Schedule

The Dutch world-class jazz pianist Peter Beets has shared the stage with jazz greats like Chick Corea, Wynton Marsalis, “Toots” Thielemans, Elvin Jones, George Coleman, Johnny Griffin, Benny Golson and John Clayton. From birth, Beets was surrounded by music: he heard classical music from his mother, who is a music pedagogue, and he heard jazz from his father, who has a great fan of Oscar Peterson and Art Blakey. Although Beets’ parents originally did not associate the word “musician” with the word “career”, music is definitely in the family’s blood. At this concert at the Kurhaus in Scheveningen, the Netherlands, Peter Beets teams up with the world-famous guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel. With a career spanning almost twenty-five years and including collaborating with dynamic peers like Brad Mehldau, Brian Blade, Mark Turner, Joshua Redman, Chris Potter, as well as esteemed jazz legends like Joe Henderson, Paul Motian and Gary Burton, Rosenwinkel’s indelible mark in music is the consummation of being steeped in the rich and deep traditions of jazz, springing off of the shoulders of such vital underpinnings to elevate his own art to new heights, evolving the language in a way no other guitarist has since his arrival. This collaboration between Beets and Rosenwinkel guarantees brilliant music.

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 May 28, 1967, American singer and actor Sammy Davis Jr. appeared at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam for a live, nationwide TV broadcast. Supported by his band conducted by George Rhodes, Davis Jr. combined his singing talent and infectious sense of humor as he covered songs from a variety of genres.

Pianist Kenny Barron’s June 27, 2019 appearance at the Alfa Jazz Festival in Ukraine’s Lviv was a celebration of sublime jazz virtuosity. The revered elder statesmen of jazz piano brought his regular working trio of Kiyoshi Kitagawa (bass) and Jonathan Blake (drums), augmented by stellar jazzman Marcus Strickland (tenor saxophone) and young lion Riley Mulherkar (trumpet). Their seamless blend of classic bebop and modern explorations spoke of a deep, emotive connection to each note, captivating the Ukrainian audience with lyrical improvisations during this unforgettable concert.

This live recording is celebrating 50 years of West Coast Jazz. The West Coast Jazz movement had its origins about 50 years ago in Los Angeles. It was essentially a "cool" form of jazz played mostly by studio musicians as a break from their studio work. The West Coast All Stars are specially brought together for this West Coast Night. The performance shows some of the most important early pioneers of this style of jazz - including legends such as Conte Candoli, Carl Fontana and Teddy Edwards. Jazz writer and critic Alun Morgan about this concert: “Altogether a very impressive experience. These guys are all real jazz pros who can turn in a masterly performance at the drop of a hat. Who said West Coast Jazz was cold and sterile? These guys can churn up enough excitement to bring any audience to its feet."

This program presents two concerts from Schloss Ansbach in 1978. The first concert features Gil Evans and his orchestra, consisting of Gil Evans on piano, Steve Lacy on soprano saxophone, Arthur Blythe on alto saxophone, Pit Levin on synthesizers, Earl McIntyre on trombone, Lewis Soloff on trumpet, Geoffrey Berlin on bass and Sue Evans on percussion instruments. The second concert features saxophonist Ornette Coleman at the peak of his musically expressive powers. Coleman is joined by Bern Nix on guitar, Charles Ellerbee on guitar, Albert Arnold on bass, and Shannon Jackson on drums and percussion.

The Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ) was composed of Milt 'Bags' Jackson on vibraphone, John Lewis on piano, Percy Heath on bass, and Connie Kay on drums. Milt Jackson and John Lewis were pioneer bebop musicians who had played together in Dizzy Gillespie's 1948 big band. They pursued separate careers before adding Heath and Lewis to form the Modern Jazz Quartet in the 1950s. Noted for its delicate percussion sonorities, innovative jazz forms, and high performance standards, the MJQ was an immensely popular jazz and “third stream” ensemble until its final concerts in the early 1990s.

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.

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.

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 Jazztet, a legendary hard-bop sextet founded by trumpeter Art Farmer and saxophonist Benny Golson, reunited after a twenty-year separation at the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague. They are joined by original member Curtis Fuller on trombone and newcomers Rufus Reid on bass, Mickey Tucker on piano and Albert Heath on drums.

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.

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).

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 Dutch saxophonist and composer Kika Sprangers’s 12-piece Large Ensemble. Sprangers, born in 1994, is recognized as one of the most distinguished and promising young figures in today’s Dutch jazz scene. Online music magazine Written in Music notes that her compositions transition seamlessly from quiet moments to grand symphonic scales, maintaining a compelling tension without falling into clichés. Her two-year tenure as an artist-in-residence at TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht has culminated in a live album titled ‘Oneindigheid’ (Infinity), set for release in fall 2024. Kika Sprangers’ Large Ensemble features Kika Sprangers (saxophone), Anna Serierse, Nina Rompa, Marit van der Lei, Līva Dumpe (vocals), Ketija Ringa Karahona (flute), Alistair Payne (trumpet), Morris Kliphuis (French horn), Mete Erker (saxophone, bass clarinet), Koen Schalkwijk (piano, Wurlitzer), William Barrett (bass), and Willem Romers (drums).

One vocalist from Paris and the other from Bern, and two contrasting personalities. Brought together by a chance encounter in 2014, the two singers were surprised to discover how much they had in common: they both do more than just sing well. Leïla Martial and Andreas Schaerer intend to explore and experiment, stretching their vocal boundaries. From the deepest abyss to the most exquisite tones the human voice can produce, they leave no stone unturned in their quest to express themselves, each in their own individual way and always with a generous dose of humour and zest.

Da Pá Virada sessions bring 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 bands taking part in this series is the Ricardo Herz Trio, which consists of Ricardo Herz on violin, Michi Ruzitschka on nylon string guitar, and Pedro Ito on percussions. Band leader Ricardo Herz is a classically-trained musician, who also studied jazz at the prestigious Berklee College of Music.

Public Enemy, also known as PE, is an influential hip hop group from Long Island, New York, known for its politically charged lyrics, criticism of the media, and active interest in the concerns of the African American community. In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Public Enemy number forty-four on its list of the Immortals: 100. Here, the group performs at The Metro Theatre, in Sydney, Australia, on December 27, 2008.

Estival Jazz Lugano is an annual, open-air music festival that takes place over five days in the picturesque city of Lugano, Switzerland. Since 1979, this musical Mecca has been a must-attend event for all jazz and world music fans worldwide. In 1985, American vocal virtuoso Bobby McFerrin took the stage solo at Estival Jazz Lugano. The one-man musical force stunned the audience with his unique vocal percussion as he delved into the crowd for this quirky and charming act.

Despite his advanced age, the legendary jazz pianist Earl Hines was at the top of his game when he performed in the Belgian town of Spa in 1977. With a band consisting of Rudy Rutherford (reeds), Jimmy Leary (bass), and Eddie Graham (drums), Hines livens up the room with his interpretations of “I Can’t Believe That You’re In Love With Me” and “The Man I Love.” Marva Josie joins the group for soulful renditions of “A Sunday Kind of Love” and the well-known classic “Kansas City” before the set comes to a close with “Caravan,” which features a lengthy drum solo by Graham.

The term "jam-session" was coined in the 1920s when black and white musicians gathered in smoke-filled bars after their respective concerts to enjoy the kind of jazz they could not play in traditional sets. Bing Crosby was a regular at these sessions, and had fun marking the first and third beats of musical phrases by clapping hands, which the musicians call "jammin' the beat". Today, the Seine Sessions revive the happy years of "jam sessions", while the cream of jazz, blues, gipsy and funk Parisian scenes occurs on the boards of the legendary restaurant and jazz club Le Réservoir. Titled "Legendary Jazz", this episode hosted by Eddy King features unique performances by artists playing together for the first time, and interviews with Steve McCraven, Oona Guino, Rodolphe Lauretta, and many others.

Although its music might sound like the soundtrack of any 1970s American car chase movie, the band Sven Hammond Soul is from the Netherlands. This steaming soul machine is headed by Sven Figee, who prefers to attack rather than play his Hammond organ. In April 2012, the band was augmented with vocalist Jenny Lane. Today’s recordings were made at a steaming live performance at Utrecht’s Tivoli in 2012.

The MotorMusic Studios in Mechelen, Belgium, attract many great musicians to the city. A wide variety of visiting international jazz musicians share their art of making jazz music with us in the DJAZZ series ‘Belgium Sessions’. In these sessions, some of Europe’s finest musicians perform their own, original music. This episode is all about the Astor Klezmer Trio, which sprung from a meeting of minds between violin player and singer Joëlle Strauss, flutist Marc Grauwels, accordion player Christophe Delporte, around their shared passion for the Argentine tango and the music of Ástor Piazzolla. After hearing how well their instruments blended, these three musicians founded the Astor Klezmer Trio. The trio offers the audience an eclectic repertoire that is simultaneously refined and audacious. Expect a beautiful hodgepodge of classical music and jazz, inspired by composers such as Astor Piazzolla.

The Dutch Hammond organ player Rob Mostert develops, in cooperation with DJAZZ, the programme ‘Mostert Meets’. In this series, the Hammond B3 organ takes centre stage. Rob Mostert invites the world’s finest jazz musicians for a musical collaboration, in which the Hammond Organ plays a major role. The Hammond B3 is an electric organ, which generates sound by creating an electric current from rotating a metal tonewheel near an electromagnetic pickup. Initially, the Hammond B3 was at home in churches, until it entered the jazz scene in the mid-20th century. In this episode, Mostert performs with his Rob Mostert Hammond Group, of Rob Mostert (Hammond B3), Jurriaan Suring (guitar), Chris Strik (drums), Efraim Trujillo (saxophone), Michael Rorby (trombone) and Michael Simon (trumpet).

Jazz in Duketown is the largest free outdoor jazz festival in the Netherlands. It's a real gathering for jazz addicts, inviting internationally renowned artists. The talented American singer Michelle David performs pop and gospel music that feeds the heart and soothes the soul. Having grown up with the church, she started singing at the age of four. A year later she joined her first band, The Mission of Love. In 1980 she enrolled at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York City, known from the film 'Fame'. During this time, she appeared as an extra in the legendary comedy film 'Ghostbusters'. Musicals and tours with the bands of Diana Ross and Michael Bolton followed.

To celebrate the release of Django, the Parisian New Morning Club pays tribute to the legendary guitarist Django Reinhardt. The program showcases the magic of Reinhardt’s compositions, as well as the virtuosity of one of his most famous heirs: Stochelo Rosenberg. With unbridled passion and enthusiasm, Rosenberg interprets the music that marked French musical heritage: gypsy jazz. Rosenberg cultivates an exceptional technique with a unique vibrato and sets an example for guitarists and other instrumentalists who aim to keep music alive. On stage at New Morning Club, Rosenberg is supported by Hono Winterstein (guitar), Mathias Levy (violin), Rocky Gresset (guitar), and Xavier Nikqi (double bass).

Double bassist Avishai Cohen’s trio with Noam David (drums) and Omri Mor (pianist) joined forces with the international Symphony Orchestra ‘INSO-Lviv’, conducted by Christian Schumann. On June 24, 2017 they brought Avishai Cohen’s signature blend of influences from Eastern Europe, American jazz and the Middle East to the Alfa Jazz Festival in Lviv, Ukraine. Cohen, who also supplies vocalizations in the Judeo-Spanish dialect Ladino, came to prominence internationally in the 1990s when jazz great Chick Corea offered him a place in his trio and a recording deal. Thirty years later, Cohen has become a house-hold name himself, leaving his Ukrainian audience enthralled and connected through the universal language of music.

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”.