Endea Owen & The Cookout Gretchen Club Berlin

Endea Owens: composer, bandleader, bass
Keith Brown: piano
John Davis: drums
Kris Johnson: trumpet
Louis Fouche: alto sax
Shenel Johns: vocals

Then it's back to full power sound, hard-hitting beats, again reinforced by woodwind and brass. The music is danceable, if there were enough space. Every now and then an announcement in between. It's a bit about the universe and the master plans for it and for each individual. "Do you have a master plan?" is the question to the audience. Then more singing, final chords? No. Repetition of the title and a new beginning. This is again introduced by the bass. While the drums indulge in percussive playing, the piano joins in, but remains in the background. Instead, the voice draws attention to itself. More jazzy ballad than voodoo incantation as before. The rhythm generated by the bass and drums has now picked up speed and is driven forward by accentuated beats. The alto sax blows its lively loops high and fast into the increasingly voluminous sound. This is big band light. The "light" can be omitted.

Solo bass again. This could tend to be boring, but the opposite is the case: the lines, runs and figures that Endea creates are concentrated on the essentials. A clear statement, a sharp edge, unrestrained expression on a virtuoso basis. The bassists have this in common with the great Charles Mingus. Both sax and brass inject a jazzy, sometimes swinging breath into the sound, which, as a witch's brew, gives off an unheard-of air. Great Black Music from Detroit to the World. There's also something on top from the soloistically blaring trumpet. Throughout all this, the uncomplicated bass figures can be heard constantly, which nevertheless or precisely because of this unfold their full effect. There is also the drumming of Endea's congenial drummer, whose playing is concentrated in an overdue solo. What can be heard now is an accentuated bob, if there is such a thing, which transitions into fast free playing. Once again, it is the horns that make the sound shimmer in one of the bob variants from full pipe.  The spectacle is rounded off with a drum solo using the brushes, which also works.

No concert without blues. It is brought to life by the bass notes and the vocals. The others - apart from the piano - remain in the background or completely silent. This is the opportunity for the electric piano to show off as a soloist. Using digital effects, the keyboard instrument sounds like a guitar gone wild from the fusion genre. Then the pianist supports the blues with classical chords. Shenel Johns' expressive, spiralling vocals lead to the audience being encouraged to join in. It works perfectly.

What's still missing? Of course, a ballad. This is now a calm, carrying theme with a lot of melodic sophistication. The alto saxophone throws a few more sequences into the track before the vocals get further support from the band and turn into a polyphonic choir. It's a Sunday mass in Harlem, Detroit or here at the Gretchen in Berlin Kreuzberg.  The music is incredibly dense and is many things: jazz, soul, spiritual. It's got everything. Great class! The finale is another funky join-in section between the singer and the enthusiastic audience based on the call-and-response principle.