Schedule

Art Blakey, Dexter Gordon, Ron Carter, Herbie Hancock, Thelonious Monk... these names are synonymous with the great Jazz Age. But how many people know Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, to whom we owe the recorded memory of our Jazz legends? Two German Jews who emigrated from Nazi Germany to New York "discovered" an American art form which at the time received little serious attention from mainstream America: Jazz Music. Without money or connections and speaking little English, the two men began to record practically unknown musicians, following their own taste and judgment. Today this list of artists reads like the Who-is-Who of Jazz. "Blue Note - A Story of Modern Jazz" tells the story of Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff and their record label. It is the story of the rise of Modern Jazz, of a friendship in exile and of uncompromising artistic excellence. Told by the musicians, by friends and associates and by fans of the Blue Note recordings from all walks of life, the film Blue Note recreates an era of American cultural history.

Annual trade fair, exhibition, and festival jazzahead! is one of the international jazz community's most important events. Hosted in Bremen, Germany, jazzahead! brings together musicians, bookers, agents, organizers, jazz experts, and music enthusiasts at the world’s largest jazz event. In 2022, jazzahead! paid special attention to Canada’s jazz scene and invited forty jazz acts from all over the world to perform over the course of three days. One of the artists performing at jazzahead! 2022 is German saxophonist and flutist Tobias Meinhart. A spell as a young roadie with the Bob Brookmeyer Orchestra first sparked Meinhart’s love for jazz, prompting him to pursue a career in music in New York. Pianist Eden Ladin, bassist Matt Penman and drummer Obed Calvaire, his regular partners on New York City stages such as The 55 Bar and Birdland, now accompany Tobias Meinhart at jazzahead! 2022.

Annual trade fair, exhibition, and festival jazzahead! is one of the international jazz community's most important events. Hosted in Bremen, Germany, jazzahead! brings together musicians, bookers, agents, organizers, jazz experts, and music enthusiasts at the world’s largest jazz event. In 2023, jazzahead! paid special attention to Germany’s jazz scene and invited thirty jazz acts from all over the world to perform over the course of three days. Among the groups presenting themselves at jazzahead! 2023 are Gina Schwarz and Multiphonics 8. Gina Schwarz has been nominated for major awards in both her native Austria (Amadeus) and in Germany (Record Critics). Her “Way to Blue” album with Multiphonics 8 presents a complete, autonomous cycle of works, that digs into the enigmatic world of UK music legend Nick Drake (1948-74), while also paying tribute to her own father. Without a hint of nostalgia she transforms Drake’s British folk aesthetics into subtle and exotic, timeless and border-crossing folk traditions with deeply emotional and playful textures, critics say.

The MotorMusic Studios in Mechelen, Belgium, attract many great musicians to the city. A wide variety of visiting international jazz musicians share their art of making jazz music with us in the DJAZZ series ‘Belgium Sessions’. In these sessions, some of Europe’s finest musicians perform their own, original music. This episode MotorMusic invites the jazz trio ‘WRaP!’, consisting of singer Barbara Wiernik, guitarist Alain Pierre, and Chet Baker’s former bassist: Jean-Louis Rassinfosse. The trio plays one of their most beautiful compositions of ‘Endless’. In this fine composition, Wiernik’s beautiful voice, Pierre’s crystal chords of the 12-string guitar, and the warm sounds of the contrabass come to full bloom.

What happens when two musicians are "trapped" on a cruise ship for a week? Naturally, a new album sees the light of day - at least that’s what happened when Anne Chris and pianist Daan Herweg found themselves on a journey by ship together. After a week of providing their fellow passengers with musical entertainment, the two headed to the studio and within a year, Anne Chris’s new album Just Kissed the Sun saw its release. The Dutch singer presents her third album at the North Sea Jazz Club, accompanied by guest artist Bas van der Wal on guitar. Next to the sun, the sound of Robert Glasper, Gretchen Parlato, John Mayer, Esperanza Spalding, Jill Scott and Michael Jackson also seem to have inspired this joyful record.

Since 1977, Estival is a summer jazz festival in Switzerland, Lugano. Estival offers a thrilling and particularly surprising line-up that explores the rich world of contemporary music whilst promoting the understanding of different cultures, tolerance, and co-existence. The 29th Street Saxophone Quartet is an American quartet founded in 1982 by alto saxophonists Bobby Watson and Ed Jackson, tenor saxophonist Rich Rothenberg and baritone saxophonist Jim Hartog. The band has an eclectic repertoire ranging from jazz to show, funk, rap, and experimental music.

Since 1977, Estival is a summer jazz festival in Switzerland, Lugano. Estival offers a thrilling and particularly surprising line-up that explores the rich world of contemporary music whilst promoting the understanding of different cultures, tolerance, and co-existence. The composer, trumpeter and bugle player Franco Ambrosetti performs with his quintet in his native Lugano as part of the Estival.

Sarah Vaughan: Live in '58 & 64 features the ‘Divine One’ in her prime, wrapping her sultry voice around jazz standards such as ‘Lover Man’, ‘Misty’ and ‘I Got Rhythm’ and soaring on popular showtunes such as ‘Over The Rainbow’ and ‘Maria’. One of the greatest voices of the 20th Century, her renditions of songs by Harold Arlen, Leonard Bernstein, Johnny Burke, the Gershwins and Stephen Sondheim are pure diva magic. These three performances demonstrate why Sarah Vaughan is invariably mentioned in the same breath as Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday.

In 2013 it is 25 years ago that singer and trumpet player Chet Baker mysteriously died, caused by a fall from the window of his hotel room in Amsterdam. His music is more popular than ever. This concert is performed by Fay Claassen, who became internationally known through her album ‘Two Portraits of Chet Baker’. In the U.S. this album was the ‘Best Vocal Album of the Year’. In this concert Fay Claassen brings a tribute to Baker with the most beautiful songs and improvisations.

The 1964 edition of the Antibes Jazz Festival in Juan-les-Pins saw the return of the First Lady of Song, Ella Fitzgerald. Together with Roy Eldridge on trumpet, Tommy Flanagan on piano, Bill Yancey on double bass, and Gus Johnson on drums, the tireless singer performed such classics from the Great American songbook such as 'Them There Eyes', 'The Lady Is a Tramp', 'Summertime', 'I'm Putting all My Eggs in One Basket', 'St. Louis Blues', and 'Perdido', and a few novelties, such as Steve Allen and Ray Brown's 'Cutie Pants'. It is no surprise this legendary concert from Juan-les-Pins was released on LP!

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 1982, vocalese maestro Jon Hendricks brought his wife Judith Hendricks, daughter Michelle Hendricks and mouth trumpeter Bob Gurland to perform at the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague. Accompanying them are pianist Michael Weiss, bassist Murray Wall and drummer Marvin Smith as they cover classics by Duke Ellington and Count Basie.

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 the 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 pianist Jeroen van Vliet.

Annual trade fair, exhibition, and festival jazzahead! is one of the international jazz community's most important events. Hosted in Bremen, Germany, jazzahead! brings together musicians, bookers, agents, organizers, jazz experts, and music enthusiasts. Due to COVID-19, only half of the scheduled performances of the 2021 edition were actually recorded in Bremen. Among the performing ensembles is the Russian LRK Trio. This Moscow-based threesome consists of pianist Evgeny Lebedev, bassist Anton Revnyuk, and drummer Ignat Kravtsov. Unmistakably modern in their sound, the trio incorporates many distinctive elements of Russian culture.

In 1968 traden het orkest van de Belgische pianist Francy Boland, de band van de Nederlandse trompettist Boy Edgar en de Amerikaanse band van trompettist Thad Jones en drummer Mel Lewis op tijdens het Newport Jazz Festival in Rotterdam.

Every year since 1970, the German city of Burghausen has been hosting one of the largest jazz festivals in the world. During Burghausen International Jazz Week, Burghausen becomes a 'Bavarian jazz mecca': guests from all over the world join the Burghausers to enjoy the most wonderful jazz performances as the colorful hustle and bustle of spectators and musicians shake up the city. One of the artists performing here in 2019 is Al Di Meola. This pioneering guitarist blends world music, rock and jazz. His ongoing fascination for complex rhythmic syncopation, combined with provocative lyrical melodies and sophisticated harmony, has been at the heart of his music throughout a celebrated career. The Grammy Award-winner has achieved international fame both as a solo artist and due to his collaborations with the world's biggest artists.

Recorded in 1971 in Paris, France, Brazilian, classically trained bossa nova guitarist Baden Powell and his quartet play Pai, Lotus (written by Baden Powell), Tristeza (by Haroldo Lobo/Niltinho), Round Midnight (by Thelonious Monk), Nega do cabelo duro (by David Nasser/Rubens Soares), and Aos pes da cruz (by Zé da Zilda/Marino Pinto). Powell is joined by Ernesto Ribeiro-Gonçalves on double bass, Helio Schiavo on drums, and Alfredo Bessa on percussion.

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 unusual performance by the multi-ethnic ensemble Hijaz. This band explores the dialogue between piano and the oud, a pear-shaped stringed instrument from the East. Hijaz is a close-knit quartet that explores the differences and similarities between Mediterranean cultures in order to create moments of harmony, warmth, and great musical beauty.

The annual international festival November Music was first held in 1993. Since then, the festival has been promoting contemporary music across various locations in the Netherlands city ‘s-Hertogenbosch. Its 2018 edition included jazz, avant-garde, world and electronic music, sound installations, modern opera and theatre, as well as various interdisciplinary performances. One of the performers in 2018, the pianist Elliot Galvin is a member of the young UK jazz group Dinosaur. Performing with his trio, the gifted musician has been compared to Django Bates for his maverick imagination and ability to blend influences from all over the world.

Rotterdam’s ‘ BIRD’ is a club, café and restaurant with a live music programme that's deeply rooted in jazz, and also branches out towards soul, funk, hip-hop and electronic music as well. Its name ‘BIRD’ refers to the nickname of the legendary New York jazz saxophonist, bebop co-founder Charlie Parker (1920-1955). BIRD serves Neapolitan pizzas, good wines, no-nonsense beers and an all-round metropolitan rawness. Since 2014, this urban jazz club and DJAZZ.tv have been collaborating for a series of music programmes: ‘BIRD.tv’, allowing you to experience the best BIRD concerts and interviews as from a first row seat! In this episode, we present the London-based French-Ghanian soul jazz singer Myles Sanko (*1980). Since his youth, the stage has been Myles Sanko’s second home: he performed in the clubs and bars of his hometown Cambridge (UK), later becoming part of the British funk band Speedometer. His exceptional voice, his lyrics and his modern, cool style have earned him lots of praise as well as a loyal fan base, that extends far beyond the borders of the United Kingdom!

Hailing from a long tradition of Malian kora players, Ballake Sissoko has worked with renowned musicians such as Toumani Diabaté and Taj Mahal. He met the French born Vincent Ségal by chance, and the two began jamming together, uncertain of what kind of music might result. As a former member of the French National Orchestra, Ségal's Western classical training does not prevent him from exploring a wide variety of extended techniques, rendering his cello a flexible partner to Sissoko's kora. A childhood spent in the Pigalle district of Paris surrounded by immigrant communities exposed Ségal to African music from an early age. As such, he possesses a natural sensitivity to Sissoko's West-African style. The concert shows a brilliant interplay between the two musicians and combines the several worlds of jazz, Malian and classical music.

Spirograph Studies have leapt onto the Australian music scene with their detailed, textural approach to playing improvised music. Post-rock, post-jazz and post-minimalism, they shamelessly steal sonic palettes from all areas to build their cinematic sound. This collaborative group features Luke Howard (piano), Fran Swinn (guitar) and James McLean (drums). This strong collection of music-makers each bring their unique voice to the stage as part a united front led by bassist Tamara Murphy.