Greetings from Washington

It was Thursday, 2nd May, and Bruck’s cultural association “Freiraum” once again invited guests to a jazz concert in the Seidl Keller. The programme featured Gerhard Graml, who presented his latest album “Everything” with his sextet.

While Gerhard Graml is musically worlds better than, say, DJ Ötzi or Melissa Naschenweng, his public recognition is equally lower. So, here are a few lines about him: Graml, born in Linz, is a bassist and one of the few of his kind who are also bandleaders and composers, like the legendary American Charles Mingus. He has collaborated with numerous international jazz greats, hosts jazz programmes on Ö1, and taught for several years at the German International School Washington D.C. After returning to Austria two years ago, he released the aforementioned album “Everything”.

“Greetings from Washington” aptly describes the soundscape that Graml and his colleagues unfurled in the Seidl Keller. Sophisticated jazz, from Duke Ellington to Latin sounds and groovy funk passages, it was all there. “In Washington, tradition and new ideas are not played against each other but side by side. The common thread is the music,” says Graml.

When the brass section (Markus Perchmann, trumpet / Christian Maurer, saxophone / Robert Bachner, trombone) kicks in, it’s all about orchestral jazz sound, without exaggerated virtuoso showmanship. I personally prefer to lose myself in the sensitive trio passages of piano-bass-drums. Heribert Kohlich (piano) and Hermann Aigner (drums), alongside Graml, provided the finest in this regard.

I know people who say: jazz is when musicians play against each other. I say: it’s when they find each other in their individuality. – Thank you, Mr. Graml and co., that was a lovely evening of music!

Location
The Seidl Keller always brings back memories of my youth, when we regularly made the pilgrimage to Vienna’s “Jazzland” – a vaulted cellar beneath St. Rupert’s Church. Since then, such cellar venues have been inextricably “jazzy” for me. The only drawback: they are usually miles away from being “barrier-free”.

Service
Owner and winemaker Gerhard Seidl tirelessly explains grape varieties and wines before serving them. His wife Christine provides traditional Heuriger snacks (also vegetarian) at prices that would make even McDonald’s blush.