In GDR times, it was affectionately known as "Woodstock at the carp pond". But after the Jazzwerkstatt Peitz was founded in 1973, the state authorities put an end to the colorful goings-on just nine years later and banned the festival. It was only reactivated years later, long after the Wall had fallen. That was in 2011.

Since then, the Spreewald region has once again had its annual jazz workshop. Then as now, people are interested in the avant-garde - music that dares, explores the unexplored, crosses boundaries and doesn't just rehash the old over and over again. With Marie Blobel - daughter of the founder of the Jazzwerkstatt, Ulli Blobel - the festival has found a new curator this year, who has already gained curatorial experience at jazzexzess Berlin in the past and will give the festival a fundamentally new face. Promising acts such as Being & Becoming, Ensemble Su, Hyperplexia, Filter Bubble, Daniel Erdmann - Aki Takase and many more are expected.

For the first time this year, the Brandenburg Jazz Prize will also be awarded as part of the festival, which will help to further promote the local scene.