The jazz calendar editorial is also dedicated to the festival this time:
LET'S TALK ABOUT JAZZTAGE, BABY
Not all jazz is the same, and not all jazz festivals are the same. We've given the Jazztage a theme this year, too, instead of simply booking who's on tour (quite the opposite: we're even flying Mr. Scofield and Mr. Guiliana in specially from the States). So "Sound of Heimat" is written above it, and invited are musicians who deal with their homeland. But of course we are still doing a festival for contemporary jazz, our reference is the present. We depict what is, not what was. That's why there will only be concerts in which native, folkloric sounds and various jazz traditions are combined into contemporary music. From Israeli folklore in combination with the 'American songbook' and string quartet (Avishai Cohen) to Afghan roots in contemporary jazz from Germany (Simin Tander) to Polish jazz samples on hip hop beats (Skalpel) - if you take a look at the program like this, you will realize relatively quickly that the festival pass is a) necessary and b) pretty cheap (especially for jazz club members 😉 Videos of all artists are available at www.leipziger-jazztage.de - all info about VVK etc. of course too.
And just one week after the festival, Thomas Hertel's 'dead men' and Reihe2 will open the new Jazzclub Live season with illustrious guests, which has a lot to offer. You can be curious about October, November and what they are all called.
We are very much looking forward to the jazz days and to your visit.
Your jazz calendar editorial team
© Jazz Calendar, September 2014