Presence of women and a wide range from all areas of jazz, combined with a clear social statement – this is how one could summarize the musical program that the 40 showcase acts will present at the next jazzahead! present. It will take place as a trade fair and festival of MESSE BREMEN from April 11th to 13th in Bremen.
Top-class artists also come from Germany and numerous other European countries, not to mention the acts from overseas – “for our theme “Jazz from Africa” over the next three years alone, the jury has selected three extremely exciting ensembles from Senegal and Kenya and Nigeria,” says the new artistic advisor Götz Bühler.
Artists and bands: there are eight acts alone, including the twelve-member Kika Sprangers Large Ensemble around the composing saxophonist of the same name, who is considered one of the greatest jazz talents in her country with her beautifully constructed music, or BOI AKIH, the electronics, Combine organ sounds and pointed rhythms with Balinese microtones. Guitarist Reinier Baas and saxophonist Ben van Gelder, fixtures in the Amsterdam scene, represent a modern, melodic improvised form of jazz, while the Marmoucha Orchestra offers a fascinating fusion of North African Gnawa sounds with European sound worlds and instruments.
With their exciting approaches, these acts represent the diversity and class of the Dutch scene on the one hand, but also the wide range of the entire showcase program on the other. Because that’s what it’s all about: the all-female quartet O.N.E. from Poland, which combines poetry, folkloric influences and songwriting with wild free jazz energy – as uncompromising as it is breaking conventions. Also there are the Open Arms Project around the Israeli-born star on the clarinet Oran Etkin, who will perform with a genre-busting ensemble with musicians from Brazil and the USA (Bühler: “The name says it all”) or the Hungarian one Guitarist Bálint Gyémánt, who moves with his trio atmospherically between elegant fusion sounds and punk rock. The electronic avant-gardists Antiánima from Mexico and the virtuoso fusion complex around Yonglee & The DOLTANG from Korea will play in Germany for the first time, as well as some of the musicians from the theme “Jazz from Africa” as well as from Ukraine and Israel. It is also particularly pleasing that “for the first time since Brexit there are more bands from Great Britain taking part, such as the young pianist Sultan Stevenson from the talent pool of “Tomorrows Warriors” or the band of the Scottish folk-jazz saxophonist Matt Carmichael,” said Kornitschky and Bühler.
The high proportion of women is pleasing – diversity plays an important role in the program. “Jazz needs diversity!”, as jazzahead! leader Sybille Kornitschky emphasizes: “It’s a good sign that five of the German bands are led by women – and not just because we wanted it politically, but because it is are currently the most exciting bands.” The top-class and international juries made this decision. These include the trios of pianists Alexandra Ivanova, Shuteen Erdenebaatar and Julia Kadel (the latter is also an award-winning founding member of the QUEER CHEER community) or saxophonist Phillip Dornbusch with the band Projektor, whose electro-acoustic sound worlds swirl between avant-garde and modern jazz contain a clear and central anti-racism statement.
This basic attitude applies to the entire program. “Jazz has always had a political component,” say Kornitschky and Bühler in unison. A few years ago there were discussions in Germany about whether jazz had lost its political stance, but now it is much more recognizable again, says Kornitschky: “We want and have to make it clear that we celebrate this diversity, that we live in community , also at jazzahead! We see the signs of the times, but we also want to set an example.” Jazz is a music that connects and knows no boundaries – that’s what we want during jazzahead! in Bremen again as a matter of course and musically clear.
The jazzahead! PASS is valid for all three days including CLUBNIGHT. In addition, full-day (ALL IN) and half-day tickets (DAY or NIGHT) are available for Thursday, Friday and Saturday. You can find more information and prices here.
Tickets are available from Nordwest Ticket in advance booking offices or by calling 0421 – 36 36 36 and via their own web shop. The tickets are also available from the ticket service in the Glocke (0421 – 33 66 99), in the Weser-Kurier press office, in all regional newspaper houses or online at https://jazzahead.de/. For participants of jazzahead! In 2024, access to the showcase concerts is included in the trade fair registration.
