Schedule

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, American saxophonist Gerry Mulligan gave an unforgettable performance at the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague. Mulligan was one of the leading arrangers of the cool jazz era, who worked with Miles Davis, Stan Kenton and Claude Thornhill in the 1950s and 1960s. Mulligan’s early pianoless 1950s quartet with trumpeter Chet Baker is still regarded as one of the finest groups in cool jazz. Born in New York in 1927, Mulligan spent his life composing, arranging and playing jazz until his death on January 20, 1996.

Known outside jazz circles mainly for his film scores, French composer, arranger and pianist Michel Legrand has had a long and storied career in music. Interpreters of his compositions include jazz legends such as Sarah Vaughan, Stan Getz, and Bill Evans, as well as pop stars such as Barbra Streisand and Frank Sinatra. During this 1982 performance in the Belgian town of Spa, Legrand leads his orchestra through a number of original songs, including “The Summer Knows,” “What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?” and “Les Moulins de mon Cœur.” Singing either in English or French, Legrand delivers a spirited performance with plenty of romantic flair that is sure to capture your heart.

In the midst of the blossoming of the free-jazz scene, pianist Cecil Taylor (1929) probably represented the non-jazz aspect of the movement better than anyone else. Many of the innovations of the 1960s were pioneered by his records. His fusion of exuberance and atonality was particularly influential. Like saxophonist Ornette Coleman, who initially overshadowed him, Taylor was one of the first musicians to release jazz improvisation from fixed harmonic structures. Influenced by both classical music and jazz, Taylor became a virtuoso pianist with a unique range of dynamics, attacks, and harmonic resources, including many tone clusters played for percussive, not harmonic, effect. During this 1984 Müncher Klaviersommer concert, he shows his mastery of improvised jazz.

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 bands performing here in 2019 is The Earth, Wind & Fire Experience. In this concert, original Earth, Wind & Fire guitarist, writer and musical director Al McKay performs the band's timeless disco and soul. Together with seven of the thirteen original Earth, Wind & Fire members, he keep hits such as Boogie Wonderland and September alive, touring all over the world.

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.

Legendary jazz pianist Horace Silver's groundbreaking fusion of hard bop, blues, soulful grooves and Cape Verdean influences have left an indelible mark on the world of jazz. At the renowned Umbria Jazz Festival in the picturesque region of Umbria, Italy, Silver is accompanied by a great band of future all-stars: Bob Berg on tenor sax, Tom Harrell on trumpet, Steve Beskrone on bass and Eddie Gladden on drums. During this performance from July 20, 1976, Silver’s quintet stretches out on four Silver originals: “Adjustment”, “Barbara”, “In Pursuit of the 27th Man”, and “Song For My Father”. Tune in and let Horace Silver’s irresistible music mesmerize you!

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 Crusaders, an American jazz fusion group that was popular in the '70s employed a two-manned front-line horn section. The group’s sound was rooted in hard bop, with an emphasis on R&B and soul. Their performance at Estival is beyond soulful and an amazing show to watch.

The Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam is a world-renowned concert hall, known for its first-rate acoustics. It has attracted many famous performers over the years and is one of the Netherlands' most treasured musical institutions. On November 2, 1958, American jazz titan Duke Ellington and his Orchestra performed two concerts at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Among the many talents in the Orchestra were trumpeter Clark Terry, trombonist Quentin Jackson, saxophonist Johnny Hodges and violinist Ray Nance.

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

This portrait of Marcus Miller was recorded during his 2009 ‘Tutu Revisited’ tour. Miller looks back on his relationship with Miles Davis. Miller tells us about writing his composition 'Tutu', and shares countless stories of the recording process of the album 'Tutu'. This documentary was filmed in 2009 at the 'We Want Miles' exhibition in Cité de la Musique in Paris.

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.

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).

English drummer Trevor Richards (1945) is a passionate advocate for traditional jazz. After moving to New Orleans at 21 to master the city's unique drumming styles, he has consistently created opportunities to perform with the genre's elder statesmen. In this concert recording from the Ascona New Orleans Jazz Festival, held in late June and early July 1998 at picturesque Lake Maggiore in Ascona, Switzerland, Richards presents 1930s-style jazz alongside two true legends from that era. The lineup features bassist Charles 'Truck' Parham (1911–2002), a veteran of bands led by Art Tatum and Earl Hines, and tenorist/clarinetist Franz Jackson (1912–2008), who played with Fletcher Henderson and Fats Waller. They are joined by horn players Tom Baker and Dan Barrett. The setlist includes classics like "You’re My Everything", "Nagasaki", "Christopher Columbus", and "If Dreams Come True". A feast for the ears!

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.

This uptempo, funky performance proves that B.B. King, one of the Masters of the Blues Guitar has still got it. The band features some of today's best blues musicians playing all of B.B. King's classic songs.