KARACHI: Music lovers were treated to some high-quality jazz music on Tuesday evening at the German consulate. German jazz band Underkarl was in top form as it played a variety of jazz tunes with as contemporary a sound as one can imagine. The band members — Sebastian Gramss (bass), Lomsch Lehmann (reeds), Rudi Mahall (clarinet), Frank Wingold (guitar, turntable) and Dirk Peter Kolsch (drums) — played with such mastery marked by great improvisational skills that it made the audience gasp for more at the end of their stint on stage.

The band kicked off the gig with a piece that instantly familiarised the attendees with the musicians’ mettle. It was a typical jazz tune, inspired by a range of furniture (as Gramss told the audience later on) with less prominent bass riffs. The composition grew on the listeners and Mahall’s clarinet augmented the sound effortlessly. This was cleverly complemented by a dialogue between Lehmann and Mahall whose instruments indulged in a cute little musical tiff with each other.

The second tune was called ‘The Small Coalition’ influenced by the political setup in Germany. Both the wind instruments began the piece in a way as if announcing the arrival of someone important, with bass matching note for note, later joined in by the drums which created a solid, regular thumping beat, somewhat rock style. The turntable’s screeching sound heightened the dramatic effect of the composition. It was such an engaging work of modern jazz, with fresh sounds, that even Trent Reznor would be proud of coming up with something like that.

The audience got to hear a tad different tune next. The composition had a fits and starts movement with continual breaking of rhythm and the wind instruments going wild in the end. Just brilliant.

This was followed by a track with had a staid mood having long notes that drifted from romantic to melancholic to mysterious shifts. Mahall’s performance was particularly notworthy in the piece.

‘Frogs in Love’ was an effort which was part of a series based on animals. The beat played the central part in it, but here it was Frank Wingold’s guitar that came into its own. The quick runs on the guitar’s neck with occasional bluesy notes were a delight to listen to.

After one more number, Sebastian Gramss invited Pakistani musician Asif Sinan to perform with Underkarl. They played an instrumental together. Then Sinan called up his own band and played a few songs, including ‘Jaey Jaane Do’. But for the finale he again requested the German band to hop onto the stage and the two groups rounded off the evening with their version of the famous Abida Parveen song ‘Mahi Yaar Di’.

The show was organised by the Goethe Institut Karachi and the German consulate.