JAZZ FEVER – The Story of German Jazz

Jazz Fever is based on interviews and recordings made since 2012 with German jazz legends Rolf Kühn, Max Greger, Hugo Strasser, Paul Kuhn and many more.

Jazz is hip! There’s a rekindled interest and enthusiasm among young people about swinging rhythms and jazzy grooves. Yet little is known about the background of this music. What is jazz? How did this music come to Germany? Why did the Nazis see jazz as a danger? Why were young followers of swing music taken to forced labor camps, and jazz musicians even to concentration camps? And how was jazz able to achieve its great breakthrough despite all this?

Jazz Fever sets out in search of answers: we accompany “Bix Jam” (young jazz musicians Alma Naidu, Jakob Bänsch, Caris Hermes, Mareike Wiening and Niklas Roever) on the road in the tour bus, where they discuss their idols, watch old film clips on the iPad and look into the roots of their music. Based on these conversations, the film delves into the history of jazz in Germany.

This retrospective is largely based on interviews and recordings made since 2012 with German jazz legends Rolf Kühn, Max Greger, Hugo Strasser, Paul Kuhn and Coco Schumann, film composer Peter Thomas and the "jazz pope" of the former GDR, Karlheinz Drechsel, all of whom have since passed away. Further contributions are by another jazz legend, Klaus Doldinger (widely known for the score of “Das Boot” and for the title fanfare of German TV series “Tatort”) and jazz drummer Peter Baumeister.

A road movie through space and time of German jazz, with “the great bonus of presenting the [final live footage of] pioneering musicians of German jazz and their legacy” (Süddeutsche Zeitung).

English title JAZZ FEVER – The Story of German Jazz
Original title JAZZ FEVER – The Story of German Jazz
Genre Documentary
Production year 2023
Duration 92 min.
Video format HD
Production Company rk-film
Assoc. Prod. Company SWR / BR
Producer Andreas Heinrich & Reinhard Kungel
Director Reinhard Kungel
Main Actor Rolf Kühn, Max Greger, Hugo Strasser, Coco Schumann, Paul Kuhn, Klaus Doldinger and many more
Distribution TV Naxos Audiovisual Division
Distribution VOD / SVOD Naxos Audiovisual Division
Distribution homevideo / DVD Naxos Audiovisual Division
Distribution theatrical Naxos Audiovisual Division