Schedule

Count Basie is one of the most important bandleaders of the swing era. With the exception of a brief period in the early '50s, he led a big band from 1935 until his death almost 50 years later. Basie's orchestra was characterized by a light, swinging rhythm section that he led from the piano, lively ensemble work, and generous soloing. Basie was not a composer like Duke Ellington or an important soloist like Benny Goodman. His instrument was his band, which was considered the epitome of swing and deeply influenced jazz. In this 1961 concert recording, Count Basie takes the stage in Charleroi.

Georgie Fame, known for "Yeh, Yeh" and "The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde" makes a triumphant comeback with The Blue Flames. Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames was a popular band in the UK in the '60s, celebrated for its R&B, soul, jazz, ska, and pop sounds. The training was largely inspired by ska, a popular musical style in Jamaican cafes in London at the time. It was the song "Green Onions" from the Booker T & The MG that inspired Georgie to incorporate the Hammond organ into her compositions. This performance by Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames is brimming with blues and soulful sounds that will delight the group's old and new fans.

Dave Brubeck: Live in '64 boasts a beautifully filmed concert from one of the most beloved quartets in jazz history. Captured at the pinnacle of their power and popularity, Paul Desmond (alto sax), Joe Morello (drums), Eugene Wright (bass) and Dave Brubeck (piano) explore the trails they blazed into the realm of odd time signatures with ‘Forty Days’ and two versions of their groundbreaking hit ‘Take Five’, as well as forays into world music with a unique exploration of ‘Koto Song’. Their intimate onstage chemistry and impeccable musicianship made the DBQ an award-winning jazz supergroup.

After Dutch singer Kim Hoorweg landed her first record contract from Universal Music at the age of 14, her musical career took off and she became a well-known name in the Netherlands jazz community. Famous artists such as Candy Dulfer, Raul Midón, Metropole Orkest, and Gino Vannelli, to name a few, have already performed with the singer on numerous occasions. This time, Kim Hoorweg performs at BIRD in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, together with fellow Dutch musicians Anton Goudsmit on guitar, Niels Broos on keyboards, and Yoran Vroom on drums.

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.

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 artists presenting themselves at jazzahead! 2023 is the Austrian/Czech foursome Purple is the Colour. Pianist Simon Raab, saxophonist Štěpán Flagar, double bassist Martin Kocián, and drummer Michał Wierzgoń have been said to play “jazz music of tremendously elegant quality, the kind that does not linger in the classical realm, but rather unfolds many interesting interconnections to other styles”.

Full-time pianist, composer, teacher, and producer Coen Molenaar – aka Conrad Miller – is active all over the world in styles ranging as widely as jazz, fusion, dance, funk, R&B, rock, and neo-soul. In this 2021 performance from Rossini Studios in Stuttgart, Germany, Miller plays contemporary trio jazz with his bandmates David de Marez Oyens (double bass) and Enrique Firpi (drums).

'Münchner Klaviersommer' was an annual concerts series that took place from 1981 to 1998 in Munich, Germany. Although the festival's name suggests a strong focus on piano music, it featured countless famous musicians from jazz and classical music – not just pianists. The concerts were usually held in July at The Gasteig, home of the Munich Philharmonic. In 1987, American pianist Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea was one of the artists appearing here. Together with Frank Gambale on guitar, Eric Marienthal on saxophone, John Patitucci on bass and Dave Weckl on drums, Corea performed jazz fusion with his Elektric Band - a jazz subgenre inspired by the rock music and electronic instruments of the day. The band was nominated for two Grammy Awards.

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, the Superstar Quintet, which consists of the otherworldly American trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, saxophonist Joe Henderson, drummer Tony Williams, bassist Ron Carter, and pianist Kenny Baron performed at the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague. The star-studded fivesome put on a concert of cosmic proportions.

SHYRE is the creative collaboration launched by Montreal-born vocalist and pianist Sarah Rossy. This five-member group mixes instrumental textures with ethereal ambience, taking the listener on a journey through passages of prose with unique aesthetics. SHYRE fuses pop-folk and jazz with symphonic timbres, and psychedelic ambience, employing lush strings, dynamic rhythms, and angelic harmonies. The resulting soundscape is innocent, yet fascinating. Sail away on the aural wings of music from their debut album New Year (2013).

Bassist Kyle Eastwood (1968) is an explorer, equally at ease with jazz melodies as with pop songs. In the late 1970s, his father Clint took him to see his first jazz concert - a Count Basie performance. Eastwood Jr. was in awe of the drummer and wanted to play an instrument himself. It so happened he wasn’t so much interested in jazz, preferring rhythm and blues, Motown and Stax records, funk groups, and North African and Indian music. Eastwood became a brilliant bassist and the composer of highly original soundtracks. His 2015 album "Time Pieces" is a collaboration with brilliant British musicians, such as trumpeter Quentin Collins and saxophonist Brandon Allen. In this broadcast, Eastwood and his fellow musicians revisit the hard bop legacy of Blue Note Records. Eastwood and his band perform original music, as well as songs made famous by Horace Silver and Herbie Hancock. Their contemporary take on Charles Mingus’ “Boogie Stop Shuffle” is not to be missed!

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 Stingray DJAZZ have been collaborating for a series of music programmes: ‘BIRD.tv’, allowing you to experience the best BIRD concerts and interviews as from the first row! This episode is a fantastic special live recorded in the BIRD office with BIGYUKI and Now Vs. Now.

The term "jam-session" was coined in the 1920s when black and white musicians gathered in smoke-filled bars after their respective concerts to enjoy the kind of jazz they could not play in traditional sets. Bing Crosby was a regular at these sessions, and had fun marking the first and third beats of musical phrases by clapping hands, which the musicians call "jammin' the beat". Today, the Seine Sessions revive the happy years of "jam sessions", while the cream of jazz, blues, gipsy and funk Parisian scenes occurs on the boards of the legendary restaurant and jazz club Le Réservoir. Titled "Legendary Jazz", this episode hosted by Eddy King features unique performances by artists playing together for the first time, and interviews with Steve McCraven, Oona Guino, Rodolphe Lauretta, and many others.

The Da Pá Virada Sessions series presents the best musicians of contemporary Brazilian jazz, and beyond. Filmed in São Paulo, each session offers a unique experience by giving a fresh look into Brazil's music scene. The artists for each session are selected in consultation with Stingray DJAZZ's music editor. One of the bands taking part in this series is Os Capoeira. This ensemble practices the traditional Brazilian martial art from Bahia it is named after, combining elements of dance, acrobatics, and percussive music. Moreover, Os Capoeira runs a cultural center in São Paulo. Let yourself be inspired by Os Capoeira's unique take on Brazilian culture!

Esplanada was brought to life by Eddy Koopman, a long time Metropol Orkest member and composer. However, unlike other leading members in musical acts along the globe, Koopman does not put emphasis on himself. Most of the music he composes are for the Rotterdam Conservatory graduate violinist Sarah Koch. Blending various musical influences from both Western and Eastern parts of the world, Esplanada creates a zen-like atmosphere, which is further strengthened by the presence of Leontine Smit who is a visual artist.

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 1979, legendary big band leader and pianist Count Basie brought his famous big band to the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague to perform two sets. Basie, whose minimalist pianism and blues-oriented swing style had cemented his popularity as early as the 1930s, was in the midst of a European tour and had recorded his live album On the Road the previous night in Montreux, Switzerland. Here is the first of two sets recorded at the festival in 1979.

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 1980, American soul legend Ray Charles brought the Raelettes and the Ray Charles Orchestra to the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague. With the full force of these two groups behind him, Charles showed why throughout his storied career he has been viewed as one of the most recognizable voices in music.

‘Ella Fitzgerald: Live in '57’ features ‘The First Lady Of Song’ in a distinct performance. It's the earliest known complete concert of Ella to be captured on film. Shot in Belgium, this 1957 concert sees her performing with jazz greats Ray Brown, Herb Ellis, Jo Jones and the legendary Oscar Peterson on classics such as ‘Lullaby Of Birdland’ and ‘It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)’. Although she wanted to be a dancer at first, Ella Fitzgerald already listened to recordings of Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby and The Boswell Sisters at an early age. After her debut at an amateur talent show in 1934, Ella joined Chick Webb’s Orchestra with which she recorded several hits; after Webb died, she became the leader of the orchestra. In the late 1940s, Ella Fitzgerald became known as the ‘First Lady of Song’, with her wide vocal range of three octaves. The American jazz singer was particularly appreciated for her pure tone, intonation and phrasing, and unparalleled improvisational abilities. In a career that spanned close to 60 years, Fitzgerald sold 40 million albums and won 13 Grammy Awards, mainly for her definitive interpretations of the Great American Songbook.

The Da Pá Virada Sessions series presents the best musicians of contemporary Brazilian jazz, and beyond. Filmed in São Paulo, each session offers a unique experience by giving a fresh look into Brazil's music scene. The artists for each session are selected in consultation with Stingray DJAZZ's music editor. One of the artists taking part in this episode is Grammy-award nominated accordionist Toninho Ferragutti. Today he is one of Brazil's leading jazz-inspired accordionists, whose music is often categorized as música popular brasileira (MPB). Together with Fabio Leal (acoustic guitar), Cleber Almeida (drums), Cassio Ferreira (saxophone), and Thiago Alves (bass), Toninho performs Brazil's beautiful melodies with his trademark virtuosity.

Since 2005, the Morgenland Festival of Osnabrueck has dedicated itself to the fascinating music culture of the Near and Middle East. From traditional and classical music to avant-garde, jazz, and rock, the festival program also features art, such as visual arts, dance, and theatre of interdisciplinary projects. Enjoy the musical wealth of the All Star Band in this episode of Morgenland Festival. Featuring graduate of the Boston Conservatory and vocalist Dima Oshno, both songs “Dream” and “Mugam” are played by the All Star Band and express a range of moods that vary from peaceful quietude to outbursts of energy.