Schedule

Jazzed Out proves that a jazz session can take place anywhere. Unusual locations, such as garage buildings, multi-storey car parks, street corners, subway trains, and parks, in several of the world’s metropoles, provide the setting for brief jazz performances. The sheer rawness of the metropoles merge with the musical creations of various artists in search of the perfect ‘urban stage’. In this episode, Oslo serves as a backdrop for sets by pianists Tord Gustavsen and Bugge Wesseltoft, as well as Jaga Jazzist collective.

Visions of Music - World Jazz invites the viewer on a journey to the roots of music, introducing the enormous impact that traditional music from around the world has had on contemporary jazz. This program features legendary musicians such as BB King, Dino Saluzzi, Tito Puente, Carlos Santana, Zawinul Joe, Manu Dibango, Abdullah Ibrahim, as well as new generation representatives such as Nicholas Payton, Cyro Baptista, and Don Byron. This episode of the Visions of Music series is about trumpet player Nicholas Payton, a dynamic performer who plays acoustic jazz and post-bop and enjoys going beyond the boundaries of traditional jazz. Considered by many to be one of the greatest artists of our time, Payton believes that the term "jazz" is old-fashioned and prefers to call it "Black American Music" (BAM). BAM combines spirituals, gospel, blues, jazz, and soul.

Self-taught musician Les McCann became the international jazz superstar he is today after the release of his album “Swiss Movement” which he recorded in 1968 with the late Eddie Harris. Yet there is much more to this musician than that one record. McCann moves comfortably from one jazz style to the next, demonstrating impressive chops in all areas, from bop to fusion, and from vocals to the keys of the electric piano, clavinet, or synthesizer. His mix of church and swing music captures the spirit of the time perfectly, even when an illness prevented him from playing with more than one finger at a time in the early 1990s. In today’s broadcast, McCann takes gospel back to New Orleans, where he played this set in 1983. McCann’s vocals shine in the soulful performances of several of his hits, including “Just Like Magic”, backed by his wonderful “Magic Band” of saxophonist Bobby Bryant Jr., bassist Curtis Robertson Jr., and drummer Tony St. James.

In this DJAZZ Belgium Sessions performance, which was recorded at AED Studios in Lint, Belgium, we witness Europe’s finest jazz musicians at work. A wide variety of international jazz musicians give a creative, up-close and inside insight into their art of playing jazz music. Young talent and established jazz musicians play to their heart’s content: take for instance this performance by violinist Alexandre Cavaliere and pianist Pascal Mohy. This recording marks the first time that these talented, rising jazz stars share the same stage. They tackle material made famous by, among others, jazz legend Miles Davis.

The North Sea Jazz Festival is the largest indoor music festival in the world, known globally as the event where the past, present and future of jazz are featured within three days. Next to a firm base of jazz as the festival’s staple music genre, many others, such as blues, soul, funk, or hip hop, pass by. In 1989, legendary jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal brought his trio to the North Sea Jazz Festival. Accompanied by James Cammack on bass and David Bowler on drums, Jamal showcased his excellence.

Cuban singer, guitarist and percussionist Joel Hierrezuelo is known as the vocalist of the band Ricoson. He played percussion in the band Temperamento with Roberto Fonseca, Javier Zalba, and Ruy Lopez Nousa, and has worked with artists such as Alfredo Rodriguez and Los Acerekó, Omara Portuondo, Fatoumata Diawara, and Mayra Andrade. In this broadcast, Joel Hierrezuelo performs with Pierre de Bethmann (piano), Felipe Cabrera (double bass), and Lukmil Pérez (drums) at Studio de l’Ermitage in Paris on September 9, 2020. This performance also features Sylvain Barou on flute, Nicolas Folmer on trumpet, and Sandro Zerafa on guitar. On the program is repertoire from Hierrezuelo's 2020 album 'Así de Simple', which is the second release of this jazz and world music crossover ensemble.

In 2019, the vibrant city of Sofia, Bulgaria, hosted the International A to JazZ Festival. Among the featured acts was the trailblazing jazz trumpeter Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah. This genre-defying artist captivated the audience with his eclectic “stretch music”; an approach that incorporates hip-hop and reaches back through the American canon into African percussion and its rich melodic content. Trumpeter Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah’s quintet, which includes drummer Corey Fonville, percussionist Weedie Braimah, pianist Lawrence Fields, and bass guitarist Max Mucha, delivered a performance that defied boundaries and expectations.

Thomas Carbou and Patrick Graham share an almost telepathic rapport, blending spontaneous improvisation, electronic looping, and Brazilian and Indian musical influences to create ecstatic groove pieces and dream-like soundscapes. They use a wide array of instruments, including a custom-built 8-string guitar, cuatro, bouzouki, cajón, frame drums, berimbau, udu, and metal percussion instruments, as well as samplers and laptops, adding their own hypnotic vocals to the mix. This concert was recorded at Montréal’s Le Bleury Vinyl Bar, near the Place des Festivals, known worldwide as the venue for the Montreal International Jazz Festival.

British pianist George Shearing enjoyed an international reputation as an instrumentalist, arranger, and composer. Equally at home on the classical concert stage as in jazz clubs, he was recognized for his inventive, orchestrated jazz. In this live recording from the Munich Philharmonie, Shearing played in a duo format with Canadian double bassist Neil Swainson. The repertoire consisted of a selection of compositions by Shearing himself, among them ‘Lullaby Of Birdland’, which is a standard in jazz repertoire.

Innovative contemporary jazz and improvised music, the search for modernity, mind blowing sounds, rock and pop… Indeed PARADOX Tilburg goes beyond jazz, crossing musical boundaries into the unknown soundscapes of electronic music. Indie artists, blues veterans and jazz superstars all pour their hearts and souls at the Paradox. From young, local talents to top national and international artists, PARADOX Tilburg is the most intimate jazz club in the Netherlands, with a devoted audience from all across Europe. In their TV show PARADOX LIVE you get a taste of the greatest concerts and interviews with artists from all around the world. This episode of PARADOX LIVE presents the amazing Dutch saxophone player Rolf Delfos.

Every year, the Jazz en Baie festival takes place in the beautiful bay of Mont Saint-Michel. Today’s broadcast shows a special gathering between saxophone heavyweights Peter King and Steve Grossman. These experienced musicians’ trip to the bay amounts to much more than a social call. The quintet, which is rounded out by bass player Duylinh N'Guyen, drummer Stéphane Huchard and pianist Alain Jean-Marie, delivers an amazing show. Although the two saxophonists have an average age of 70, these jazz titans will convince you you’re watching young musicians on stage – albeit with 70 years of experience.

Nordic afro jazz project 'We Are Birds' saw the light between Finland and Africa, during a 2010 jam session in which Finnish jazz pianist Tuomas A. Turunen met African drummer-percussionist and urban griot Dimitri Reverchon. The two composers set their mind to exploring this hybrid genre, and found their perfect complement in bassist Emmanuel Soulignac, who brought his pop influences to the table. Today, We Are Birds explores an accessible mix of jazz and world pop that is based on sharing, listening, understanding, paying attention to each other, and believing in unity.

Belgian singer-songwriter Selah Sue performed at La Cigale in Paris as part of the digital Culturebox Festival 2020. The singer released her million-selling debut album 'Selah Sue' in March 2011, featuring her popular single 'Raggamuffin' and her duet 'Please' with American hip-hop artist Cee Lo Green. Months after its release, Selah was presented with a European Border Breakers Award (EBBA), for her cross-border success. At La Cigale in 2020, Selah Sue is accompanied by Joachim Saerens on keyboard and Simon Lenski on cello, opening her concert with a jazzed-up 'So This Is Love', a romantic ballad from Walt Disney’s film 'Cinderella'.

This broadcast shows a rare appearance at the 1996 Germeringer Jazztage by the legendary flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucía and his sextet. Some may question the inclusion of a flamenco guitarist within a jazz festival. However, the similarities between flamenco and blues have been well documented: both are the outlet for a poor, disenfranchised minority, with a primitive strength, boundless capabilities for improvisation and a requirement for breathtaking virtuosity - all qualities shown by Paco de Lucía in this performance. Moreover, he has long been experimenting with jazz forms (evident even from his inclusion of bass, drums, and saxophone in his sextet), while still retaining the essence of the flamenco tradition. In his own words: “What I have tried to do is have a hand holding onto tradition and the other scratching, digging in other places trying to find new things I can bring into flamenco”.

The North Sea Jazz Festival is the largest indoor music festival in the world, known globally as the event where the past, present and future of jazz are featured within three days. Next to a firm base of jazz as the festival’s staple music genre, many others, such as blues, soul, funk, or hip hop, pass by. In 1987, prominent guitarist George Benson brought his band to kick off day three of the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague. Joining him to play songs from their joint album "Collaborations" was Grammy award–winning acoustic guitarist Earl Klugh.

Bill Evans is considered one of the greatest jazz pianists all time and is known for interpreting the jazz repertoire using impressionistic harmonies. In 1958, Evans first played in Miles Davis’s sextet recording the modal jazz album “Kind of Blue”, which is now considered one of the best jazz albums of all time. After leaving the ensemble, Evans formed several trios. In this concert, recorded at Maison de la Radio in Paris in 1972, Evans performs with his longest standing trio, featuring Eddie Gomez on double bass and Marty Morell on drums. The program features some of Evans's own compositions, including the jazz waltz “Very Early” and the modal jazz piece “Time Remembered”, as well as jazz standard “Autumn Leaves”.

German jazz and cabaret singer Atrin Madani was born in 1998 as the son of Iranian immigrants. In the face of pandemic uncertainty, geopolitical upheaval, and social unrest in his ancestral home country, Madani asked himself: where are we now? His response to this question is as clear and precise as his singing: what we need most right now is honesty, humility, and quality. All of these are abundantly present on the Berlin-based vocalist’s debut album. Inspired by the sound aesthetics of Mel Tormé, Norah Jones, Diana Krall, and Till Brönner, Madani dedicates himself to a handpicked selection of songs that have so far remained largely unsung in jazz. At this festive album release concert at jazz club A-Trane Berlin in March 2023, Madani was accompanied by pianist Christian von der Goltz, guitarist Alexander Rueß, bassist Olaf Casimir, and drummer Sebastian Merk. Part II.

Imagine that visual arts and music are no longer two separate fields; that musicians no longer focus on their instruments only, but also on the visuals of their performance. Such is the premise of Mn'JAM Experiment! Zoom in on their music and you’ll find a mix between empirical and rationally constructed elements; between acoustic, electric and electronic instruments; urban rhythms and traditional melodies, vocal loops and guitar solos, turntables and acoustic drums. Zoom in on the visuals of the performance -they are analogously a product of pre-composed material and live manipulation, mostly carried out by the guy behind the turntables. Zoom out, and discover that music and visuals form a unit - this project is shaping the future of performances when it comes to roles and possibilities within musical settings. Mn’JAM is literally breaking new ground in jazz.

Pierre Courbois has been one of Europe’s leading jazz musicians since the mid-sixties. This concert, recorded at the renowned Amsterdam jazz club Bimhuis, sees the drummer playing with his QWINTETT. On the occasion of his 75th birthday in 2015, Courbois hit the road for the Pierre Courbois 75 Years Anniversary Tour. The PC QWINTETT consists of several highly acclaimed Dutch jazz musicians with whom Courbois has worked before in his long and versatile career. Among them are pianist Nike Langenhuijsen, double bassist Egon Kracht, trumpeter Toon de Gouw, and trombonist Ilja Reijngoud. QWINTETT honours the Charles Mingus tradition of thematic and melodic ensemble jazz - but also with an unmistakable Courbois groove! Courbois, known for his own way of combining compositions with improvisations, melodically melts constructions with uneven breaks.

The world-renowned North Sea Jazz Festival features a wide variety of genres, including traditional New Orleans jazz, swing, bop, free jazz, fusion, avant-garde and electronic jazz, blues, gospel, funk, soul, R&B, hip hop, world beat and Latin. The festival was founded by entrepreneur and jazz fan Paul Acket, who sold his highly successful pop magazine publishing house to organize and fund the first edition of the festival in 1976. This broadcast from the North Sea Jazz Archives presents the great Wayne Shorter Quartet. Shorter’s maxim is to reinvent his music during each concert. He means to give his music a radical originality.

The Brussels Jazz Club was filled to the brim with both musicians and audience members when the Maynard Ferguson Big Band performed there during their Winter Tour of 1980. From the first notes of the cover of Weather Report’s “Birdland” that opens the performance to the final notes of “Gonna Fly Now” that closes it, Ferguson gives his young sidemen ample time to shine. The mutual admiration shared by the leader and his sidemen makes this performance a delight to watch.

Estival Jazz Lugano is an annual, open-air music festival that takes place over five days in the picturesque city of Lugano, Switzerland. Since 1979, this musical Mecca has been a must-attend event for all jazz and world music fans worldwide. In July 1996, renowned American saxophonist Wayne Shorter and his quintet performed at Estival Jazz Lugano. Together with pianist Jim Beard, guitarist David Gilmore, bassist Alphonso Johnson, and drummer Rodney van Holmes, Shorter shows he is still at his best.

Jazz fans in television land have come to the right place for their dose of first-rate world jazz: TorTube! Jazz club De Tor in Enschede is one of Europe’s most authentic jazz venues, with an absolutely unique ambiance. Some of the best musicians from Holland and the rest of the world find their way to De Tor to perform for an appreciative audience of jazz fans. In this broadcast of TorTube, the great trumpeter Eric Vloeimans and his associate, pianist Florian Weber, perform a set named “A good conversation” (‘Een goed gesprek’). Great music and a perfect ambiance prove an irresistible combination!

The Newport Jazz Festival, first established in the North-American town of Newport, Rhode Island in the summer of 1954, has now grown to become one of the largest multi-day celebrations of jazz worldwide. It has resulted in numerous famous live albums from top-rate jazz stars, and has spawned several worldwide tours, including editions of the Newport Jazz Festival in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. In October 1968, two former colleagues met again on stage, this time leading their own bands at the Newport Jazz Festival in Rotterdam: drummer Art Blakey and pianist Horace Silver were both co-founders of The Jazz Messengers.