00:00
Julie Campiche Quartet at the Hafensommer Festival
The use of the harp in jazz is quite rare, especially in modern groups that also incorporate electronic effects. The combination of a harp with more conventional jazz instruments and electronic manipulation makes the Julie Campiche Quartet a unique ensemble in today’s jazz world. On August 3, 2016, at the Hafensommer Festival in Würzburg, Germany, the group, which also includes saxophonist Leo Fumagalli, bassist Manu Hagmann, and drummer Clemens Kuratle, played extended versions of group originals “Onkalo,” “Datstet Dar Nakoneh,” and “Flash Info.” The group has yet to release a full album, making these performances especially welcome.
00:39
Soul Makossa: Manu Dibango in Stuttgart
Manu Dibango, one of Africa’s biggest musical stars and top saxophonists, is an indispensable artist. He was one of the first African musicians to score a worldwide hit with his 1972 release “Soul Makossa”, paving the way for many other artists. The very concept of world music owes much to him. A superb stage performer with great communicative humour, Dibango is above all one of the founding fathers of a modern African musical style that is open to jazz, R&B, salsa, gospel, funk, and reggae. This concert showcases all these genres, and features an excellent line-up of musicians from the four corners of the planet.
01:38
Jackie Davis in concert in Brussels
American soul jazz singer and organist Jackie Davis (1920-1999) contributed greatly to the popularity of the Hammond B3 organ in jazz, preceding even the great Jimmy Smith. Seen here during an intimate solo performance in Brussels in 1967, we get to enjoy Davis’ every musical twist and lyrical turn. His infectious enthusiasm and dynamic musicianship make his audience grow increasingly excited as he performs “I Got Rhythm”, “Satin Doll”, “Yesterday”, “Smack Dab In The Middle”, and “It Ain’t Necessarily So”. Davis’ spellbinding vocals invite his audience on a musical journey. Get ready to let yourself be carried away by Jackie Davis, recorded live in Brussels!
02:14
Guitarlegend Wes Montgomery in The Netherlands
Wes Montgomery: Live in '65 shines a light on one of the most unique and influential guitarists in music history. These beautifully filmed programs from the spring of 1965 feature Wes, in intimate studio settings, leading three different lineups through some of his best-known tunes, including “Four On Six”, “Jingles”, and “West Coast Blues”. This rare footage, featuring rehearsals, between-song banter, and closeup camera angles, illuminates Wes's extraordinary musical vocabulary and unconventional picking technique.
03:32
PC Qwintett: 75th year of Courbois
Pierre Courbois has been one of Europe’s leading jazz musicians since the mid-sixties. This concert, recorded at the renowned Amsterdam jazz club Bimhuis, sees the drummer playing with his QWINTETT. On the occasion of his 75th birthday in 2015, Courbois hit the road for the Pierre Courbois 75 Years Anniversary Tour. The PC QWINTETT consists of several highly acclaimed Dutch jazz musicians with whom Courbois has worked before in his long and versatile career. Among them are pianist Nike Langenhuijsen, double bassist Egon Kracht, trumpeter Toon de Gouw, and trombonist Ilja Reijngoud. QWINTETT honours the Charles Mingus tradition of thematic and melodic ensemble jazz - but also with an unmistakable Courbois groove! Courbois, known for his own way of combining compositions with improvisations, melodically melts constructions with uneven breaks.
05:22
Benny Goodman Septet - North Sea Jazz Part II
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, legendary swing band leader jazz clarinettist Benny Goodman performed two sets with his septet at the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague. True to form, with his concert the 'King of Swing' revisited the atmosphere of the swing era – the 1930s – when jazz enjoyed tremendous popularity. Goodman's septet includes Scott Hamilton (tenor saxophone), John Bunch (piano), Phil Flanigan (double bass), Mel Lewis (drums), Warren Vaché (trumpet), and Chris Flory (guitar). Here is the second of two sets recorded at the festival in 1982.
06:26
Zyryab
This broadcast shows a rare appearance at the 1996 Germeringer Jazztage by the legendary flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucía and his sextet. Some may question the inclusion of a flamenco guitarist within a jazz festival. However, the similarities between flamenco and blues have been well documented: both are the outlet for a poor, disenfranchised minority, with a primitive strength, boundless capabilities for improvisation and a requirement for breathtaking virtuosity - all qualities shown by Paco de Lucía in this performance. Moreover, he has long been experimenting with jazz forms (evident even from his inclusion of bass, drums, and saxophone in his sextet), while still retaining the essence of the flamenco tradition. In his own words: “What I have tried to do is have a hand holding onto tradition and the other scratching, digging in other places trying to find new things I can bring into flamenco”.
06:48
Baiao da penha
Brazilian artist Gilberto Gil returns to Jazz à Vienne in France with a new round of singing that is inspired by his latest album ‘Fé na Festa’: a mixture of celebration, tradition and even some rock now and then. Gilberto Gil, worldwide known for as musician and the Brazilian minister of Culture, was one of the pioneers of the cultural movement ‘tropicalismo’. This movement, with a strong character of social protest, combines elements of traditional Brazilian culture with modern art forms. Gilberto Gil's new sound clearly has its roots in Brazilian culture, yet it is always inspired by jazz.
07:00
Michiel Borstlap: Blue, Reflective & Frames
Recorded at the Amsterdam Arena during the Amsterdam South East Jazz Festival, Michiel Borstlap tickles the ivories of his Steinway in performances of all his favourite songs on his solo albums ‘Blue’, ‘Reflective’, and ‘Frames’. An unprecedented event: a solo piano concert at the home base of football club Ajax Amsterdam! During the concert, the sound of a seagull or an aeroplane might mingle with the gentle touch of the Dutch master pianist. A must-see concert for all fans of piano music, with a wonderful encore: a performance of Thelonious Monk’s famous standard ‘Round Midnight’.
08:00
Jacques Kuba Séguin: Litania Projekt
Trumpeter Jacques Kuba Séguin’s ensemble unites some of Montreal’s most expressive musicians: apart from Jacques Kuba Séguin, double bassist Frédéric Alarie, pianist Jonathan Cayer, and drummer Kevin Warren deliver subtle but strong lyrical moments, that make it hard not to be touched by the musical bond of this group. The experience of their ‘Litania Projekt’ seems to stop time for an instant. Together with his expressive musicians, Jacques presents a program that swings between modernity and tradition.