Schedule

Visions of Music - World Jazz invites the viewer on a journey to the roots of music, introducing the enormous impact that traditional music from around the world has had on contemporary jazz. This program features legendary musicians such as BB King, Dino Saluzzi, Tito Puente, Carlos Santana, Zawinul Joe, Manu Dibango, Abdullah Ibrahim, as well as new generation representatives such as Nicholas Payton, Cyro Baptista, and Don Byron. This episode of the Visions of Music series is about trumpet player Nicholas Payton, a dynamic performer who plays acoustic jazz and post-bop and enjoys going beyond the boundaries of traditional jazz. Considered by many to be one of the greatest artists of our time, Payton believes that the term "jazz" is old-fashioned and prefers to call it "Black American Music" (BAM). BAM combines spirituals, gospel, blues, jazz, and soul.

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.

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!

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 2025, about forty international jazz acts performed over three days, with a special focus on the RE:CONNECT theme, celebrating the vibrant jazz scenes of returning partner countries Spain, France, and Switzerland. Among the acts presenting themselves at jazzahead! 2025 is the Scottish duo Norman and Corrie. Their performance resurrects archival tunes from the Shetland Islands. Using saxophone, drums, organ foot pedals, and cutting-edge sound design, they create a vibrant sound that honours the past while forging new paths. The duo consists of Norman Willmore (saxophone, organ pedals, and laptop) and Corrie Dick (drums).

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.

A veteran bluesman that can hold his head high next to our neighbors to the south, Martin Goyette made his bones with an undeniable and incredible voice. Powerful, whisky-throated and raw, it drives home the sound, twinned with his super-watt harmonica playing. The Montreal artist arrives with songs from a new album released in 2013, Sweet Warm Jelly, a sonic jam of blues, jazz and gospel guaranteed to warm the heart. In 2002, he won Le Prix de la Relève at Festiblues International de Montréal leading the formation Riverside Blues. Then he toured France as an opening act for Mr. Bob Walsh. More recently, Martin played the Montreal International Jazz Festival, Sherblues Festival, au Tremblant International Blues Festival, Trois-Rivières en Blues, Joliette’s October Blues or as an opening act for the prince of soul and funk, Lee Fields.

Since 1994, World Music Expo (WOMEX) has been attracting musicians, agents, a great number of press agencies, as well as media companies from all over the world. Its main exposition event has been held in various locations throughout Europe, including Berlin, Brussels, Marseille, Stockholm, Seville, Cardiff, and Budapest. In 2018, WOMEX was held in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria. One of its showcase participants, Moonlight Benjamin, blends together Voodoo blues, Haitian rock and Creole roll into a riff-heavy, groove-laden sonic concoction built on the tension between her powerful voice and saturated electric guitars.

Louis Armstrong: Live in '59 is one of the only known complete Armstrong concerts from the 1950s to be captured on film. This 55-minute set, filmed in Belgium in 1959, features many of Satchmo’s greatest songs including ‘Mack The Knife’, ‘When It’s Sleepy Time Down South’ and ‘Stompin’ At The Savoy,’ backed by his stellar band the All-Stars, featuring Trummy Young, Peanuts Hucko, Billy Kyle, Danny Barcelona and Mort Herbert.

In this DJAZZ Belgium Sessions performance, which was recorded at AED Studios in Lint, Belgium, we witness Europe’s finest jazz musicians at work. A wide variety of international jazz musicians give a creative, up-close and inside insight into their art of playing jazz music. Young talent and established jazz musicians play to their heart’s content: take for instance this unusual performance by the Backback Trio. This trio of Filip Wauters on guitar, Marc De Maeseneer on saxophones and Giovanni Barcella on drums, has forged its own, impressive sound through years of rehearsing, gigging, and recording. The three gentlemen also seem to know the magic formula that keeps their music fresh and ingenious, yet accessible.

Art Blakey, Dexter Gordon, Ron Carter, Herbie Hancock, Thelonious Monk... these names are synonymous with the great Jazz Age. But how many people know Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, to whom we owe the recorded memory of our Jazz legends? Two German Jews who emigrated from Nazi Germany to New York "discovered" an American art form which at the time received little serious attention from mainstream America: Jazz Music. Without money or connections and speaking little English, the two men began to record practically unknown musicians, following their own taste and judgment. Today this list of artists reads like the Who-is-Who of Jazz. "Blue Note - A Story of Modern Jazz" tells the story of Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff and their record label. It is the story of the rise of Modern Jazz, of a friendship in exile and of uncompromising artistic excellence. Told by the musicians, by friends and associates and by fans of the Blue Note recordings from all walks of life, the film Blue Note recreates an era of American cultural history.

'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.

German jazz and cabaret singer Atrin Madani was born in 1998 as the son of Iranian immigrants. In the face of pandemic uncertainty, geopolitical upheaval, and social unrest in his ancestral home country, Madani asked himself: where are we now? His response to this question is as clear and precise as his singing: what we need most right now is honesty, humility, and quality. All of these are abundantly present on the Berlin-based vocalist’s debut album. Inspired by the sound aesthetics of Mel Tormé, Norah Jones, Diana Krall, and Till Brönner, Madani dedicates himself to a handpicked selection of songs that have so far remained largely unsung in jazz. At this festive album release concert at jazz club A-Trane Berlin in March 2023, Madani was accompanied by pianist Christian von der Goltz, guitarist Alexander Rueß, bassist Olaf Casimir, and drummer Sebastian Merk. Part II.

The annual international festival November Music was first held in 1993. Since then, the festival has been promoting contemporary music across various locations in the Netherlands city ‘s-Hertogenbosch. Its 2018 edition included jazz, avant-garde, world and electronic music, sound installations, modern opera and theatre, as well as various interdisciplinary performances. One of the performers in 2018, the pianist Elliot Galvin is a member of the young UK jazz group Dinosaur. Performing with his trio, the gifted musician has been compared to Django Bates for his maverick imagination and ability to blend influences from all over the world.

Dionne Warwick’s vocal artistry ranges from voluminous deep register to soft, fragile high notes. She masters the entire range with almost unnerving ease. But more than her strong, warm voice, Dionne’s magic is in the silky elegance and the secure delivery with which she tells a story. That’s how her, along with composer Burt Bacharach and lyricist Hal David become pioneers of the brand of pop music called “Middle of the Road”, meaning pop that is grippingly simple, but never trite. Sixty of her hits made it into the American charts and sold over 100 million albums worldwide. This amazing 1964 recording from the 27 Club in Knokke, Belgium showcases the 23-year-old star vocalist at the start of her career.

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).

Regarded as the greatest instrumental soloist of all-time, Stanley Gayetzky, famously known as Stan Getz emerged as one of the most significant musical forces in the world of jazz post World War II. With his distinctively warm and lyrical tone, Getz is fondly dubbed as ‘The Sound’ because of his singularity and musical innovations. His commitment to music is evident from his long body of work that includes over 300 pieces of musical compositions. Ranked among America’s top tenor saxophone players, Getz was a gifted saxophonist who could play just about anything on it, a quality that put him on top of the polls. He is accredited for playing some of the best jazz with some of the best jazzmen in the country. However, his personal life was a rollercoaster ride — tumultuous and loused up by abjection, alcohol, addiction and furious flare-ups. This program shows his last public performance, recorded at Munich Philharmonic Hall, Germany on July 18, 1990. Stan Getz (tenor sax) is accompanied by Kenny Barron (piano), Eddie Del Barrio and Frank Zottoli (synthesizers), Alex Blake (bass) and Terri Lyne Carrington (drums).