The Klaipėda Castle Jazz Festival () has been held annually during June or July in

Klaipėda Klaipėda ( ; ) is a city in Lithuania on the Baltic Sea coast. It is the List of cities in Lithuania, third-largest city in Lithuania, the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, fifth-largest city in the Baltic States, and the capi ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

since 1994. It is staged near the ruined

Klaipėda Castle Klaipėda Castle (), also known as Memelburg or Memel Castle, is an archaeology, archeological site and museum housed in a Ordensburg, castle built by the Teutonic Knights in Klaipėda, Lithuania, near the Baltic Sea. The Teutons called the castl ...

. Major international performers at past festivals have included

Maynard Ferguson Walter Maynard Ferguson CM (May 4, 1928 – August 23, 2006) was a Canadian jazz trumpeter and bandleader. He came to prominence in Stan Kenton's orchestra before forming his own big band in 1957. He was noted for his bands, which often served ...

Toots Thielemans Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans (29 April 1922 – 22 August 2016), known professionally as Toots Thielemans (), was a Belgian jazz musician. He was mostly known for playing the chromatic harmonica, as well as his guitar and wh ...

Billy Cobham William Emanuel Cobham Jr. (born May 16, 1944) is a Panamanian–American jazz drummer who came to prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s with trumpeter Miles Davis and then with the Mahavishnu Orchestra. He was inducted into the '' Mode ...

Culture Mix,

Mike Mainieri Michael T. Mainieri Jr. (born July 4, 1938) is an American vibraphonist, known for his work with the jazz fusion group Steps Ahead. He is married to the singer-songwriter and harpist Dee Carstensen. Biography Mainieri was born in The Bronx, N ...

, Victor Bailey,

Chico & the Gypsies Chico & the Gypsies is a French Gitano band that plays Catalan rumba, flamenco, Latin pop, and Latin rock. It is led by Chico Bouchikhi, one of the founders of the Gipsy Kings. A year after leaving that band, in 1991, he formed the Gypsies in ...

Soweto Kinch Soweto Kinch (born 10 January 1978) is a British jazz saxophonist and rapper. Biography Born in 1978 in London, England, to a Barbadian father, playwright Don Kinch, and British-Jamaican actress Yvette Harris, Soweto Kinch began playing ...

, Alex Wilson, and

Nikki Yeoh Nikki Yeoh (born 24 May 1973) is a British jazz pianist who has worked with Courtney Pine, Cleveland Watkiss, Steve Williamson, Chante Moore, The Roots and Neneh Cherry. Born in London, Yeoh is of mixed race origin, having a father from Malaysi ...

, among others. It traditionally features open air performances and an all-night

jam session A jam session is a relatively informal musical event, process, or activity where musicians, typically instrumentalists, play improvised solos and vamp over tunes, drones, songs, and chord progressions. To "jam" is to improvise music without ...

History

The Klaipėda Castle Jazz Festival has been held annually during June or July in

since 1994. It is staged near the ruined

, but also includes some performances in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

and

Palanga Palanga (; ; ) is a resort town, resort city in western Lithuania, on the shore of the Baltic Sea. Palanga is the busiest and the largest summer resort in Lithuania and has sand, sandy beaches (18 km, 11 miles long and up to 300 metres, 10 ...

. The festival features open-air performances and an all-night

. The event was initially held in June, however in 2007 it was delayed until July for the first time, in the hopes of experiencing better weather. The festival is part of the European Jazz Network. When it was founded, the festival featured Lithuanian musicians, and then later expanded to include international performers. Major international performers at past festivals have included

Culture Mix,

, Victor Bailey,

, Alex Wilson, and

, among others. In 2007, acts included

Maceo Parker Maceo Parker (; born February 14, 1943) is an American funk and soul jazz saxophonist, best known for his work with James Brown in the 1960s, Parliament-Funkadelic in the 1970s and Prince in the 2000s. Parker was a prominent soloist on many of ...

Randy Crawford Veronica "Randy" Crawford (born February 18, 1952) is an American retired jazz and R&B singer. She has been more successful in Europe than in the United States, where she has not entered the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 as a solo artist. However, sh ...

Joe Sample Joseph Leslie Sample (February 1, 1939 – September 12, 2014) was an American jazz keyboardist and composer. He was one of the founding members of The Jazz Crusaders in 1960, whose name was shortened to "The Crusaders" in 1971. He remained a p ...

and

Sugar Blue James Joshua Whiting (born December 16, 1949), known professionally as Sugar Blue, is an American blues harmonica player. He is best known for playing on the 1978 Rolling Stones album '' Some Girls'', and well as his partnership with blues guita ...

. The 2025 festival has returned to the June timeslot, and will take place over three days, and include events in the town centre, the St. Francis of Assisi Church in Klaipeda, and Gargzdai park amphitheater.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klaipeda Castle Jazz Festival Jazz festivals in Lithuania 1994 establishments in Lithuania Music in Klaipėda Music festivals established in 1994 Annual events in Lithuania Organized events in Klaipėda Summer in Lithuania