Producer Berlioz rocked the house at first-ever Phoenix show

Jazz-house is, to me, the lovechild of two of the sexiest and smoothest of all music genres out there. The genre simultaneously brings more danceability and liveliness to jazz and more sophistication and complexity to house music, making a beautiful hip-shaking, finger-snapping sound. Still, the genre hasn’t received as much love as it should from hipster-y bars and coffee shops. That is, until Berlioz.

While producer Berlioz is far from the first artist to spin jazz-house, his tunes have resonated much more widely with the general public than previous artists in his genre. Having begun his career nearly a decade ago in 2017 under the name Ted Jasper, he would release his debut EP, jazz is for ordinary people, under the name Berlioz in 2023, accompanied by a series of watercolor-inspired animated shorts that gained heavy traction on Instagram and TikTok.

Last summer, Berlioz released his debut album, open this wall. At the start of this year, Berlioz announced on his Instagram account that an expanded North American tour for the album would be announced, including a date in Phoenix at the intimate downtown Phoenix venue, The Van Buren, on Saturday, May 24. This is the fifth stop on the tour, which is set to wrap up in early fall.

Having seen Berlioz in Brooklyn on his initial leg, which featured two sold-out NYC shows and shows in LA, London, and Paris, I came in feeling slightly apprehensive. Though I considered myself a fan of the artist and enjoyed his Brooklyn show, the set felt a bit short and stilted and overall, his stage presence didn’t come across as strongly as I’d hoped. Still, I enjoyed his layered tracks, his unique mixing, and the undeniable presence of his live jazz band, and still found myself excited for the show.

The show, which was nearly sold out, began with an opening, hour-long set from local DJ Mitch Freedom. The DJ, who spins vinyl records of house music, currently hosts residencies at local Phoenix bars such as Gracie’s Tax Bar and The Churchill and has opened for artists like MGMT and Jade Tillman. The DJ got involved with the show through his resident promoter, who works with Live Nation.

Mitch Freedom brought his signature deep house sounds to the stage while curating tracks to match the ambient jazz and heavily instrumental vibe of the main act.

“First and foremost, it’s about artistry,” the DJ said. “I feel like if you connect first with people by sharing music they are into, that elevates their mood, then hopefully they’ll come and see (me) perform other places in the city.”

Loud waves of cheers could be heard throughout his set, initially from friends in the crowd who came to support him, that spread quickly and contagiously through the crowd. One attendee near me who knew the DJ from his previous club and bar appearances gushed about his set, while another duo near me inquired to me about the DJ’s name and proceeded to check out his IG while grooving out.

“The pre-show music is always such an important part of a concert,” he said. “I just want to make this style of music I really love and make people bounce and have fun while they’re waiting.”

During his set, the DJ would flash covers of the records he was playing, which gained much traction from the crowd, particularly covers from Fred Again and JD Beck.

“That was wild,” he recalls while laughing. “It was a really energetic crowd. A bunch of my friends were there bringing this wild energy that I think everyone fed off.”

After Mitch Freedom left the stage, there was a palpable tension in the crowd that slowly increased through the thirty-minute intermission. While a few people left their spots for a bathroom break or to grab a drink at the bar, others took the opportunity to spring forward closer to the barricade, with a new rush of people coming into the venue later. The attendees didn’t make a waste of the intermission: people introduced themselves and made small talk with both their friends and the strangers they danced with around them. Several wholesome interactions ensued, with guests spreading around cups of water passed by security to trade trinkets and even sports cards on the dance floor.

Exactly a minute after 9:30, Berlioz and his band took to the stage, taking a little bit longer to transition into the song “ascension” than the song’s normal 55-second transition, which also serves as the beginning point of open this wall. An energy that slowly builds up into a crescendo of sax and drum kicks, this song accompanied by its warm red light and white strobes was the perfect energy shift into Berlioz’s set.

A high point of Berlioz’s music, and subsequently his sets, is the use of instruments to really bring the jazz element to life. While the band that plays live with Berlioz is different than the band used on his recorded versions, they still bring that same element of passion, heart, and musicality that the original does. During songs with particular emphasis on piano or guitar or a crafty sax solo, like tracks “wash my sins away,” “indigo dream,” and “ode to rahsaan” (which shouts out jazz as “black classical music”), people seemed to dance the hardest.
With instrumentality being such a large facet of Berlioz’s music, you could argue that the band does a lot of the work in crafting the track. But his simple, yet highly danceable house beats are undoubtedly the piece that creates the whole of his easy-going, euphoric, and unique sound. Certain Berlioz tracks which pair repetitive hooks with some of the more upbeat, house-y melodies of his discography got the audiences both moving all while screaming out the few lyrics (from “new york city in 1940!” on repeat to the mantra in miro “surreal, more real than reality itself, a dash of cubism and a dollop of Matisse” to shouting the intro to “jazz is for ordinary people”) And of course, the instrumentals on these songs elevated it to another level.

In recent years, there have been complaints of concert etiquette, particularly EDM concerts, where attendees are too focused on the DJ and not enough on the experience.

To me, Berlioz’s crowd defied this expectation. Granted, I was standing close to the barricade, where Berlioz’s biggest fans and even some personal fans and friends of Mitch Freedom were, but it felt like everyone around me was in the moment, genuinely having a good time, and wanting to connect with the people around them, even if just for a quick instance.

Not to claim a perfect crowd overall. Between a few instances of aggressive shoving and uncomfortable interactions with audience members a little too under the influence, there were indeed moments where the chill, communal environment threatened to become anything but.

But there were so many beautiful moments where you could see the crowd really let loose, enjoy the music, and connect with one another. Other than a few moments of filming in the beginning, mostly people were dancing, really dancing. Swaying, snapping, jumping up and down, interpretive dance, even silly dance moves like the robot and disco point. At one point, a dance circle ensued, with everyone hyping up one particularly energetic crowd member. And it seemed people were just as willing to dance with new people as they were with friends.
After the last song of his set, the calm, inspiring “something will happen”, it would take Berlioz another five minutes to return to the stage. While it’s a common move for artists to fake a leave before an encore, Berlioz left for long enough for several audience members to leave. Still, many loyal fans remained, flashing their phones, cheering, screaming, even howling, for one more song.

And soon enough, Berlioz was back into his booth, transitioning into his fan favorite, “deep in it,” which was the cherry on top of the cake, complete with new transitions and lengthy electric guitar and sax solos. Berlioz ended the night with a titular track, “open this wall,” the perfect transition point for people to begin walking to the venue exit while the truest of fans stayed near the barricade, basking under the instrumentals, stage light, and reflective lyrics, before parading the artist with a thunderous roar of applause and cheers as he leaves the stage.

In comparing my experience seeing Berlioz on Saturday at The Van Buren versus at the Brooklyn Paramount six months previously, the only edge the latter has is the gorgeous venue (and The Van Buren still certainly has its pros). In every other aspect, I feel Berlioz truly outshone his prior set: a longer setlist, a more complete discography to bring to the stage, more effortless-sounding and seamless mixing, and a comforting yet not demanding stage presence. Even the show experience was far smoother: a line wrapped outside the chilly streets of Brooklyn in December, which delayed the show time due to the time it took to enter. In comparison, Berlioz (live) in Phoenix had sets played promptly on a day of decent weather. Seeing Berlioz at The Van Buren has further underscored to me the importance of second chances and the great beauty of jazz-house.