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BRUSSELS
1 - Jazz à Liège
9-10 June
www.jazzaliege.be
The Eric Legnini Trio are already confirmed for this two-day festival at the Palais des Congrès in Liège, Wallonia’s first city.
2 - Blue Note Records Festival
13-23 July, Ghent
www.bluenoterecordsfestival.com
The Gouden Leeuwplein in the centre of Ghent is transformed into a haven for fine jazz for 11 days every year. This programme features bright young things the Carlo Nardozza Quintet (winner of Young Jazz Talent Ghent 2005) and the elder statesman of Belgian jazz, Toots Thielemans, still blowing a mean harmonica at the ripe age of 84.
3 - Jazz In ’t Park
24-27 August
www.gent.be/jazzintpark
tel: +32 (0)9 269 46 00
This popular outdoor four-day event pulls more than 1,000 hep music lovers to the park in the Flemish city of Ghent. Concerts are free and held three times a day. At the end of the last performance, films about jazz are shown.
4 - Dinant Jazz Nights
29 September – 1 October
www.dinantjazznights.org
tel: +32 (0)83 22 08 19
Dinant’s most significant contribution to jazz is the saxophone: Adolphe Sax was born in this attractive town on the river Meuse in Wallonia. Its second best offering is the increasingly colourful Jazz Nights – a series of evening concerts, this year featuring artists on the ECM record label.
5 - Couleur Café, Brussels,
30 June – 2 July
www.couleurcafe.be
Jazz acts are just one ingredient that make up the magnificent cultural mélange that is Couleur Café. Held at the atmospheric Tour & Taxis venue near the Brussels canal, the festival boasts a stellar international bill of performers including James Brown, Gabriel Rios, Cali, Les Hurlements d’Leo and Saïan Supa Crew.
COPENHAGEN
6 - Riverboat Jazz Festival
22-25 June
www.riverboat.dk/uk
tel: +45 8680 1617
Every summer for four days the small Danish town of Silkeborg in the centre of Jutland swings to the sounds of every style of jazz from Dixieland to big band. Concerts range from impromptu busking on street corners to big tent performances.
7 - Copenhagen Jazz Festival
7-16 July
www.festival.jazz.dk
tel: +45 3393 2013
Performers at this year’s prestigious jazz festival include the Herbie Hancock Quintet, American guitarist Pat Metheny, pianist Brad Mehldau and world-music superstar Salif Keita.
8 - Aarhus International Jazz Festival
15-22 July
www.jazzfest.dk
tel: +45 8612 1312
This eight-day festival has steadily built up a reputation for attracting exciting new names in jazz since its humble beginnings in 1989. Sting and Suzanne Vega are schedule to play this year alongside a host of local and international acts.
FARO
9 - Loulé International Jazz Festival
Every Saturday in July
Loulé near Faro
tel: +351 289 415 860
Concerts are held in the Cerca do Convento do Espírito Santo convent and the spacious open-air venue Alcaidaria do Castelo Castle, which can hold up to 600 people. Highlights of this year’s festival include Big Band Synthesis and Tuniko Goulart.
GENEVA
10 - Montreux Jazz Festival
30 June – 15 July
www.montreuxjazz.com
tel: +41 21 966 4444
Never one to be ashamed of its populist bent, the line-up for the 40th Montreux Jazz Festival on going to press included such notable “jazz” musicians as Simply Red, the Black Eyed Peas and Bryan Adams. But if those acts don’t get your mojo working, the bill also features some more inventive types such as Ornette Coleman, Gilberto Gil and Sigor Rós
.11 - Jazz Festival Willisau
31 August – 3 September
www.jazzwillisau.ch
tel: +41 41 970 2731
Visitors can camp on the festival grounds in the enchanting Swiss town of Willisau. International luminaries such as John Zorn, Bill Frisell and John Scofield will wig out with local leading lights.
LISBON
12 - Estoril Jazz Festival
7-16 July
www.ticketline.pt
This year Estoril, a pretty coastal town around 20km from Lisbon, celebrates the 25th anniversary of its laid-back jazz festival. Events take place in Cascais and Lisbon too. There are ten evening concerts. Tickets range from €20-€30 and are available from the website.
MADRID
13 - Vitoria-Gasteiz Jazz Festival
8-15 July
www.jazzvitoria.com
tel: +34 94 514 1919
Sonny Rollins is the big-name draw of this year’s Vitoria-Gasteiz festival in the Basque region of Spain. Organisers liken the tenor saxophonist to a Greek god. Alumni from the world of jazz will be joining the god for a week-long programme of concerts.
MARSEILLE
14 - The Garde’n Blues Festival, Toulon
15-17 June
tel: +33 (0)4 91 36 28 01
Once a year the tranquil gardens at Marseille’s Jardin de la Barasse- St. Marcel become a home for the blues. This year’s attractions include Michael Jones and Eric Bibb.
15 - Jazzaldia, San Sebastián
21-26 July
www.jazzaldia.com
tel: +34 943 440 034 Celebrating its 41st anniversary, the Heineken Jazzaldia is still going strong: Brazilian legend Caetano Veloso, soul singer Erykah Badu and the Keith Jarrett Trio will be among the highlights of this year’s festival in the coastal town of Donostia, near San Sebastián.
16 - Ramatuelle, Toulon
16-22 August
www.jazzfestivalramatuelle.com
tel: +33 (0)4 94 79 10 29
According to its organisers, the jazz festival at Ramatuelle, a small coastal town in the South of France, deliberately avoids the vagaries of current fashions. It features concerts held in a picturesque outdoor theatre.
17 - Jazz à Juan International Jazz Festival
July, Toulon
www.antibes-juanlespins.com
tel: +33 (0)4 92 90 53 05
Jazz à Juan has a glittering history – Stéphane Grappelli, Charlie Mingus, Ray Charles, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald and John Coltrane are among some the famous names to have done their thing here – and 2006 will feature Diana Krall and Ahmad Jamal, among others.
MURCIA
18 - Torrevieja Jazz Festival
June in Murcia
www.webtorrevieja.com
tel: +34 966 706 838
This popular annual three-dayer, which takes place in the Eras de Sal theatre in Torrevieja, features Bill Bruford and the Count Basie Orchestra, among others.
19 - San Javier International Jazz Festival
30 June – 30 July
www.jazz.sanjavier.es
tel: +34 968 191 588
The ninth festival at San Javier promises to be a “bitching” brew of Latin talents (Toquinho) and international legends (Solomon Burke). The programme may play fast and loose with one’s definition of jazz, but it always manages to strike the right note.
NICE
20 - Nice Jazz Festival
19-26 July
www.nicejazzfest.com
tel: +33 (0)1 41 34 22 89
Attracting more than 45,000 music lovers and 500 musicians, Nice is recognised as one of the biggest jazz festivals in Europe. In its near 50-year history, the festival has attracted many star performers and this year’s line-up, which includes Cesaria Evora, Marcus Miller, Neneh Cherry and the Neville Brothers, carries on the proud tradition.
ROME
21 - Umbria Jazz Festival
7-16 July
www.umbriajazz.com
tel: +39 (0)75 5732432
The Umbria Festival in Perugia has everything you could ask for in a major festival: star names (James Brown and Tony Bennett grace this year’s bill, along with a huge number of other performers); free outdoor stages; street parades; small club venues; and midnight concerts.
Five young jazz musicians to watch
Spanish harmonica player Antonio Serrano’s profile was significantly raised when he appeared on the soundtrack to a Pedro Almodóvar film. His range extends from Bach to jazz interpretations of popular songs.
Self-taught alto saxophonist Soweto Kinch has been stirring up a lot of interest on the British jazz scene. His album, Conversations With the Unseen, was nominated for the Mercury Music prize, and he won the White Saxophone prize at the Montreux Jazz Festival.
A regular at Brussels jazz venues Sounds and Music Village, Namur-born Nathalie Loriers is a classically trained jazz pianist of some distinction. In 2000 she received a much-coveted EuroDjango award.
Marco Tacchini is a rare breed: a jazz rock bassist who has found fame outside of his native Italy. He has collaborated with the likes of Jan Hammer but performs mostly with his own band.
Though still in his early thirties, French alto and soprano saxophonist Michaël Chéret has already played with a distinguished list of stars including James Brown and is a seasoned performer on the European festival circuit.
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