NICA exchange x CJW: Kokon

A "sound like summer rain" is attributed to Julia Rüffert's trio Kokon. Delicate, spherical and intricate sounds create networks of timbres between chamber music and jazz with a high element of improvisation. "Kein Problem", the band's first album, will be released in January 2025 on the Bern-based ANUK label. The approachable and warm sound of trombone, bass clarinet and guitar and musicians who want to immerse themselves in the moment together with their audience promise an inviting time in the Green Room - the open-air stage of Stadtgarten Köln.

This concert is being organised in cooperation with NICA artist development and Jazzwerkstatt Bern. The Jazzwerkstatt Bern sees itself as a collective of young musicians and composers and serves as a point of communication for improvisation artists from different genres. The aim is to create a suitable working situation and performance opportunity for the exploration, development and presentation of new approaches and ideas and to create an "eclectic festival grab bag". The Jazzwerkstatt Bern will take place for the 17th time in February 2025.

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Following the successful launch of the concert series "NICA exchange" in cooperation between NICA artist development and Cologne Jazzweek as part of the 2022 festival edition and its establishment as a regular feature of the Stadtgarten Köln, the collaboration will be continued and two concerts will be presented as part of this year's festival under the title "NICA exchange x CJW".

NICA exchange enables up-and-coming national and international musicians, particularly from the fields of jazz and improvised music, to play on the stages of the Cologne festival. The main focus of the concert series is to create spaces of exchange for a young, experimental generation of musicians, to encourage sustainable networking and creative exchange and, in the context of the festival, to initiate a connection with an audience eager to discover new things.

The musicians and bands for "NICA exchange" are selected in collaboration with NICA partner organizations. Past collaborations have included BIMHUIS Amsterdam, RAUW Festival Rotterdam, JazzLab Belgium, INTL Jazzplatform Poland, AJC Jazz France and We Jazz from Helsinki.