Schedule

Legendary free jazz pianist Burton Greene rose to fame in New York City's free jazz scene of the 1960s. Exploring various spontaneous improvisational styles, Greene performs live at Cafe OTO in London, UK.

Jazz festival slash conference inJazz brings together the supply and demand sides of the Dutch jazz scene, helping artists share knowledge and experiences and stimulating the development of international relationships. The conference program includes inspiring panel discussions, workshops, networking sessions and presentations. During the night, promising Dutch jazz acts as well as more seasoned groups hit the stage to show what they’re capable of. One of the bands performing at inJazz is Son Swagga. This psychedelic fusion band from Amsterdam pioneers in contemporary music, performing originals by bandleader Felix Back. Their repertoire of funk fusion, spiritual jazz and videogame music yields a sound that has never been heard before.

A jazz festival named after the inventor of the instrument most associated with the genre, Adolphe Sax, would be incomplete without the man who laid the groundwork for how the instrument is played today. This must have been the reasoning of the organizers of the Festival International de Jazz Adolphe Sax in Dinant, Belgium, when they invited tenor saxophone giant Coleman Hawkins to perform there in June 1962. Appearing with a group that includes the French pianist George Arvanitas, one-time Duke Ellington bassist Jimmy Woode, and expat drummer Kansas Fields, the musician also known as ‘Bean’ and ‘Hawk’ serves up an hour-long set of familiar standards bookended by Hank Jones’ “Chant” and J. J. Johnson’s “Wee Dot”.

Jazz fans in television land have come to the right place for their dose of first-rate world jazz: TorTube! Jazz club De Tor in Enschede is one of Europe’s most authentic jazz venues, with an absolutely unique ambiance. Some of the best musicians from Holland and the rest of the world find their way to De Tor to perform for an appreciative audience of jazz fans. This episode of TorTube entitled Vägen, features iconic Swedish jazz pianist Martin Tingvall and his trio. Tingvall has a knack for writing bright melodies that sound like they have been around for ages. During the Tingvall Trio’s performance at De Tor in Enschede, the band’s irresistible grooves reveal drummer Jürgen Spiegel’s rock and hip hop background, and double bass player Omar Rodriguez Calvo’s Cuban heritage.

Pianist Frédéric Gassita studied classical music and jazz, the latter at the famed Berklee College of Music in Boston. Apart from French impressionists, such as Ravel and Debussy, Gassita’s main influences are Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock, both of whom he met during his studies in Berklee. His body of musical work, however, is rooted in Africa, where the he currently resides. Today he’s a figurehead of jazz in Gabon, Africa. What's more, he scouts young musical talent and owns the local football club.

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 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 ensembles appearing at jazzahead! 2022 is baritone saxophonist and composer Kira Linn’s sextet, consisting of three wind instruments and a rhythm section. The band combines the acoustic sound of various wind instruments with the electronic sound of electric bass, synthesizers and Rhodes and electronic effects. Composer Kira Linn (on baritone saxophone and bass clarinet) is accompanied by Nino Wenger (alto saxophone, flute), Christopher Kunz (tenor and soprano saxophone), keyboardist Lukas Großmann, electric bassist Freek Mulder, and drummer Johannes Koch.

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 KAMA Kollektiv. The young Finnish singer and trumpet player Kirsi- Marja “Kiki” Harju leads the KAMA Kollektiv. At one moment groovy and quirky, melancholic and sentimental the next, the group’s music reflects on the confusions and challenges of today's world. Its influences range from the style of jazz artists such as Mathias Eick to the Nordic's trademark melancholic soundscapes full of minimalism, folk, and indie pop. Kirsi-Marja Harju is joined by pianist Chaerin Im, double bassist Jonathan Nagel, and drummer Joe Korach.

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 “Europe's First Lady of Song”, popular Dutch jazz vocalist Rita Reys, accompanied by husband Pim Jacobs’s trio in a classic 1982 performance.

American jazz pianist and composer John Lewis is best-known for founding the Modern Jazz Quartet in 1952, an ensemble that played cool jazz fused with elements of classical music and blues. In the first part of this broadcast, Lewis is seen in rehearsal with a group of musicians, consisting of violinist Svend Asmussen, bassist Alby Cullaz, drummer Eric Dervieu, guitarist Christian Escoudé, double bassist Michel Gaudry, and drummer Daniel Humair. This is followed by a private master class from Lewis to two young jazz pianists, Franck Amsallem and Christophe Soulier. The broadcast ends with a performance of “Django” by Lewis himself, a composition he wrote in memory of Django Reinhardt, the guitar virtuoso who co-founded gypsy jazz. This program was recorded at the former Citroën factory at Quai de Javel in Paris, from August 20 to 22, 1979.

As part of the Blue Note Jazz Festival and Blue Note Records’ 75th anniversary, pianists Robert Glasper and Jason Moran delivered a stunning jazz piano duet, resulting in an exciting exploration of the great history of jazz. An intricate knowledge of African-American music is infused with modern energy. The two musicians reinterpret the stride piano tradition through captivating original songs and personal interpretations of the music of Albert Ammons, Andrew Hill, Thelonious Monk, Ornette Coleman and Herbie Hancock.

Five promising musicians get together in Rotterdam jazz club BIRD’s artists-in-residence project “The Nest”. Over the course of seven sessions, these talents 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. In this short documentary, the artists share their impressions from the project. They introduce themselves, reveal why they joined The Nest and formulate what they hope to learn from the experience. Naturally, we get a glimpse of the songs they wrote during the sessions, as performed during the tryout show. Featuring Lisette Ma Neza (slam poet), Peter Somuah (trumpet), Michelle Samba (drums), Huy Le (bass), and Brenn Luiten (piano).