Musicians are becoming increasingly mobile. More and more, they are no longer based where they were born but move for long periods to other cities and cultures, perhaps reflecting their curiosity to sample new influences and then, like smart chefs, [...]
Opus Jazz Club in Budapest forms part of the Budapest Music Centre (BMC), a centre for contemporary music in general and for jazz in particular. Built just over a decade ago, there’s a concert hall, rehearsal rooms, a recording studio, [...]
For too many years it has been too easy for us in the far west of Europe to undervalue the jazz scene in Romania. Under communism, jazz bubbled somewhat underground, but it has now been blossoming, both in terms of [...]
Gaume Jazz Festival this year celebrated a full return to pre-pandemic sized programme, helped by extending the capacity of its second venue in the park. This is in addition to the village’s church and the small theatre, a small open [...]
Franz Hackl is the mastermind behind the Outreach Festival – this was the 31st edition. His particular skill is in digging for genius and bringing a lively selection of music to the surface. Perhaps, in a way, he is building [...]
Starting immediately after Inntöne finishes, the local energy moves along the road to Passau for its own summer jazz festival running through to the end of August. The opener could hardly have been of a higher profile. With Leo Genovese, [...]
Festivals which are carefully curated, like Inntöne/ Jazz am Bauernhof (jazz at the farm), held on promoter/programmer Paul Zauner’s farm in Austria – the nearest major town is Passau – give one a great idea of the cross section of [...]
This is the second of Oliver Weindling’s reports from Jazzfest Passau. He covered the opening concert by Leo Genovese (link below), and was back for a couple of evenings in early August. He writes: Jazzfest Passau has continued through most [...]
With the demise of the Vienna Art Orchestra, the city is in need of another band of similar stature. Perhaps trombonist Christian Muthspiel is the person to deliver the update with his OrJAZZstra. He had experience in the VAO for [...]
The Garana festival has now reached its 27th edition. In the Romanian Carpathian mountains, south of Timisoara, which itself had a major festival just the previous week (reviewed here). Started by musicians – actually in the garden of the house [...]
