Aarhus Jazz Festival (formerly Aarhus International Jazz Festival) is an eight-day

jazz festival This is a list of notable jazz festivals around the world. Historic jazz festivals Jazz festivals by country The following is an incomplete list of notable jazz festivals, including both current and defunct festivals of note. Africa Angol ...

in Aarhus, Denmark. It is held every year in July, August or September. The festival performs at the

Aarhus Concert Hall ''Musikhuset Aarhus'' (Aarhus Concert Hall) is a large concert hall complex in Aarhus, Denmark. Located in the city centre, Musikhuset is Aarhus' main venue for music and with seating for more than 3,600 people in total, it is the largest concert ...

, as well as many different venues across the city. Many concerts are played outdoors in the public space and are for free. Aarhus Jazz Festival has been awarded with the European Effe Label in 2017-2018. The 2018 festival was held from 14 to 21 July and the 2019 festival takes place from 13 to 20 July.

History

Initiated in 1988 by

Musikhuset ''Musikhuset Aarhus'' (Aarhus Concert Hall) is a large concert hall complex in Aarhus, Denmark. Located in the city centre, Musikhuset is Aarhus' main venue for music and with seating for more than 3,600 people in total, it is the largest concert ...

and local venues, Aarhus Jazz Festival has been an annual summer event in the city since 1989. The festival is bent on featuring new talents in jazz as well as both local and international stars. From the beginning, the festival has featured many notable and world-renowned international jazz stars and bands such as Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock,

The Zawinul Syndicate The Zawinul Syndicate was a jazz fusion band formed by Austrian keyboardist Joe Zawinul in 1988. The band evolved out of Zawinul's former band Weather Report. The band adhered to Zawinul's roots in jazz. Their style could be described as a comb ...

, Clark Terry,

Mike Stern Mike Stern (born January 10, 1953) is an American jazz guitarist. After playing with Blood, Sweat & Tears, he worked with drummer Billy Cobham, then with trumpeter Miles Davis from 1981 to 1983 and again in 1985. He then began a solo career, ...

and

John Scofield John Scofield (born December 26, 1951), sometimes referred to as "Sco", is an American guitarist and composer whose music over a long career has blended jazz, jazz fusion, funk, blues, soul and rock. He first came to mainstream attention in th ...

- some of them several times - in a mix with more local notables such as

John Tchicai John Martin Tchicai ( ; 28 April 1936 – 8 October 2012) was a Danish free jazz saxophonist and composer. Biography Tchicai was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, to a Danish mother and a Congolese father. The family moved to Aarhus, where he st ...

Jesper Thilo Jesper Thilo (born 28 November 1941) is a Danish jazz musician, mainly known as a tenor saxophonist, alto saxophonist and clarinetist. He is considered to be one of the top European straight-ahead jazz musicians of the post-1970 period. Ben ...

Svend Asmussen Svend Asmussen (28 February 1916 – 7 February 2017) was a Danish jazz violinist, known as "The Fiddling Viking". A Swing style virtuoso, he played and recorded with many of the other jazz musicians, including Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and S ...

Ed Thigpen Edmund Leonard Thigpen (December 28, 1930 – January 13, 2010) was an American jazz drummer, best known for his work with the Oscar Peterson trio from 1959 to 1965. Thigpen also performed with the Billy Taylor trio from 1956 to 1959. Biograp ...

Cæcilie Norby Cæcilie Norby (born 9 September 1964) is a Danish jazz and rock singer. She was born in Frederiksberg, Denmark, into a musical family. Her father, Erik Norby, is classical composer and her mother, Solveig Lumholt, is an opera singer. She was a ...

Sinne Eeg Sinne Eeg (born 1 September 1977 in Lemvig, Denmark) is a Danish jazz vocalist and composer. Eeg has received a number of recognitions and positive reviews both nationally and internationally, and is considered among the best female jazz voca ...

Marilyn Mazur Marilyn Mazur (born January 18, 1955) is an American-born Danish percussionist. Since 1975, she has worked as a percussionist with various groups, among them Six Winds with Alex Riel. Mazur is primarily an autodidact, but she has a degree in ...

, Pierre Dørge and

Alex Riel Alex Riel (born 13 September 1940) is a Danish jazz and rock drummer.''Jeg skal sgu sidde ved trommerne'' Af Bine Madsen. Dagbladenes Bureau, 9 February 2010. Same interview in Flensborg Avis, 17 February 2010, Side 18''Alex Riel'' Horsens F ...

. The programme is quite broad in its musical choices, often including world renowned blues performers like

B.B.King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shim ...

Bonnie Raitt Bonnie Lynn Raitt (; born November 8, 1949) is an American blues singer and guitarist. In 1971, Raitt released her self-titled debut album. Following this, she released a series of critically acclaimed roots-influenced albums that incorporated ...

John Mayall John Mayall, OBE (born 29 November 1933) is an English blues singer, musician and songwriter, whose musical career spans over sixty years. In the 1960s, he was the founder of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, a band that has counted among it ...

or Danish blues acts like

Kenn Lendings Blues Band Kenn or KENN may refer to: Places *Kenn, Devon, a village in England *Kenn, Somerset, a village in England *Kenn, Germany, a place in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany Other uses *Kenn (Japanese actor) *KENN (AM), American radio station See also *Ken ...

Shades of Blue Varieties of the color blue may differ in hue, chroma (also called saturation, intensity, or colorfulness), or lightness (or value, tone, or brightness), or in two or three of these qualities. Variations in value are also called tints and sha ...

or The Blue Junction. Alternative musical styles with jazz-influences have been represented by artists such as

Nitin Sawhney Nitin Sawhney , D.Mus (; born 1964) is a British musician, producer and composer. A recipient of the Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement award in 2017, among multiple international awards throughout his career. Sawhney's work combines Asian a ...

Sting Sting may refer to: * Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger * Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself Fictional characters and entities * Sting (Middle-eart ...

Dr. John Malcolm John Rebennack Jr. (November 20, 1941 – June 6, 2019), better known by his stage name Dr. John, was an American singer and songwriter. His music encompassed New Orleans blues, jazz, funk, and R&B. Active as a session musician from ...

Abdullah Ibrahim Abdullah Ibrahim (born Adolph Johannes Brand on 9 October 1934 and formerly known as Dollar Brand) is a South African pianist and composer. His music reflects many of the musical influences of his childhood in the multicultural port areas of Cap ...

and

The Roots The Roots are an American hip hop band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The Roots serve as the house band on NBC's ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy F ...

in a mix with many local, new or unknown names. The festival has grown considerably in the 2010s; in 2014 it featured 230 concerts at 29 venues, while in 2018, the festival celebrated its 30th anniversary with more than 360 concerts across 42 venues. From 2014 to 2017 when Aarhus was European Capital of Culture, Aarhus Jazz Festival turned its focus towards European jazz; jazz from

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

in particular, since the city of

Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...

was Capital of Culture in 2016. The 2016 festival took a deliberate focus on the women in jazz, and included international female artists like

Melody Gardot Melody Gardot (; born February 2, 1985) is an American jazz singer. At the age of 19, Gardot was involved in a bicycle accident and sustained a head injury. Music played a critical role in her recovery. She became an advocate of music therapy, ...

, Sarah McKenzie and

Lizz Wright Elizabeth LaCharla Wright (born January 22, 1980) is an American jazz and gospel singer. Life and career Wright was born in the small town of Hahira, Georgia, one of three children and the daughter of a minister and the musical director of t ...

and that years poster also featured

Hiromi Uehara , known professionally as Hiromi, is a Japanese jazz composer and pianist. She is known for her virtuosic technique, energetic live performances and blend of musical genres such as stride, post-bop, progressive rock, classical and fusion in her ...

. Both the 2016 and 2017 festivals were expanded to last 10 days and also included world music concerts in addition to the more rigid jazz programme. Stan Getz was the first international artist to play at Aarhus Jazz festival in 1989 and as a homage, the 2018 festival played his music at several concerts. The 2019 festival will celebrate 100 years of jazz music in Aarhus.

Posters

Graphic designer

Finn Nygaard Finn Nygaard (born 1955) is a graphic designer from Denmark. He has worked professionally in many fields of graphical design, including corporate identity, colour setting, posters, graphic art, layout, and photography. He has exhibited in major ...

, himself from Aarhus and a lover of jazz music, has created many of the festival posters. He received design awards for these posters in 1990, 1991, 1998, 2000, 2001, and 2002.

References

External links

* * Mark Sabbatini:
The 2005 Aarhus International Jazz Festival
' All About Jazz (1 August 2005). Retrieved on 5 August 2014. A review.
Sommerens jazzfestivaler i Danmark
Jazz Denmark. Short reviews of Danish jazz festivals in the summer.
The Ultimate Guide to jazz festivals in Europe (Denmark)
jazzfests.net {{Aarhus Events in Aarhus Jazz festivals in Denmark 1988 establishments in Denmark Music festivals in Denmark