Berlin definitely offers way too many concert and party options. I even considered setting up a group therapy for avid music lovers suffering from the FOMO (‘fear of missing out’) syndrome due to the abundant line-ups, conflicting concert dates and exhausting party agenda. And it’s not only a ‘problem’ of EDM aficionados. This sweet problem adds up to sleepless hours of people who love jazz too.

I would like to share my experience with discovering jazz scene in Berlin, with or without FOMO. I think that the aura of this week matches the mellow and warm jazzy vibes to complement the cold rain and clouds. Autumn instead of August, there you go.

Starting from the X Jazz Festival, a great and ambitious Kreuzberg-Friedrichshein-based initiative bringing top-notch artist for a couple of days to this neighbourhood, through ambitious programme of Radialsystem V ending up with unplugged concerts of Bilal or José James, I enjoyed the jazzy programme in Berlin a lot.

Also, Boiler Room made a stop this year to present a few artists from the festival to the wider audience, including Ed Motta, Jazzanova and the amazing duo of Christian Prommer & Kevin Sholnar. How great their 60 minutes performances were, you can see from their archive.

Another great club on the list is Gretchen, where this year I was lucky to see Polish-origin Skalpel as well as DJ Shadow for the 2nd time. Both concerts were very different from my original experience.

There are still many jazz bars and clubs I haven’t visited given the mentioned FOMO syndrome and the lack of time. If you want to experience what I have had, plug in your headphones and set it off to enjoy the soundscapes of syncopassion and improvisation.

As one of my favourite songs says: “Jazz – the only way of life”.