The hand as a door handle at the entrance symbolizes a personal invitation to all visitors to King Georg. No fear of contact with the unknown “jazz” – that is the motto. We look forward to welcoming all nerds, but we want to win over those who want to find a new approach to jazz. 

Cologne is a jazz city – history was made by Gigi Campi in the ice cream parlor on Wallraffplatz, Kurt Edelhagen and Harald Banter made history by establishing an internationally successful big band for WDR, Jiggs Whigham spent decades building a highly regarded jazz department at the University of Music and Dance, the open Jazzhausschule in the Eigelsteintorburg, the InitiativeKölnerJazzHaus with the Stadtgarten, now the European Center for Jazz and Contemporary Music, and the Loft in Ehrenfeld as excellent venues for concert performances of many styles of contemporary jazz. We complement this scene with our focus on club atmosphere, a great bar, great respect for the history of jazz and its current protagonists, support for the young scene, and always: jazz for the audience.

The King Georg team, which has been working together since 2019, is not part of Cologne’s established, publicly funded jazz scene. Their passion and personal commitment have a goal of their own: to make jazz accessible to the general public or allow them to rediscover it, to win over jazz fans as enthusiastic and active supporters, and to reduce their dependence on funding applications and the associated public funding pots, as indispensable as they may be. Jazz in the club—live and in direct exchange with the audience, as a professional counterpoint to classical music, lively and creative on the platform of what is now 100 years of eventful history of this music, in the best quality—that’s what we’re all about. Anyone who brands this approach as commercial misunderstands the economic constraints and possibilities of a club. We can only survive with the help of sponsors who are committed to enabling cultural life. Jazz is fun – always fresh and new. The basis and focus of straight-ahead jazz allows for a wide range of artistic activity, always with the audience in mind as “customers.” Big international names from overseas under the banner of “New York jazz,” jazz musicians from the region and all over Europe, as well as up-and-coming students (“young talents”) from several universities, the latter often making their first appearances, fill the stage and represent a packed weekly program – and the weekend is complemented by “Jazz and Beyond” experimental concert ideas and, with a diverse club program and DJ sets for the club bar and dance floor, forms interfaces to R&B, pop, hip-hop, and other styles, without ever losing the connection to jazz. Live jazz bar entertainment, Lindi Hop Live, and Klubbar DJ playlists featuring jazz icons round off the week. And if we also succeed in enabling inclusion for disabled artists and listeners, young and old alike, then we are satisfied.

The program isn’t entirely wrong: the Applaus 2021 and 2025 awards and the Spielstättenprogrammpreis 2021/2022 (Venue Program Award) spur the King Georg team on, even if the 200 or so live events sometimes push the team to the brink of exhaustion. But what helps even more is the recognition of the audience: sold-out double concerts and nights spent dancing in a classic jazz club atmosphere – that’s pure adrenaline and joy. Nothing beats the shared live experience, but space is limited – nevertheless, we can welcome around 20,000 guests a year. Our expertise in streaming, honed during the pandemic, allows us to reach an unknown number of additional listeners. Our on-demand archive comprises around 600 concerts.

Support can be provided to our non-profit organization “King-Georg Jazz-Club gGmbH.” Become part of our effort under the motto: Together.Live.Jazz for everybody.