Dressed in casual evening wear, and handling their instruments with expertise, they mesmerised the audience late into the night. JAAzz's repertoire ranged from bebop, swing and ballads to bossa and "modern jazz." The group consisted of Jean-Pierre Froehly on the guitar, Riklef Beuntin on the bass, Philip Holzapfel on the trumpet, Bjoern Frank on the sax, Ole Boston on the piano and Bern Ratmeyer on the drums.

Talking to Jean-Pierre and Riklef one learnt that the group had worked together in Berlin, Germany, and travelled to Rome and Moscow before they had ventured to come to Dhaka."As civil servants, we formed a band for concerts in our free time. We loved this genre and wanted to share it with others. We'd also like to invite professionals to play with the band to have a link with the pros outside the band and to raise its standard," said Jean-Pierre.

Asked if the group carried a special message for its listeners in different countries, Riklef said, " Jazz music itself carries its message of mingling and mixing with ease. It is structured but deals with improvisation and flexibility, and brings together different influences.

Coming to Bangladesh, we've come across some very nice and interesting music that we can integrate and use ourselves. By having the fusion there will be a welcome exchange of culture, which will benefit both us and the Bangladeshi musicians. We've been here for four days. For some of the members of the band it is the first visit to South Asia and we find it overwhelming. Some of us have been in the region but not to Bangladesh. We not only heard music but saw some historical sites both in and outside Dhaka. When we travel, we get the embassies to sponsor us. We got the embassy support in the case of our trip to Moscow and Rome and earlier too for Austria and Albania."

Talking about the audience response, Jean-Pierre said, "The listeners didn't know much about jazz. They came with an open mind. And that's what we were looking for. We talked to many people after the show at the performance in Shilpakala Academy and they told us how much they had enjoyed themselves .As you will find from the concert, jazz is very much open to different cultures. We try to give our interpretation of a Bangladeshi song."

Speaking about their band, Jean-Pierre added, " We are pretty much in constant rehearsal. We have set programmes every week and play on different occasions. We play request pieces too. Earlier, here in Bangladesh, we played at the Shilpakala Academy and the German Ambassador's house. We'd very like tonight to end in a jam session. This is a follow up of Rote Bereich the German band of three jazz players that came in from Germany."

Dwelling on what drew the musicians to jazz, Jean-Pierre said, "As diplomats our aim is to communicate and the tunes of jazz are also to communicate different feelings and emotions to a vast range of people. Jazz links up many cultures. Music had been a hobby for all of us in our group and most of us had private lessons to help us with our music, earlier on."