Schedule

With his relaxed and clear voice, Belgian-born vocalist Michel Tasky took his French-Waalse roots to Brazil, where he established himself in the jazz scene. His contemporary style, which blends jazz and French chanson with a whole lot of samba, transports audiences to faraway places.

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 2024, jazzahead! paid special attention to the jazz scene of the Netherlands and invited over forty jazz acts to perform over the course of three days. Among the acts presenting themselves at jazzahead! 2024 is seven-piece ensemble Mama Terra. Co-led by Glaswegian pianist-composer-producer Marco Cafolla and saxophonist Konrad Wiszniewski, the group offers a fresh and energetic interpretation of spiritual jazz. Mama Terra’s debut album ‘The Summoned’, featuring the ethereal vocals of Rachel Lightbody, “bursts with zeal and vigour”, according to MOJO. The lineup includes Marco Cafolla (piano, vocoder), Konrad Wiszniewski (tenor saxophone), Rachel Lightbody (vocals), Mikey Owers (trombone), Cameron Jay (flugelhorn), Doug Hough (drums), and Brodie Javier (double bass).

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 Argentine-American singer-songwriter Roxana Amed. Her music blends elements from South-American folk traditions with sophisticated rock and post-bop jazz. With her "acute artistic vision and understanding of her place in the canon" and her "ability to gracefully walk between worlds", for Roxana Amed a promising career has only just begun.

Under the Surface is an improvisational jazz band formed by drummer Joost Lijbaart, vocalist Sanne Rambags, and guitarist Bram Stadhouders. Sanne Rambags, the youngest artist of the trio, is one of the few vocalists of her generation who able to improvise effortlessly, be it by using her voice as an instrument blending with the sounds of the band, or by performing her own poetry. Joost Lijbaart, known from bands by Yuri Honing, is one of the top artists of the Dutch jazz scene. Guitarist Bram Stadhouders is one of the most renowned musicians of improvisational music in Europe. Together, the three Dutch musicians have developed their own “universal language” within the genre. Their performance at Bimhuis showcases their unique intergenerational chemistry and hypnotizing sound. Bimhuis Amsterdam provides a platform for pioneering national and international musicians by hosting over 300 concerts a year.

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 1968, the Newport Jazz Festival in Rotterdam welcomed three talented Americans: pianist Horace Silver, guitarist Muddy Waters, and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, alongside their bands.

Dino Saluzzi, one of Argentina's tango music masters, has been building his legacy since the mid-1980s. His accordion-like bandoneon defines Argentina's tango music. Saluzzi has explored many paths—paths along which he has rarely travelled more than once, despite some common threads. This rare, vibrant and intense performance is an intimate collaboration with Charlie Mariano (saxophone) and Wolfgang Dauner (piano) and features music ranging from tango and classical music to international favorites.

Award-winning saxophonist Michael Blicher, Hammond wizard Dan Hemmer and legendary drummer Steve Gadd joined forces in 2014 to celebrate their shared love for Hammond-organ soul jazz. The band, which tours extensively throughout the world, has released several albums. Their third album, which was released in November 2019, features U.K. vocalist Paul Carrack on the soulful ballad 'The First One To Know'.

Considered one of the most technically brilliant players in the history of the trumpet, jazz musician Wynton Marsalis is also a master of classical music and a fine composer. Marsalis takes the cameras with him around New York, to his home town of New Orleans, and to his rehearsal studios where he and his assembled band of musicians are seen putting together the album Blood on the Fields. He also talks about his music and his way of working.

Five promising musicians get together in Rotterdam jazz club BIRD’s artists-in-residence project “The Nest”. In this first broadcast we get to know Lisette Ma Neza (slam poet), Peter Somuah (trumpet), Michelle Samba (drums), Huy Le (bass), and Brenn Luiten (piano). Over the course of seven sessions, they exchange ideas, work on their projects, and play music together. Following this period, during which record producer Jameszoo and music manager Jochem Tromp offer their coaching experience, BIRD and North Sea Jazz Festival’s fringe festival DownTown organize a tryout performance. Enjoy this unique collaboration of upcoming musicians!

Jong Metropole (Young Metropole) is a unique collaboration between the Dutch Metropole Orchestra, the National Youth Orchestra of the Netherlands and the National Jazz Youth Orchestra of the Netherlands. It aims to prepare talented, young musicians in classical and light music for a professional career. Jong Metropole blends the best of different music genres, borrowing from the performance strength of classical strings to the swing, improvisation, and timing of jazz, and more. Conducted by Christian Elsässer, this special performance was recorded at the former radio transmission station, Kootwijk.

The legendary hard-bop group Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers performed in Olympia Hall in Paris, France on March 16, 1963. Led by drummer Art Blakey, the Jazz Messengers consisted of Wayne Shorter on tenor saxophone, Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Curtis Fuller on trombone, Reggie Workman on double bass, and Cedar Walton on piano. Each of these players became jazz legends in their own right. The group performed Cedar Walton's arrangement of That Old Feeling (written by Sammy Fain), Wayne Shorter's arrangement of I Didn't Know What Time It Was (written by Richard Rodgers), and Caravan (written by Juan Tizol and Duke Ellington).

The audience at the Montreal Jazz Festival in Canada was in for a treat on July 3, 1982, as a true musical innovator hit the stage: Jaco Pastorius, who transformed the electric bass into a formidable solo instrument. Combining intricate harmonics, fluid melodies, and unparalleled technical skill, Pastorius left a lasting impact on the music world. In this concert, he is accompanied by Peter Erskine (drums), Don Alias (percussion), Othello Molineaux (steel drums), Bob Mintzer (tenor sax and bass clarinet), and Randy Brecker (trumpet and electronics). They perform “Chicken”, “Donna Lee”, “Mr. Phone Bone”, and “Fannie Mae”. Don't miss this extraordinary opportunity to experience Jaco Pastorius’s electrifying performance at the Montreal Jazz Festival 1982!

30 minutes of... Orquestra Jazz de Matosinhos and Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música conducted by Dirk Brossé. Casa da Música is a performance hall located in Porto, in northern Portugal. Brossé, born in Ghent, Belgium in 1960, is a versatile composer and a respected conductor on the international music scene. Pianist Jason Moran and cellist J.A. Pereira de Sousa accompany both sets.

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 series is pianist Amilton Godoy. He is not only a well-known soloist in his homeland Brazil, but he is also considered one of the world's greatest pianists today, regularly guesting with international top orchestras and conductors. Godoy frequently teaches workshops throughout Brazil and abroad.

Thelonious Monk: Live in '65 features an intimate concert filmed in Belgium in the winter of 1965 with a legendary quartet that includes drummer Frankie Dunlop, bassist John Ore and tenor saxophonist Charlie Rouse. Thelonious Monk revolutionized jazz with his innovative musical approach and these remarkable performances allow viewers the rare opportunity to experience Monk’s genius up close as he performs his classic compositions Evidence and Bright Mississippi.

Two top-tier Belgian musicians – guitarist Philip Catherine and bassist Jean-Louis Rassinfosse – accompany American jazz trumpeter and vocalist Chet Baker during this 1985 performance at the beautiful Brussels Jazz Club, located on the Grand-Place, the Belgian capital’s central square. The trio plays Charlie Mariano’s “Crystal Bells”, the title track of their acclaimed 1983 album. Other songs played during this legendary concert include “Down” and “How Deep is the Ocean”.

In this recording, the Portuguese singer Maria João makes her appearance at the Bayerischer Hof Night Club during the 1999 Münchner Klaviersommer. She is accompanied by Marcio Doctor (percussion), Miroslav Tadic (guitar), and her long-standing partner, the brilliant pianist Mário Laginha. Maria is known for her vocal flexibility and improvisational skills. While normally considered a jazz artist, her music incorporates a mix of folk, ethnic music, modern jazz, avant-garde, electronica, symphonic and other genres. In this intimate venue, João's vocally and physically dynamic performance creates an electrifying atmosphere.

The Netherlands Chamber Orchestra commissioned violinist Tim Kliphuis, internationally known for his genre-crossing approach to music, to write a new version of Antonio Vivaldi's ‘Four Seasons’. Kliphuis choose to take improvisation as his starting point; at the same time, he intended to leave the best-known Vivaldi themes and chords in, as they give the piece its wonderful energy. The result is a fresh and exciting interpretation that never loses sight of the original. Each season has a different character: the freshness of spring is reflected by the use of Irish and Norwegian traditional music; the summer heat can be heard in the American jazz and funk rhythms; the autumn includes a galloping safari hunt in South-Africa and the ice-cold winter warms up with the energy of Russian gypsy music. For each movement, Kliphuis has a metropole in mind which he visited on his previous concert tours. You’re about to witness a truly genre-crossing spectacle!

Bootsy Collins, famed for playing with George Clinton and his very own Rubber Band, is used to playing syncopated, hard and relentlessly rhythmic music. With this unique style Bootsy was a major influence on the development of funk. Now in his 60s, the bassist seems animated by a new energy that reflects his new work on the album ‘Tha Funk Capitol of the World’. With this album, Bootsy Collins pays tribute to the artists with whom he worked during his frantic career: from James Brown and Parliament-Funkadelic to Fatboy Slim. During this concert, recorded at the festival Jazz à Vienne, Bootsy maintains that same energy, giving a spectacular show.

Since 1985, the Dutch city of Nijmegen has been welcoming the International Music Meeting Festival every Pentecost. Ranging from jazz and improvisational music to traditional music and unique crossovers, this adventurous festival is all about musical encounters and international collaborations. In 2019, the band Nubiyan Twist performs at the International Music Meeting Festival. This London-based group operates on the intersection of soul and jazz.

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.