19–20 October 2026
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Joe McPhee / tenor saxophone
Steve Swell / trombone
Mark Tokar / double bass
Klaus Kugel / drums
When Joe McPhee steps on stage, a piece of jazz history enters the room. For decades, the tenor saxophonist has stood for a jazz that knows no compromise – from the early, funky and raw recordings of his album "Nation Time" to the widely acclaimed solo excursions on "Tenor". McPhee never stopped playing, yet it was a new generation of improvisers who rediscovered him in the mid-1990s – not least through his long-standing collaboration with Peter Brötzmann, in whose legendary Chicago Tentet he became a central figure. To this day, his tone is considered one of the finest in the field, even where he ventures into the outer regions of jazz.
At his side is Steve Swell, one of the most distinctive trombonists of his generation. Swell treats the technical peculiarities of his instrument not as limitations but as invitations – howling glissandi, chattering chromaticism, and a playfulness that pushes his instrument to its limits and beyond. That he never abandons the ground of postbop linearity is what makes his music so multi-layered: virtuosic and unpredictable at once.
The foundation is provided by Mark Tokar on double bass and Klaus Kugel on drums – two musicians who have understood each other intuitively for years. Tokar plays with a concentration and devotion that takes every moment of interplay seriously; his full, unmistakable tone forms the sonic backbone of the quartet. Kugel, in turn, ranks among the most defining drummers in contemporary European jazz: precise, alert, and always in dialogue with his fellow musicians, moving confidently between structural clarity and complete freedom. Together, the two form a rhythm section that distills improvised music into a universal language – the sturdy foundation on which the sound worlds of McPhee and Swell can unfold freely.
Joe McPhee grew up in New York, is a multi-instrumentalist and plays since the late 60ties within the creative and free jazz music world. His play is energetic, demanding and breathtaking sensitive - still with over 80 years! He learnt to play trumpet as a kid and - inspired by John Coltrane, Albert Ayler and Ornette Colemann - he thought himself saxophone in his thirties. McPhee's first recording was with Clifford Thornton in 1967 on the album "Freedom and Unity". He became involved and known in Europe in the midd 70ties and since the 90ties he also plays with a younger generation from Chicago and New York. He played/plays regular for example with Ken Vandermark, Peter Brötzmann, Evan Parker, Mats Gustafsson, Dominic Duval, Jay Rosen, Jeb Bishop, The Thing, Clifton Hyde, Jérôme Bourdellon, Raymond Boni, Joe Giardullo.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_McPhee
Born in Newark, NJ, Steve Swell has been an active member of the NYC music community since 1975. He has toured and recorded with many artists from mainstreamers such as Lionel Hampton and Buddy Rich to so called outsiders as Anthony Braxton, Bill Dixon, Cecil Taylor and William Parker. He has over 50 CDs as a leader or co-leader and is a featured artists on more than 125 other releases. He runs workshops around the world and is a teaching artist in the NYC public school system focusing on special needs children.
Swell has worked on music transcriptions of the Bosavi tribe of New Guinea for MacArthur fellow, Steve Feld in 2000. His CD, "Suite For Players, Listeners and Other Dreamers" (CIMP) ranked number 2 in the 2004 Cadence Readers Poll. He has also received grants from USArtists International in 2006, MCAF (LMCC) awards in 2008 and 2013 and has been commissioned three times for the Interpretations Series at Merkin Hall in 2006 and at Roulette in 2012 and 2017...[more]
Mark Tokar originally studied classical guitar at S. Lyudkevych Music College. During this time he began to play double bass, which became his main instrument.
During 2002-2004 he repeatedly participated in the Krakow Jazz Workshop, directed by M. Parkinson (USA).
In 2006, via the “Gaude Polonia” scholarship program, Mark studied at K. Szymanowski Jazz Academy under the direction of Professor Jacek Niedzela. The program was granted by the Minister of Culture in Poland.
Mark Tokar has performed with Ken Vandermark, Bobby Few, Perry Robinson, Steve Swell, Michael Zerang, Tim Daisy, Dave Rempis, Roberta Piket, Fred Frith (USA), Klaus Kugel, Arkadij Shylkloper (Germany), Petras Vishniauskas (Lithuania), Mirchea Tiberian (Romania), Mazzol, Mikolaj Trzaska, Waclaw Zimpel, Piotr Baron, Kazimierz Jonkisz (Poland), Jurij Jaremczuk (Ukraine), Magnus Broo, Per-Ake Holmlander (Sweden), and Mark Sanders (England).
"Drummer Klaus Kugel is one of Central Europe's busiest and most articulate modern jazz drummers ... he treads the boundary between inside and outside playing in a particularly incisive way; always listening and never getting caught up in his own considerable chops." - Dave Wayne, AllAboutJazz, USA
Klaus Kugel studied at the School of Jazz in Munich. Since 1989 he attracted attention worldwide through projects with Petras Vysniauskas, Karl Berger, Tomasz Stanko, Charlie Mariano, Kent Carter, Michel Pilz, Theo Jorgensmann, Kenny Wheeler, Vyacheslav Ganelin, Bobo Stenson, Glen Moore, Steve Swell, Sabir Mateen, Robert Dick, Peter Evans, Connie Crothers, Perry Robinson, Hilliard Greene, John Lindberg, Gerd Dudek, William Parker, Bobby Few, Roy Campbell, Jemeel Moondoc, Marco Eneidi, Mars Williams, Charles Gayle, Conny Bauer, Ken Vandermark, Joe McPhee, John Edwards, Jaimie Branch, Knox Chandler, Mark Tokar, Christopher Dell, Herb Robertson a.m.o..
Over the past 30 years, he gave numerous concerts and appeared at festivals throughout Europe, the Baltic States, Canada, USA, Syria, Japan, Mexico, Russia, China, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Israel.
