JAM Prof Danny Grissett and Peter Bernstein Quartet at Porgy & Bess: a Touch of New York Jazz to Vienna

On Sunday, July 12, 2026, the Peter Bernstein Quartet performed at Porgy & Bess in Vienna and gave the audience an evening of jazz at the highest level. For JAM MUSIC LAB Private University for Jazz and Popular Music Vienna, the concert had a special resonance, as it featured JAM piano professor Danny Grissett alongside guitarist Peter Bernstein, bassist Doug Weiss, and drum legend Billy Drummond.

The concert was the final stop of the quartet’s European tour and brought a strong sense of the New York jazz tradition to one of Vienna’s leading jazz clubs. With a full house at Porgy & Bess, the atmosphere was electric from the first notes. What made the evening so special was not only the individual brilliance of the musicians, but the way the entire band played together: deeply connected, rhythmically precise, and full of trust, energy, and openness.

There was plenty of improvisation, but never for its own sake. The quartet played with real focus and a remarkable sense of form. Every solo grew naturally out of the ensemble sound, and every exchange between the musicians showed how closely they were listening to one another. It was one of those concerts where the audience could feel that the band was completely “in the pocket” — tight, relaxed, and fully alive in the moment.

For JAM, the evening also underlined the artistic level of its international faculty and extended musical network. Bassist Doug Weiss is also part of the recording of Andreas Varady’s JAM-related album SUNRISE, together with Danny Grissett and Adrian Varady, which created an additional connection between the concert stage and the wider artistic environment around JAM.

Concerts like this show how strongly music education in Vienna can be enriched by contact with the real international jazz scene. At JAM MUSIC LAB, students do not only study jazz in the classroom — they experience how world-class musicians communicate, shape sound, and create meaning together on stage. We are already looking forward to more performances by our JAM professors in the future.