URBAN JAZZ FESTIVAL 2025 | Freitag Line up w/ NILS KUGELMANN, JOSHUA MILO

In the organizer's words:

URBAN JAZZ FESTIVAL 2025
W/ NILS KUGELMANN, JOSHUA MILO,
THE RUFFCATS FEAT. RAH, NUHUSSEL ORCHESTRA, SHEY RAH (> Videolink > Artistname)

Urban jazz?

This is a generation of musicians who grew up with a particularly open attitude towards hip-hop, electro, songwriting and sample beats. The UJF is establishing an "up-to-date" sound in the Hanseatic city that has been making the rounds in cities like London and New York for several years now. This time we have a line-up that has never been seen before!

LINE UP

FRIDAY 14.02. (DAY TICKETS // 2-DAY COMBO TICKET )

| Nils Kugelmann | Joshua Milo |

MORE INFO

| Nils Kugelmann | Nils Kugelmann

Nils Kugelmann has achieved something very special with his debut album Stormy Beauty (ACT). In addition to a nomination for the German Record Critics' Award, an appearance in the European jazz charts and enthusiastic audiences everywhere, it has also been consistently celebrated by the national and international press. Melodies that inspire meet harmonies that touch. And always audible:

Kugelmann's love of groove - "music that gets under your skin" (SWR).
"What great grooving, rousing and positive music." BR Klassik
"Someone is taking off in leaps and bounds." Jazzthing
"More than a debut, Stormy Beauty sets the stage for three new voices to engage imaginations
and, hopefully, enlighten futures." All About Jazz (US)
"All the tracks are true masterpieces." Paris Move (FR)

www.nilskugelmann.com

| Joshua Milo

Joshua Milo's music is wild and unpredictable, combining elements of jazz fusion, prog rock and video game music, which is why many of his listeners like to describe his music as "Mario Kart music".

Although the musician from Cologne - now living in Berlin - is familiar with various instruments, his heart beats especially for the keyboard and piano, which he studied in Arnhem (NL) until 2022. In addition to his talent as an instrumentalist, he is also a producer and content creator. His unconventional creations on YouTube range from an orchestral piece made from an emoji to music he creates from random objects in his room. He has also won remix competitions from artists such as Andrew Huang and Davie504. For about two years, he has been regularly posting entertaining and creatively edited short videos from concert excerpts on TikTok and Instagram, which have gone viral several times with millions of views and have earned him over 120,000 followers in total. Joshua has collaborated with renowned New York saxophonist Sam Greenfield, played at the famous North Sea Jazz Festival and opened shows for Tom Jones, Lukas Graham and Nils Landgren.

For his live shows, Joshua has assembled a 6-piece "supergroup" of his favorite musicians and friends to accompany him on a musical journey of soaring melodies and captivating grooves.

www.joshuamilo.com

LINE UP SATURDAY 15.02. (DAY TICKET)

| The Ruffcats | NuHussel Orchestra | Shey Rah |


| The Ruffcats |

As one of the most sought-after and technically adept bands in the German live music scene, Berlin's Ruffcats are something of an institution. Comprising some of the country's most respected session musicians, the eight-piece band brings together all their diverse influences and, as The Ruffcats, create a unique interpretation of the music that inspires them. Since their formation in 2007 and through their live jams at the Bohannon Soul Club in Berlin, The Ruffcats have established themselves as the backing band for artists such as Georgia Anne Muldrow, Sweet Charles, Lady Alma, Jaguar Wright, Miles Bonny and many more. In and out of the studio, they have also worked continuously with German soul singer Flo Mega. In the meantime, and for over a decade, Rapturous Apollo Helios, better known as RAH, has made a name for himself as one of Berlin's most outstanding rappers, songwriters and singers.

www.ruffcats.de/

| NuHussel Orchestra

Globalized sound, danceable grooves and driving melodies
The NuHussel Orchestra was founded by Wanja C. Hasselmann (drums/composing) in the middle of St. Pauli in 2015 and since then has skillfully maneuvered through everything that modern jazz has to offer; influenced by funk, hip hop, classical music, rock and electro. The band follows a "collective" concept and performs with a constant stream of new features and guest musicians, so that more than the seven-piece core line-up can soon be heard. The result is the new city sound of a cosmopolitan generation: Urban Score. After the debut album "First Things First" (Unit Records) was released in 2017 to excellent reviews, the band won the Future Sounds Jazz Award in the same year. They continued in 2018 with acclaimed concerts at the Elbjazz Festival and the Leverkusener Jazztage, where they were included in the renowned live concert TV series "Rockpalast" on WDR. In summer 2019, the NuHussel Orchestra presented its second album: "The Forest", which was recorded in a five-day session with 38 musicians from the urban jazz scene from 12 nations and was accompanied by features such as rap legend Nico Suave and the outstanding New York jazz singer Alana Alexander. October 2022 saw the release of "KIDS" EP - HipHop and Urban Culture meets Modern Jazz. The five-track EP with support from none other than rap legend Afrob manages the balancing act between jazz tradition and zeitgeist. The latest project - "BAHIA" - was released on 10.11.23. The 3 track EP comes with three new songs, recorded "Live at studio", and takes us into influences of the Brazilian sound world, culture, rhythms and emotions.

www.nuhusselorchestra.com/


| Shey Rah

Shey Rah is a versatile singer, songwriter and electronic music artist of Iranian origin, born and raised in Germany. After singing in various jazz and pop ensembles and studying jazz vocals and live electronics in Amsterdam for six years, she is now going her own way as an independent solo artist. Her soulful, dreamy vocals and her versatile use of electronics merge into a very personal and haunting soundscape, inspired by different styles of music such as R&B, soul, hip-hop, jazz, trip-hop, but also by global music, dub, jungle and various types of electronica.

https://soundcloud.com/sheyrahmusic