Living Room Jazz

There are a few good reasons to attend a concert:
– You simply love the music on the programme.
– You love the musicians performing the programme.
– You love the venue where the concert is taking place.
– And sometimes, the price of the pleasure.

Friday, 6th December 2024, was one of those rare days when all these criteria aligned. As part of the “Freiraum” jazz concerts, the “Fritz Pauer Legacy Quintet” performed in the living room of Sigrid and Joe Sailer in Bruck. The programme featured the suite “African Impressions” by the Viennese jazz pianist and composer Fritz Pauer, who passed away in 2012.

I still vividly remember how, decades ago, we regularly made the pilgrimage to Vienna’s “Jazzland” to experience Fritz Pauer with his legendary trio (with bassist Jimmy Woode and drummer Erich Bachträgl) and later with Johannes Strasser (bass) and Joris Dudli (drums).

The latter two, along with Daniel Nösig (trumpet), Bernhard Wiesinger (saxophone), and Erwin Schmidt (piano), now form the “Fritz Pauer Legacy Quintet”, which is currently touring the country with “African Impressions”: 13 melodic jazz pieces as a kind of programme music with titles such as “Safari”, “Giraffe”, “The Blue Savanna” or “Simba”. – A musical treasure, especially since the suite was performed only once during Pauer’s lifetime.

Location
When Sigrid and Joe Sailer transform their “living room” into a concert hall for a good hundred listeners and jazz is celebrated in front of the large bookshelf, it’s a musical experience unlike any other.

Service
And when the hosts then provide free drinks and sausages for all listeners, it’s almost like a fairy tale. Thanks and a big compliment to Sigrid and Joe Sailer.