MOVE 78

Move 78 are a Berlin-based band whose music is a blend of improvised jazz and drum-heavy hip-hop. With a core group of highly trained Berlin-based jazz musicians on keys, bass, brass and drums, and UK hip-hop producer Aver as their live producer, Move 78’s unique collision of jazz and hip hop has been championed by the likes of BBC 6Music, Worldwide FM, NTS and NPR. The band name is inspired by a famous Go match (an ancient Chinese board game) between Lee Sedol, the world champion of Go at the time, and a computer program named AlphaGo. Having been defeated in the first three games of the five-game match by his AI-powered opponent, Sedol stunned spectators and commentators by adapting and playing a move so strange that it completely baffled AlphaGo and its algorithms, leading the program to scramble for historical data to make sense of it. The move - which represented Sedol's human response adapting to meet the challenges of an ever-evolving technological world - was move 78. Blurring the lines between analogue and digital, live musical interaction and technology, Move 78 are gaining a reputation as one of the best live bands on the contemporary European jazz circuit right now.