Big week. Wolfgang Haffner turns 60 and marks half a century on stage. Studnitzky releases a new album across two nights at A-Trane. Rudi Mahall shows up twice, once with Die Enttäuschung at Sowieso and again leading his Copenhagen Quartet at Donau115. And a 30-year-old bassist with liner notes from Ron Carter plays the A-Trane on Saturday. Here are the ten shows you should know about.

Wolfgang Haffner Trio "The Jubilee Concert" · Columbia Theater · 20:00

You don't get to 4,000 concerts in 100 countries by being anything less than relentless. Wolfgang Haffner, Germany's most in-demand jazz drummer, is celebrating two milestones at once: his 60th birthday and 50 years of performing professionally. He started at 18, and the résumé since then reads like a who's who of transatlantic jazz and pop: Al Jarreau, Pat Metheny, Chaka Khan, Gregory Porter, two ECHO Jazz awards, and roughly 400 album credits. For this jubilee concert he's keeping it intimate with longtime collaborators Simon Oslender on keys and Thomas Stieger on bass. Note: this one's at the Columbia Theater, not the A-Trane itself, but A-Trane regulars get 15% off at the door with the code "A-Trane."

Studnitzky "EUPHORIA" Album Release · A-Trane · 20:30 (Thursday + Friday)

Sebastian Studnitzky is one of those Berlin musicians who makes genre boundaries feel pointless. Trumpet, piano, composition, electronic textures, all of it. He founded the XJAZZ Festival and turned it into Berlin's biggest jazz event, then stepped back to focus on his own music. The result is "KY!", an album that folds jazz, classical, and club music into something handmade and deeply emotional. Part of it was recorded with the chamber orchestra of the Philharmonie Odesa, a collaboration born during wartime that clearly left its mark. The band is stacked: Claudio Puntin on bass clarinet, Haggai Cohen-Milo on bass, Bodek Janke on percussion, Tim Sarhan on drums. Two nights to catch it.

John Kameel Farah · Sowieso · 20:30

Palestinian-Canadian pianist and composer John Kameel Farah splits his time between Toronto and Berlin, and his music does something similar, bridging worlds that don't usually share a stage. Trained in classical composition and piano performance, he layers live piano with electronics in ways that feel more like architecture than effect. The program is called "Music of Liberation," and if you know Sowieso's intimate room, you know this is going to be an intense, up-close experience.

EB Davis & The Superband · Zig Zag Jazz Club · 21:00

EB Davis is a walking piece of Berlin music history. Born in the Arkansas Delta, raised in Memphis, gigging in New York by the 1960s, he shared stages with Wilson Pickett, B.B. King, and Isaac Hayes before coming to Europe with The Drifters in the early '80s. Stationed as a soldier in West Berlin, he became one of the few artists to play on East German stages during the Cold War. He eventually settled here and founded his Superband in the '90s, and they've been a fixture ever since. Seven musicians deep, blues and soul at the highest level, from a man who literally lived it. There's a documentary about him called How Berlin Got The Blues.

Emma Smith · Zig Zag Jazz Club · Thu 18:30 + 21:00 / Fri 18:30 + 21:00

Emma Smith won the UK's Parliamentary Jazz Vocalist of the Year award in 2024 after two consecutive nominations, and her return to the Zig Zag comes after a previous run that sold out. She's a member of The Puppini Sisters, did four years with Postmodern Jukebox, and has shared stages with Michael Bublé, the Quincy Jones Orchestra, Jeff Goldblum, Gregory Porter, and Bobby McFerrin. That's a range that speaks for itself. She'll be backed by an all-star British jazz ensemble led by pianist Jamie Safir. Four shows across two nights, and given the last run sold out, don't wait on this one.

Die Enttäuschung · Sowieso · 20:30

"What's the best jazz combo today?" asked John Corbett in DownBeat. His answer: this unassuming Berlin foursome. Die Enttäuschung ("The Disappointment") have been at it since the late '90s, playing free-bop that swings hard and then gleefully interrupts its own swing. The frontline of Rudi Mahall on bass clarinet and Axel Dörner on trumpet is immediately arresting, a gush of musicality that treats compositions as springboards, not scripts. Jan Roder on bass and Kasper Tom on drums round out a group that carries humility and ambition in equal measure. If you care about creative jazz in Berlin, this is essential.

Gropper / Warelis / Cajado / Wankel · Sowieso · 20:00

Philipp Gropper has been one of the most important saxophonists in Berlin's creative music scene for two decades. Born here in 1978, he started playing at seven and has since built a body of work that spans free improvisation, modern composition, and everything in between. His group PHILM released two albums in quick succession recently after a seven-year gap. Tonight he's in a one-off quartet with pianist Marta Warelis, bassist Vinicius Cajado, and drummer Marius Wankel. Sowieso's small room is the right place for this kind of music: no distance between you and the sound.

Rudi Mahall Copenhagen Quartet · Donau115 · 20:30

Yes, the same Rudi Mahall who plays in Die Enttäuschung on Friday. The man's everywhere this week, and for good reason: he's one of Europe's most distinctive voices on bass clarinet and saxophone. The Copenhagen Quartet is a different proposition from Die Enttäuschung, but you can expect the same restless musicality, the same refusal to play it safe. Donau115's Neukölln basement is a great room for this, small and warm with nowhere to hide.

Niklas Lukassen "Still Waters" Album Release · A-Trane · 20:30

Here's a debut album release with a pedigree that would make most musicians twice his age jealous. Niklas Lukassen is 30, a German bassist who studied at the Jazz Institute Berlin (where Kurt Rosenwinkel led his ensemble) and later at Manhattan School of Music, where he took weekly lessons with Ron Carter. Yes, that Ron Carter, who liked the album enough to write the liner notes. The record comes out on Rosenwinkel's Heartcore Records and features Kit Downes on piano, Ben Van Gelder on alto sax, and Francesco Ciniglio on drums, plus guest appearances from Rosenwinkel himself and Wanja Slavin. Lukassen describes it as music that looks calm on the surface but hides real depth underneath. The first track is called "The Deep." He's not being subtle about it, and that's a good thing.

See you out there.