003. The local group performs as a trio, a quartet or even a quintet with alto, bariton, soprano and tenor sax. Bonner Saxophon Ensemble covers a wide repertoire from classical music to pop and rock. The ensemble’s current musicians are: Sandra Dornheim (as, ss), Lea Kuron (as), Thomas Mahren (as, ts, bs), Arnulf Marquardt-Kuron (bs, ts, ss), Ingeborg Mocken (ts), Ralf Reinarz (as, ts), Manfred Reuter (as, ts), Sophie Schetke (bs), Christoph Scheur (ts), Katje Stupperich (as) and Regina Weimer (as, ss).

Saturday evening, November 14, after a documentary film about the polish jazz musician Komeda  (Czas Komedy – Time of Komeda, 1994)  by Robert Kaczmarek and Mariusz Kallinowski, followed by an open forum about German-Polish jazz meetings of the last decade, Kattorna was invited to play a concert at Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn. 

Kattorna is a Polish-Danish contemporary jazz quintet formed in 2005 by Gregorz Rogala and Lukasz Pawlik. Since then the band gave numerous concerts, especially in Germany and Poland. The musicians were also invited to several festivals  e.g. „Hopes of Warsaw”Jazz Competition (2006), 6. Jazz & Blues Awards ( Berlin 2008) and Jazz nad Odrą Festival (Wroclaw 2008).

In their music – sparkling  instrumental poetic jazz  by and in the style of Krzysztof Komeda –  the five musicians integrate groove and American swing as well as European classical music elements. The band’s repertoire includes many own pieces by Lukasz Pawlik and Max Nauta-Simonsens, as well as popular compositions by Krzysztof Komeda, Poland’s most important jazz musician.  

Kattorna is composed of Gregorz Rogala (trombone), Lukasz Pawlik (piano), Max Nauta-Simonsen (bass), Krzysztof Szmanda (drums) and Dawid Glowczewski (alt saxophone).

EURO Jazz 21′ and the Neighbours concert series is an international music exchange project that invites bands from neighbouring  countries, especially Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, to play live concerts in the cities of Aachen, Bonn, Cologne and Düsseldorf. On Sunday November 15, Jazz am Rhein e.V. presented the Dutch formation Braam – De Joode – Vatcher at Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn. Bandleader and composer Michiel Braam, an outstanding piano player, accompanied by double bass player Wilbert de Joode and Michael Vatcher on drums presented an evening of exciting jazz music. Everybody performed excellent and it was particularly enjoyable to listen to their swing improvising contemporary instumental music (New Dutch Swing), characterized by rapid tempo changes and impressive solos. After their final piece, the trio’s performance was rewarded with rapturous applause from the audience who cried for more. The three musicians finally returned once to play an encore number before definitely leaving the stage.

The photo shows House of History/Haus der Geschichte at Willy-Brandt-Allee captured in the early evening, where these days e.g. the exhibition called: Loriot. The Homage, with cartoons and television sketches by the legenday Germany humorist Loriot alias Bernhard Victor (Vicco) Christoph Carl von Bülow can be seen.

The jazz concerts  at Rheinisches Landesmuseum organized by Hans-Jürgen von Osterhausen, director of Jazz am Rhein e.V./EURO Jazz  21′, will certainly not help to make the promoter a rich man. On Thursday, November 5, only a handful of people came to the concert-hall at Colmantstrasse to attend the double concerto by Thomas Champagne Trio (B) and Boi Akih (NL), an evening of jazz under the concert series program “EURO Jazz 21′ and the Neighbours”. Despite the poor attendance, both bands played well and received long applause at the end of their sessions.

The event began at 8 pm with a concert by Thomas Champagne Trio.  The group, founded in November 2001 by frontman Thomas Champagne, has a full agenda, especially in Belgium, where they visit jazz clubs and cultural centres all over the country (e.g. Buster/Antwerp, Jazz Station/Brussels, l’An Vert/Liège), as well as renowned jazz  festivals, such as Jazz à Liège and Gaume Jazz Festival. In 2008 – on occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Belgian jazz label Igloo –  the band released its first album, called Charons Boat.

The three Belgian musicians: Thomas Champagne (alto sax), Nicolas Yates (b) and Didier Van Uytvanck (dr) entertained their listeners with a colourful spectrum of hard bop and modal jazz varieties with influences from Dexter Gordon to John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Joe Hendersen and Lee Konitz.

After the intermission the event continued with Boi Akih, a duo composed of Monica Akihary and Niels Brouwers. Monica Akihary, a charming Dutch singer of Moluccan origin, mostly sung in her father’s mother tongue, the language of  the small Island of Haruku. With her expressive voice, accompanied by the excellent Dutch guitar player Niels Brouwers, she enchanted the listeners with beautiful mysterious Indian lyrics, influenced by blues, European classical music and music of Arabian Africa.

Next week’s  jazz appearances at Rheinisches Landesmuseum:

- Saturday, November 14 at 9 pm: Kattorna (PL/DK)  – Interlude: at 7 pm: Time of Komeda, a 1994 documentary film about the polish jazz musician Komeda,  followed (8 pm) by a discussion forum regarding German – Polish jazz projects of the last decade.  

- Sunday, November 15 at 8 pm: Trio Braam – De Joode – Vatcher (NL)

There are 14 stops along the railway route Mönchengladbach/Koblenz between Bonn-Beuel and Neuwied (distance approx. 40 km) at the right side of the Rhine. Six of them are located in North Rhine-Westphalia namely Beuel, Oberkassel, Niederdollendorf, Königswinter, Rhöndorf and Bad Honnef. The others - Unkel, Erpel, Linz, Leubsdorf, Bad Hönningen, Rheinbrohl, Leutesdorf and Neuwied Hbf - belong to Rhineland-Palatinate. All stops alongs this double-tracked route which is mainly used for the transport of goods and the conveyance of commuters by Rhein-Erft-Express/Bahn have still a station building, except the small wine village Leubsdorf. All but two (1) were built in the second half of the 19th century (2) and designed in typical neo- or late-classical style. The railway buildings are, however, no longer used for operational tasks by the railway company; ticket offices, travel desks, bagage counters, lounges, public conveniences, etc. have been closed and only the platforms are still in use. Tickets must be bought at automatic vending machines. Only in Beuel, Rhöndorf and Neuwied travellers can – at daytime - still buy tickets at a ticket office. After many years neglect most buildings are in desolate state and are crying for restoration. Meanwhile, some have been sold to private individuals or companies and are slowly refurbished and converted  for example to flats, offices and restaurants, others are still for sale and hoping for better times…

(1)  The old Rhöndorf railway building which dated from the 19th century was pulled down for the expansion of Federal Highway 42 between Königswinter and Bad Honnef (1906-62) and replaced by a  small, flat-roofed building in new plain-style. In Bad Honnef a new unattractive building has also replaced the original station building.

(2) Beuel (1874), Oberkassel (1869), Niederdollendorf (1885, annex 1905), Königswinter (1870), Rhöndorf (18??), Unkel (1870), Erpel (1873), Linz (1870), Bad Hönningen (18??), Rheinbrohl (18??), Leutesdorf (1870) and Neuwied Hbf (18??).

The Jewish Cemetery in Endenich, since 1904 a district in the western part of the town with a population of approximately 12000 people,  is located on a hill at Hainstrasse. The site was used as a cemetery by the small Endenich Jewish Community from 1861-2000. At the end of the 19th century, in 1898, the cemetery was completely destroyed; all tombstones were demolished and not replaced. As no cemetery layout map existed and because the law forbids people to open graves, since that time the front section of the cemetery might not longer be used for burials and was reshaped into a park. The newer back section of the cemetery counts 100 gravestones. Some names are: Arnold Friedmann, Rosa Rosenbaum, born Friedmann, Alfred Lehmann (1882-1903), Jacob Scheuer (+ 1904), Rosalie Scheuer (+ 1906), Heinrich Glaser (+ 1901), Regina Geissler, born Hirsch (1843-1911), Rosa Heumann, born Herzfeld, Julius Seligmann (+1918), Max Seligmann (+1911), David Salomon (1834-1911), David Israel (1862-1916), Mrs. Isaac Voos Therese, born Hirsch (+1917), Josef Appel (1861-1918), Appel Moses (1826-1921), Sibilla Leven, born Herz (1924). Hermann Sommer (+1930), Simon Mathes (+1905), Louis Michael (+1892), Leopold Coppel (1861-1910) and Martin Cohen (1832-1892). The last funeral at this location took place in April 2000 for Barbara Wagner, born Ubig (07.03 1913 – 25.04.2000).

Some other Jewish citizens that lived in Endenich were Karl (1896-1942?), Walter (1902-1942) and Sybilla Sommer (born Appel/1882-1943),  as well as Isaak (1871-?), Karl (1868-1942) and Sara (1876-1943) Arensberg. They all were killed or died in Auschwitz, Sobibor, Treblinka or Theresienstadt during the Holocaust.

The Endenich Jewish Cemetery is always closed and can only be visited on special occasions.