Schedule

This documentary shows a song cycle by the Danish singer-songwriter Trinelise Væring and pianist Jonas Berg, featuring the Scandinavian Barokksolistene ensemble headed by solo violinist and artistic director Bjarte Eike. Væring’s songs possess a timeless quality with their gracefully swung melodies, while they are truly modern at the same time with their ‘in your-face’ approach to catchy hook lines and the largely groove-based arrangements. The music balances intelligently between being clever and being emotional. It is executed brilliantly by some Europe’s finest baroque musicians of the Barokksolistene ensemble. Væring is a remarkable vocalist who masters both the intensely fragile and the more powerful nuances. She is complemented by a pianist whose exquisitely tasteful playing builds on the great Scandinavian piano tradition, adding a pinch of Swedish folklore, pop music and free jazz. In combination with Trinelises unvarnished voice, the unique timbre of the baroque instruments, the vibrato-less sounds, and the ‘on the beat’ approach to groove, the music is far removed from the usual romantic setting of sweet pop songs. This music has edge, and is performed with engrossing vitality.

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 French-Armenian pianist Yessaï Karapetian. His 2022 debut album “Yessaï” has been described as having “overwhelming energy, power, but also invention”. Or, in Karapetian’s own words: “jumping off a cliff without a parachute, to be able to fly and do the impossible in front of everyone, or only in front of God.” Dive headfirst into a world full of rich, piano-led jazz textures with progressive nuances and intricate interludes.

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 Cologne-based drummer-composer Jo Beyer’s band ‘JO’. Award-winning drummer Beyer is accompanied by Felix Elsner (piano), Sven Decker (tenor saxophone), and Andreas Wahl (guitars and e-bow), playing his snappy compositions with undeniable improvisational flair. JO, which was founded in 2015, lives up to the band’s motto: “fun without compromise”!

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. The Dutch-Belgian acoustic-electronic piano threesome ‘De Beren Gieren’ (‘The Bears Shriek’, ‘Les Ours Vautours’) are known for their unique energetic sound, sparkling melodies, complex song structures and quirky song titles. ‘De Beren Gieren’ brings a fresh yet familiar blend of polyrhythmic soundscapes, sing-alongs, and elitist twists, building a sonorous bridge between early 20th century classical compositions and more contemporary escapades. ‘De Beren Gieren’ show an ability to change mood quite suddenly in a way that constantly holds the audience’s attention. A surprising live experience not to be missed!

In the 1960s, composer Michel Magne transformed the Château d'Hérouville, an 18th-century country house north of Paris and former home of lovers George Sand and Frédéric Chopin, into the first residential recording studio. In addition to its excellent facilities, the complex featured a swimming pool and a beautiful garden, allowing artists to stay for weeks or months at a time. From David Bowie and Iggy Pop to Pink Floyd and Chet Baker, countless stars recorded unforgettable music here until the studio closed in the 1980s. Three decades later, Château d'Hérouville has reopened its doors. This program follows American singer-songwriter Melody Gardot as she visits the legendary studio. After an accident in 2003 left her hypersensitive to light and sound, Gardot discovered the healing power of music. At Hérouville, she gives an interview and plays a breathtaking live set. Her performance opens with a beautiful version of ‘Baby I’m a Fool’ and includes ‘If The Stars Were Mine’ and ‘Les Étoiles,’ before concluding with the Chet Baker hit ‘You Don’t Know What Love Is.’ Melody Gardot (piano, guitar, vocals) is accompanied by Charles Staab (drums), Sam Minaie (double bass), Mitchell Long (guitar), Sylvain Gontard (trumpet), Ludovic Beier (accordion), Artyom Manoukyan (cello), and Guillaume Latour, Alexandra Kondo, and Benjamin Ducasse (violin).

A sound support with provocative combinations, a modern music laboratory, a vehicle of inspiration whose importance has been proven by many high-profile collaborations. Music lovers who appreciate jazz for its ability to provoke and continuously question the status quo certainly do not expect that such a standard set in its configuration finds itself completely detached from tradition. But sometimes, the more the DNA of a set is anchored in tradition, the higher the margin to give way to novelty. Innovation is at the heart of the approach of VEIN, a bold Swiss ensemble composed of brothers Michael and Florian Arbenz, and bassist Thomas Lähns, for whom the term "piano trio" has long been too restrictive.

In 1956, Duke Ellington and his Orchestra performed a legendary set at the third annual Newport Jazz Festival. It was tenor saxophonist Paul Gonsalves’ outstanding 27-chorus solo on “Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue” that revitalized Ellington’s career. The success generated during that performance carried him for the rest of his life. By 1973, festivals carrying the Newport name were organized all over the world. Less than a year before his death, Ellington and his Orchestra, with Gonsalves still in the fold, appeared in Brussels to deliver a timeless performance before a highly appreciative crowd.

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.

In 2019, the vibrant city of Sofia, Bulgaria, hosted the International A to JazZ Festival. Among the featured acts was the trailblazing jazz trumpeter Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah. This genre-defying artist captivated the audience with his eclectic “stretch music”; an approach that incorporates hip-hop and reaches back through the American canon into African percussion and its rich melodic content. Trumpeter Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah’s quintet, which includes drummer Corey Fonville, percussionist Weedie Braimah, pianist Lawrence Fields, and bass guitarist Max Mucha, delivered a performance that defied boundaries and expectations.

Modern jazz with a twist, based on a group effort rather than on personal virtuosity: meet Misc! Composer and pianist Jérôme Beaulieu, double bassist Philippe Leduc and drummer William Côté met during their college years at the Université de Montréal. Their Trio Jérôme Beaulieu quickly made a name for itself, winning the Montreal contest Jazz en Rafale and the Grand Prix du Festi-Jazz in Rimouski within the same year. Since their 2012 debut album L'homme sur la lune was nominated for the Opus Prize for Jazz Album of the Year, the trio has been praised for its musical experiments and its contemporary jazz repertoire. The trio’s music boasts wide-ranging musical influences: from acoustic music enhanced with electronic rhythms and textures, to a palette of diverse textures accented with samples, eccentric percussion, effects and prepared instruments. With unabated musical enthusiasm yet under the new name Misc, the trio launched its self-titled third album in 2016.

World-class Dutch jazz pianist Peter Beets has shared the stage with jazz greats Chick Corea, Wynton Marsalis, “Toots” Thielemans, Elvin Jones, George Coleman, Johnny Griffin, Benny Golson, and John Clayton. His mother a music teacher and his father an Oscar Peterson and Art Blakey enthusiast, Beets was surrounded by music from an early age. And though music was in their blood, neither parent associated the word “musician” with a career. In this broadcast, Peter Beets teams up with Anton Goudsmit (guitar) in tribute to guitar icon and founding father of modern jazz Wes Montgomery. The two men share a passion for Montgomery's music, his compositions forming the basis for Goudsmit’s energetic and eccentric solos and Beets's virtuoso piano playing. They are backed by a grooving rhythm section featuring Marius Beets (bass) and Joost van Schaik (drums).

Recorded in 1971 in Paris, France, Brazilian, classically trained bossa nova guitarist Baden Powell and his quartet play Pai, Lotus (written by Baden Powell), Tristeza (by Haroldo Lobo/Niltinho), Round Midnight (by Thelonious Monk), Nega do cabelo duro (by David Nasser/Rubens Soares), and Aos pes da cruz (by Zé da Zilda/Marino Pinto). Powell is joined by Ernesto Ribeiro-Gonçalves on double bass, Helio Schiavo on drums, and Alfredo Bessa on percussion.

Arguably the greatest lady vocalists of all time are featured in this superb compilation. These historic recordings from the 1950s and 1960s offer a unique overview of different approaches to jazz singing that helped define the genre. Watch Billie Holiday’s performance of “God Bless The Child” closely and learn what made her such an influential jazz and pop singer. Enjoy Anita O’Day’s matchless rhythmic sense in a performance of “Honeysuckle Rose” recorded at the Arenateatern in Stockholm, Sweden on November 1, 1963. Marvel at Nina Simone’s December 1968 performance of “Ain't Got No, I Got Life” from London. Let Sarah Vaughan’s rendition of “Tenderly” sweep you off your feet – ‘Sassy’, or ‘The Divine One’, recorded this romantic evergreen in a television studio in Sweden on July 9, 1958. Last but not least, revel at the ‘First Lady of Song’: Ella Fitzgerald swung “Mack The Knife” in a December 4, 1960 appearance at The Embers in suburban Melbourne, Australia. Get to know the greatest lady vocalists in jazz history with this unique compilation of historic recordings!