Schedule

Pianist Peter Beets and the Henk Meutgeert New Jazz Orchestra performed at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam on April 22, 2019. French singer Camille Bertault made a special guest appearance. In 2018, the New Jazz Orchestra was founded by two veterans of Dutch jazz: pianist Peter Beets and arranger Henk Meutgeert. This new big band consists of top tier young jazz talents from the Netherlands. French jazz vocalist Camille Bertault came into the public eye after she penned French lyrics to saxophonist John Coltrane’s famous song Giant Steps, and, most impressively, sang Coltrane’s solo by heart in a YouTube video. A feat of extraordinary technical ability and serious improvisational skill!

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, American trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis and his quintet performed at the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague. Accompanied by brother/saxophonist Branford Marsalis, drummer Jeff Watts, bassist Phil Bauer and pianist Kenny Kirkland, 20-year-old Wynton Marsalis shows his pedigree as a former member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers.

Having played in New York with jazz icons Dave Liebman, Eliot Zigmund, Ari Hoenig, and Chris Cheek, Catalan bass player Manel Fortià now returns to his roots to reinvent traditional Catalan repertoire. Manel Fortià teams up with Antonia Lizana (saxophones), Pere Martínez (vocals), Max Villavecchia (piano), and Raphael Pannier (drums) to form ‘Libérica’, reimagining Catalan music and Flamenco through the eyes of a New York jazz musician. Their 2021 album ‘Arrels’ explores Catalan hymns, including ‘El cant dels ocells’ and ‘Els tres tambors’, heard here during a live performance at Nova Jazz Cava in Barcelona.

Estival Jazz Lugano is an annual open-air music festival that takes place over five days at 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. On July 3, 1985, pianist and space-faring jazz icon Sun Ra and his Arkestra crash-landed at Estival Jazz Lugano. Featuring saxophonists Marshall Allen, John Gilmore and Danny Ray Thompson, clarinetist Eloe Omoe, flautist James Jackson, trombonist Tyrone Hill and a cavalcade of other costumed talents, Sun Ra puts on a truly out-of-this-world concert.

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.

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.

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 1980, American singer Betty Carter gave a powerful performance with her trio at the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague. Our two-song snippet of the concert contains the tribute to Billie Holiday "Don't Weep for the Lady", and "Swing, Brother, Swing".

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.

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).

Formed in 1952 from the rhythm section of Dizzy Gillespie's big band, the Modern Jazz Quartet took its inspiration from classical chamber music as well as jazz's blues roots. The group enjoyed a decades-long career with multiple critically acclaimed albums, cementing their place in the history of the genre. Following concerts in Rotterdam and Amsterdam the days before, the Modern Jazz Quartet performed at Singer Concertzaal in Laren for Dutch TV on March 31, 1969. Composed of Milt Jackson on vibraphone, John Lewis on piano, Percy Heath on bass, and Connie Kay on drums, the foursome plays with elegance and style.

Rotterdam’s ‘ BIRD’ is a club, café and restaurant with a live music programme that's deeply rooted in jazz, and also branches out towards soul, funk, hip-hop and electronic music as well. Its name ‘BIRD’ refers to the nickname of the legendary New York jazz saxophonist, bebop co-founder Charlie Parker (1920-1955). BIRD serves Neapolitan pizzas, good wines, no-nonsense beers and an all-round metropolitan rawness. Since 2014, this urban jazz club and DJAZZ.tv have been collaborating for a series of music programmes: ‘BIRD.tv’, allowing you to experience the best BIRD concerts and interviews as from a first row seat! In this episode, our guest is an old-timer from African music: the saxophonist and composer Orlando Julius (*1943). Doubtlessly, he is royalty among Nigerian musicians. In his music, Julius combines highlife, jazz, soul, and R&B in ground-breaking ways.

Legendary Cuban pianist Chucho Valdés brought his band ‘Jazz Batá 2’ to the Malta Jazz Festival on July 19, 2019. The air was thick with anticipation as Valdés took to the stage, revisiting the small-group concept of his mythical 1972 Cuban album ‘Jazz Batá’. The batá repertoire – the deep classical music of West Africa – permeates Valdés’ piano solos throughout the concert. Valdés’s band consists of Dreiser Durruthy (Batas and vocals), Yaroldy Abreu (percussions and vocals), Abraham Mansfarroll (percussion), Ramón Vazquez Martirena-Bajo (bass guitar). They delivered a performance that reverberated through the historic island.

'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 1988, vocalist Bobby McFerrin appeared at the festival. Known for his incredible vocal technique and unique approach to singing, McFerrin performed an unforgettable solo concert.

Dexter Gordon: Live in '63 & '64 features three concerts filmed in Holland, Switzerland, and Belgium that highlight the bebop legend's classic style and silky tone. These shows feature legendary side musicians such as Art Taylor (drums) and Kenny Drew (piano), and jazz classics “Blues Walk”, “A Night In Tunisia”, “Body And Soul”, and others. One of the most influential saxophonists in jazz history, Dexter Gordon is captured in sharp form and style in this 70-minute tour de force.

Full-time pianist, composer, teacher, and producer Coen Molenaar – aka Conrad Miller – is active all over the world in styles ranging as widely as jazz, fusion, dance, funk, R&B, rock, and neo-soul. In this 2021 performance from Rossini Studios in Stuttgart, Germany, Miller plays contemporary trio jazz with his bandmates David de Marez Oyens (double bass) and Enrique Firpi (drums).

Well-known for his exuberant style and intimate familiarity with a vast range of jazz and Latin idioms, Michel Camilo has always had a sixth sense for musical adventure. Camilo was one of the most stimulating jazz pianists to emerge in the mid- to late '80s. His powerful two-handed attack (full of impressive technical skills), his knowledge of both jazz and Afro-Cuban music, and his willingness to constantly take chances turn each of his solos into an adventure. This broadcast was taped during the 1999 Münchner Klaviersommer, when Camilo made one of his rare solo appearances. Improvising on a Steinway D grand piano, he drew an astonishing palette of musical colours from his instrument: rich orchestral sounds as well as and a tender lyricism.

Jazz à Vienne is one of the world's most prestigious jazz festivals. Ever since 1981, it has attracted a mix of jazz legends and exciting newcomers, with many of them playing return engagements. Each year welcomes outstanding international stars to the historical Le Théâtre Antique to impress and inspire their audiences. In 2018, French pianist Gauthier Toux performed with his trio of bassist Kenneth Dahl Knudsen and drummer Maxence Sibille at Jazz à Vienne. Having just released his third album Whatever The Colours You See, Toux amazes with his contemporary take on jazz.

American soul and jazz organist Rhoda Scott spent most of her career in France, where she earned recognition far greater than that accorded to her in the United States. There was never any doubt about what instrument she would play as a child. "It's really the most beautiful instrument in the world,” she once stated in an interview. “The first thing I did was take my shoes off and work the pedals.” This performance at the French Festival Jazz à Vienne is extra special. Not only because of the beautiful location, but also because she shares the stage with American gospel and blues singer La Velle. Together they give an intimate and beautiful show in the antique theatre of Vienne.

'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 1991, Cuban pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba was one of the artists appearing here. Together with Reinaldo Melian on trumpet, Felipe Cabrera on bass and Julio Barreto on drums, Rubalcaba showcased not only his technical ability as a virtuoso pianist in challenging repertoire of Charlie Parker and John Coltrane, but also his skills as a composer.

In the midst of the blossoming of the free-jazz scene, pianist Cecil Taylor (1929) probably represented the non-jazz aspect of the movement better than anyone else. Many of the innovations of the 1960s were pioneered by his records. His fusion of exuberance and atonality was particularly influential. Like saxophonist Ornette Coleman, who initially overshadowed him, Taylor was one of the first musicians to release jazz improvisation from fixed harmonic structures. Influenced by both classical music and jazz, Taylor became a virtuoso pianist with a unique range of dynamics, attacks, and harmonic resources, including many tone clusters played for percussive, not harmonic, effect. During this 1984 Müncher Klaviersommer concert, he shows his mastery of improvised jazz.

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 1986, influential American pianist and composer McCoy Tyner brought an all-star cast with him to the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague. Joined by the illustrious trumpeter Freddie Hubbard and saxophonist Joe Henderson, alongside his rhythm section of Avery Sharpe on bass and Louis Hayes on drums, they put on a magical performance that enamored the crowd.

Jazz à Vienne is one of the world's most prestigious jazz festivals. Ever since 1981, it has attracted a mix of jazz legends and exciting newcomers, with many of them playing return engagements. Each year welcomes outstanding international stars to the historical Le Théâtre Antique to impress and inspire their audiences. In 2017, French pianist Laurent de Wilde performed his tribute to jazz icon Thelonious Monk at Jazz à Vienne. Alongside bassist Jérôme Regard and drummer Donald Kontomanou, De Wilde gives a respectful and engaging homage built upon 20 years of study.

The American gospel group The Jackson Singers, founded by Bob Jackson in 1980, found a warm welcome in Europe, where they have toured for decades. Embraced for their powerful spirituals and gospel music, they have become a celebrated presence in churches, cathedrals, and jazz festivals across the continent. In this concert recording from the Ascona New Orleans Jazz Festival, held in late June and early July 1998 at picturesque Lake Maggiore in Ascona, Switzerland, The Jackson Singers deliver a breathtaking performance that brings the entire audience to its feet.

Rotterdam’s BIRD is a club, café, and restaurant with a live music program that's deeply rooted in jazz, soul, funk, hip-hop, and electronic. Its name BIRD refers to the nickname of legendary New York jazz saxophonist, bebop co-founder Charlie Parker. BIRD serves Neapolitan pizzas, fine wines, no-nonsense beers, and an all-round metropolitan rawness. Since 2014, this urban jazz club and DJAZZ.tv have been collaborating for a series of music programs: BIRD.tv, allowing you to experience the best BIRD concerts and interviews as from a first-row seat! This episode is dedicated to seven brothers from the south side of Chicago: The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble AKA Bad Boys of Jazz, Tha Bros, and Yo Favorite Band! The band freely adds generous doses of hip-hop, soul, and funk to the brass band tradition, creating an intoxicating and boisterous blend: perfect for another episode of BIRD.tv!

In 1988, Dee Dee Bridgewater was one of the first great jazz singers to perform at the Jazz Festival in Ramatuelle. In 2016, the story seems to repeat itself as her daughter China Moses took the stage at Ramatuelle. Over the years, China Moses has become a mature performer with a unique style: rocky voice, sharp sense of swing, and intense/energetic stage presence. After signing compilations dedicated to Dinah Washington and blues, Moses released in 2016 an album of his own compositions, entitled "Whatever". Get ready for a most entertaining performance combining jazz, soul, and hip-hop.

Texan pianist Sammy Price (1908-1992) played everything from blues and boogie-woogie to swing and jump-blues. Starting in Dallas as a singer and dancer in Alphonso Trent’s orchestra, he went to Kansas to form the Texas Bluesicians. At the end of the 1930s, and as a house pianist for the Decca label, he backed many stars, including Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Trixie Smith. Price was equally at home playing the blues in a trio, or leading a bigger band playing the jump-blues people loved to dance to. In this 1958 recording, Sammy plays the Comblain-La-Tour Jazz Festival with his band.