At the International Jazz Week Burghausen, one of the oldest and most important European jazz festivals, criticism has become increasingly louder in recent years: that the scene is losing more and more importance due to an increasingly populist orientation, the ignoring of current developments and a lack of professional competence. The organizing IG Jazz now seems to have taken this to heart. The program for the 53rd edition from March 12th to 18th sounds more young, exciting and – without slipping into pure pop – diverse than it has been for a long time.
As has been the case for 14 years now, the Jazz Week begins with a prologue, so to speak: with the Burghauser European Young Jazz Prize. The competition in the city hall has developed into a highlight and trademark of the festival – usually sold out long beforehand. This year, for the first time, the jury didn’t get a German band in the Blindfold preselection (i.e. without knowing who they were listening to). The five candidates come from Norway, Poland, Hungary, Italy and the Netherlands.
The winners will then play as openers at the opening concert in the Wackerhalle Foursight Quartet by the 86-year-old bassist and Burghausen veteran Ron Carter, one of the last living legends of modern jazz. It’s nice how the future and the past meet. What’s even nicer is that it then goes right into the present. Because both the eleven-piece band founded by London trumpeter Laura Jurd for her “The Big Friendly Album” and that Orjazztra Vienna by the Austrian composer Christian Muthspiel, who will share the Wackerhallen stage on Thursday, are currently the hottest when it comes to large ensembles.
On Fridays the windows are opened particularly wide. The Swiss trombonist Samuel Blaser transfers his passion for reggae into jazz with “Routes”, and the Nigerian-born singer and guitarist Keziah Jones celebrates his “Blufunk”, an Afro-jazz based on blues and funk. What’s new is that there is an alternative to the Wackerhalle on Friday: the JUZ youth center will be playing at the same time FEH-Quintet of the young singer Julia Fehenberger, which could be the next Bavarian band into the bigger spotlight with its trip-hop and dubstep transport into current jazz. And then the wild, young Finnish octet made up of musicians from all genres rosettes the singer and keyboardist Tytti Roto.
You are spoiled for choice more than ever on Saturday. As usual, the afternoon is still all about the blues. The singer Justine Lee Brown, who grew up in Nigeria and has lived in Switzerland for 16 years, and the 25-year-old American shooting star DK Harrell on guitar and microphone have already almost sold out the Wackerhalle as striking blues storytellers.
Unusual and rousing: the Cuban cellist and singer Ana Carla Maza.
(Photo: Oliver Hochkeppel)
In the evening you can admire the Cuban cellist and singer Ana Carla Maza, who trained in Paris and lives in Spain, one of the most unusual, rousing and already most popular young jazz creatures on the Internet. Before the Jazz in the clash on 13 Black Lives – From Generation to Generation also shows its colors again: The project with such diverse greats as Christie Dashiell, Gregory Privat, Federico Gonzalez Peña, David Gilmore, Reggie Washington and Marcus Gilmore was created in 2020 under the impression of the death of George Floyd and the resurgent racism. And deals with this festering wound without compromising on musical expression.
At the same time in the city hall are the Cologne A Cappella Quartet Of Cabbages And Kings (one of their first major appearances was at the Burghauser Young Talent Award) and the Monika Roscher Big Band hosted local and very enjoyable avant-gardists. Afterwards, as usual, it’s off to the Jazz Night with ten bands in the bars in the old town. The closing event on Sunday in the Stadtsaal is once again under the motto “Next in Jazz”. With the jazz rockers phalanx the Maelstrom guitarist Axel Zajac, the band of the new London saxophone wonder Emma Rawicz and the Munich multimedia indie pop improvisers from SiEA, it’s true this time too.
The heart of the festival will once again beat during the late-night sessions in the jazz cellar of the Mautnerschloss, this time led by the Joe Webb piano trio. And a new bronze plaque will also be laid in the “Street of Fame” in the pits on the opening day. Wayne Shorter, who died a year ago, will be honored for his performances at Jazz Week. There may only be a few living jazz musicians left who make you freeze in awe in front of a monument. Even more so because they blow your ear canals open in a concert. Quod erat demonstrandum.
53rd International Jazz Week Burghausen, Tuesday to Sunday, March 12th to 18th, www.b-jazz.com