Wolfgang Tiefensee (MdB) is patron of the Leipzig Jazz Days!

Accompanying text to the 2011 Festival.
Dear friends of jazz,

the 35th Leipzig Jazz Days have the motto: "Between Mahler and Miles." Miles Davis (who - just like Gustav Mahler - could and should be preceded by "The Great") once said, "Don't play what's there, play what's not there." Gustav Mahler, in turn, could have said the same (in Viennese-tinged English), for both great musicians opened up and continue to open up infinitely wide worlds of sound and meaning behind the music itself. And this is where the 35th Leipziger Jazztage differs from so many other great festivals of jazz: the honorary members of the Jazzclub Leipzig have opted for concept instead of commerce, and want to take the participants on an exciting quest: For what lies behind, what connects, for roots, influences and traces, but also for the new: This year's festival aims to discover and promote innovations in jazz by, among other things, commissioning compositions (this year by Terje Rypdal) and new arrangements (e.g. by Prof. Volker Bräutigam etc.) especially for the Leipzig Jazz Days. I am very excited and I am sure you are too.

Welcome to Leipzig and have fun and success at the 35th Leipziger Jazztage!

Sincerely,

Yours, Wolfgang Tiefensee,
Member of the German Bundestag