Schedule

The Jig is a seven-piece funk team from Amsterdam that performs hot original works. It is one of a handful true funk groups; an instrumental groove machine with a rock & roll attitude, known for its powerful and exhilarating live shows. The music is up-to-date and personal, adding elements of soul, afro, jazz, and rock & roll to music that is derived from heroes such as Bootsy Collins, Tower of Power, James Brown, Average White Band and The Meters. The band consists of Willem Pluk on trumpet, Jeroen van Genuchten on tenor saxophone, Koen Schouten on baritone saxophone, Bas Grijmans on keys, Martijn Smit on guitar, Arry Niemantsverdriet on bass guitar, and Niels van Groningen on drums. In 2019, The Jig performed this live set in front of twenty thousand people at the fabled Rio das Ostras Jazz & Blues Festival in the Brazilian capital of Rio de Janeiro.

What Jamie Cullum is to England, Wouter Hamel is to the Netherlands: a performer who knows the difference between jazz and pop! Hamel is backed by big band Sven Happel (double bass), Jasper van Hulten (drums), Gijs Anders van Straalen (percussion), Rory Ronde (guitar), Benjamin Herman (saxophone), and a string ensemble. Hamel plays the guitar, piano, sings, and writes many of his own songs. He made his debut in 2007 with the eponymous album Hamel on Dox Records; it was a hit on the Dutch albums chart, remained on the Top 20 for over a year, and spawned the hit "As Long as We're in Love”. The show was recorded at the legendary venue Paradiso, a former church considered the "pop temple" of the Netherlands. Hamel's performance of "One More Time on the Merry-Go-Round" perfectly connects the beautiful venue in the heart of Amsterdam and the enthousiastic audience.

Bill Evans: Live in '64, '65 & '70 features five separate performances by one of the most revered pianists in music history. This collection covers an 11-year span, highlighting Evans’ ever-deepening artistry as he performs with four different all-star rhythm sections, including the stunning duo of bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen and drummer Alan Dawson. This recording includes Evans’ renditions of the rarely performed “Sareen Jurer,” “Blue Serge”, and “Twelve Tone Tune Two.” Among the many surprises in this collection is a live performance of “My Melancholy Baby” with saxophonist Lee Konitz.

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.

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. Discover the special bond between pianist Carla Bley and bassist Steve Swallow. The two have performed in the same bands since the '60s and have been romantic partners for more than two decades. Watching them perform is the definition of musical telepathy. Together with musicians Wayne Krantz, Victor Lewis, Larry Willis, and Don Alias, they form an amazing sextet at Estival in 1986.

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 two grandmasters of French jazz: pianist Jacky Terrasson and trumpeter Stéphane Belmondo. The two team up for an amazing concert in which jazz is combined with soul and a touch of chanson française. The Franco-American pianist Terrasson delights in travelling the world, collaboration with others and leading his own trio, quartet, or quintet. With his long-time friend, Stéphane Belmondo, Terrasson has produced wonderful CDs and beautiful concerts. One then finds the trumpeter on the pianist’s album ‘Gouache’; on another, the pianist guests on Belmondo’s ‘Ever After’. At the Jazz en Baie festival, the duo plays its amazing piano and trumpet music. Highly recommended!

Lex Jasper Trio: Happy Days Are Here Again - the title says is all… After an automobile accident and 15 years of revalidation, he is back! Together with his musical pals Edwin Corzilius (double bass) and Frits Landesbergen (drums), pianist and composer Lex Jasper celebrates his return to jazz club The Duke in the Dutch village of Nistelrode. Following his car accident, Lex nearly joined the leagues of Netherland's “forgotten” jazz heroes, though he is still considered one of the most important artists and composers of his generation and Dutch jazz history. Jasper played and recorded with all the greats, including Toots Thielemans, Clark Terry, Joe Pass, and Rita Reys.

The Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ) was composed of Milt 'Bags' Jackson on vibraphone, John Lewis on piano, Percy Heath on bass, and Connie Kay on drums. Milt Jackson and John Lewis were pioneer bebop musicians who had played together in Dizzy Gillespie's 1948 big band. They pursued separate careers before adding Heath and Lewis to form the Modern Jazz Quartet in the 1950s. Noted for its delicate percussion sonorities, innovative jazz forms, and high performance standards, the MJQ was an immensely popular jazz and “third stream” ensemble until its final concerts in the early 1990s.

Woody Herman: Live in '64 features a blistering one-hour concert from 1964 showcasing one of the very hottest line-ups of the "Swinging Herd," including trumpeter Bill Chase, trombonist Phil Wilson, and the amazing saxophonist Sal Nistico on the front line, as well as drummer Jake Hanna, bassist Chuck Andrus, and pianist-arranger Nat Pierce in the rhythm section. The band roars throughout the entire show which includes standards such as "Lonesome Old Town", "After You’ve Gone", and new originals including Charles Mingus’s "Better Git It In Your Soul."

Aki Rissanen's interest in jazz came after he started taking classical piano lessons. His deep interest in improvised music placed him among top jazz pianist in his home country - Finland. While composing and performing his own music, Rissanen has also collaborated with Verneri Pohjola and Dave Liebman, and today his name appears among the top European jazz musicians. Live from 'Jazzclub Unterfahrt' in Munich, Germany, together with Antti Lotjonen on bass and Teppo Makynen on drums, Rissanen showcases the best of Scandinavian jazz and its DNA - the Nordic Tone.

Swedish pianist Jacob Karlzon is joined by Danish bassist Morten Ramsbøl and Swedish drummer Rasmus Kihlberg at the Steinway piano factory in Hamburg to present their album ‘Open Waters’. Karlzon, a classically trained pianist who shared a stage with Kenny Wheeler, Norma Winstone, and Billy Cobham keeps the rich tradition of Swedish jazz eclecticism alive. Back in 2012, Karlzon explored the world of heavy metal, after that allowing electronic elements to set the pulse.

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.

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 artists is Dutch jazz pianist and composer Rembrandt Frerichs. He leads his own Rembrandt Frerichs Trio, which is strongly influenced by the American jazz trio tradition as well as Arabic music. When not on tour with his trio, Frerichs teaches jazz piano at various conservatories throughout the Netherlands. His bandmates are Tony Overwater (bass) and Vinsent Planjer (drums).

Anita O’Day boasts two wonderful concerts from 1963 and 1970 that present the “jazz singer supreme” in impeccable form. O’Day’s horn-based approach to singing is in full effect throughout both shows including stand-out renditions in each show of audience favorites “Tea For Two” and “Sweet Georgia Brown” (both reprised from her triumphant appearance at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival.) This show is a fitting testimony to one of jazz music’s true originals and shows unequivocally why she is ranked in the top tier of vocalists along with Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, and Billie Holiday.

Five musicians, in excess of 3000 miles, nine concerts, in thirteen days: in November 2015, the five-piece ensemble ‘Tango Extremo’ left the confines of its hometown, the Dutch city of The Hague, to travel through Russia. On the musicians’ jam-packed itinerary were performances in Moscow, Novosibirsk, Saratov, Tomsk, and Barnaul. There, the ensemble collaborated with a local classical orchestra, the members taught workshops, and travelled countless miles by busses, planes, and trains. The warm welcome of the Russian audiences made up for the icy Siberian colds of the journey. The Dutch reporter Herman Nanninga was on hand to document this gargantuan tour of Russia in his film ‘Tango on the Tundra’.

The Da Pá Virada Sessions series presents the best musicians of contemporary Brazilian jazz, and beyond. Filmed and curated in São Paulo by director and presenter Dani Gurgel and producer and engineer Thiago Rabello, 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. Curated by its percussionist and leader, Guegué Medeiros, the collective Fuá Do Guegué aims to bring together professionals and artists who identify with and value the rhythms, characteristics, and art of Brazil’s Northeast. With a healthy disregard for preconceived notions and restraints, the collective combines music, film, and dance in their eclectic and highly energetic sets. Fuá Do Guegué consists of Guegué Medeiros (percussion); Salomão Soares (piano); Lau Trajano (bass); Danilo Moraes, Beibe, and Janayna Pereira (percussion and vocals); and Olivio Filho (accordion).

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, Berlin serves as a backdrop for sets by pianist Wolfert Brederode, guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel, and Hyperactive Kid.

Watch the performance of Jamie Cullum live at Jazz à Vienne, in 2017.

On July 20, 2018, double bassist Christian McBride presented his band ‘New Jawn’ at the Malta Jazz Festival. A five-time Grammy winner, McBride is one of the most requested, most recorded, and most respected figures in the music world today. Hailing from Philadelphia, this music luminary combines jazz, R&B, pop/rock, hip hop/neo-soul, and classical. Gracing the Malta Jazz stage with him are Nasheet Waits (drums), Marcus Strickland (tenor sax), and Josh Evans (trumpet).

The term "jam-session" was born 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. Entitled "Free & Afro Jazz," this episode hosted by Eddy King features unique performances by artists playing together for the first time, and interviews with Fantazio, Eddy Lopez, Banoit Savard, and many others.

‘Jazz a Vienne’ is one of the world's most prestigious jazz festivals. Ever since 1981 it has attracted leading jazz artists, with many of them playing return engagements. Unsurprisingly, the festival's 2012 edition did not fall short of expectations: the lineup was filled with the biggest names in music. Among them was vocalist Gregory Porter transcends the jazz bubble. His magnificent, burnished baritone can sink into a lyric with luxurious ease, the melody gently sculpted into new shapes at every turn, with the rhythm tugging subtly back and forth across the bar line.

In February 2021, multi-instrumentalist and singer Magalí Sare sits down at cultural center CASA SEAT in Barcelona for an impromptu live session with fellow multi-instrumentalist Dani López. The setting may be simple, but that doesn't make the concert any less interesting. Switching between piano, drums, flutes, and saxophones, mixing Spanish and English songs, Sare and López display their considerable talents during this exciting performance.

The Dutch Hammond organ player Rob Mostert develops, in cooperation with Stingray DJAZZ, the program Mostert Meets. In this series, the Hammond B3 organ takes center stage. Rob Mostert invites the world’s finest jazz musicians for a musical collaboration, in which the Hammond Organ plays a major role. The Hammond B3 is an electric organ, which generates sound by creating an electric current from rotating a metal tone wheel near an electromagnetic pickup. Initially, the Hammond B3 was at home in churches, until it entered the jazz scene in the mid-20th century. In this episode, Mostert teams up with the Dallas-born vocalist Dede Priest. She’s renowned for her raw sound. She knows how to sing blues and gospel like no other!

Double bassist Avishai Cohen’s trio with Noam David (drums) and Omri Mor (pianist) joined forces with the international Symphony Orchestra ‘INSO-Lviv’, conducted by Christian Schumann. On June 24, 2017 they brought Avishai Cohen’s signature blend of influences from Eastern Europe, American jazz and the Middle East to the Alfa Jazz Festival in Lviv, Ukraine. Cohen, who also supplies vocalizations in the Judeo-Spanish dialect Ladino, came to prominence internationally in the 1990s when jazz great Chick Corea offered him a place in his trio and a recording deal. Thirty years later, Cohen has become a house-hold name himself, leaving his Ukrainian audience enthralled and connected through the universal language of music.

Raul Midón appeared at 2017’s Sing Jazz Festival in Singapore with double bassist Romeir Mendez and drummer Billy Williams. Blind since birth, Raul Midón is a singer, guitarist, and songwriter from New Mexico. With a vocal range as dynamic as his guitar playing and a remarkable talent for trumpet mimicry, Midón’s performances transcend musical boundaries, effortlessly blending rock, jazz, folk, and Latin pop into his unique sound. He has worked with numerous legends, including Bill Withers, Herbie Hancock, Sting, and Dianne Reeves, and his album ‘Bad Ass and Blind’ was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album in 2018. No wonder the Sing Jazz audience were ecstatic!