Apr 21, 2026 12:28 PM
Camila Nebbia’s Berlin Adventures
The Berlin tenor saxophonist Camila Nebbia has been rising to eminence on the adventuring jazz and improvisation scenes.…
“I do like having a balance of both worlds, and connecting them,” Camila Nebbia says of the intersection of composition and improvisation.
Apr 21, 2026 12:28 PM
The Berlin tenor saxophonist Camila Nebbia has been rising to eminence on the adventuring jazz and improvisation scenes.…
Björn Meyer’s Convergence
Apr 21, 2026 3:23 PM
Swedish bassist Bjørn Meyer releases his second solo LP, Convergence (ECM; ★★★ 37:58), certainly not sounding…
David Murray provided ample solos that took flight at controlled heights, then crept down to a deep reed-richness.
Jan 19, 2026 5:37 PM
Now that it’s completed its 22nd edition, the Polish festival Jazztopad (a play on “Listopad,” meaning November)…
Saxophonist Luka Zabric and trumpeter Kuba Kurek perform during the 21st edition of Jazztopad.
Jan 18, 2025 2:41 PM
Wrocław is not one of Poland’s more popular tourist destinations. But it’s a historically important city, one of…
Jordi Pujol has made it happen, little by little, for the past 40 years at Fresh Sound New Talent.
Apr 11, 2023 11:02 AM
Fresh Sound New Talent is enjoying a pair of impressive anniversary celebrations. The original Fresh Sound label turns…
Siggi Loch (left) and Andreas Brandis.
Feb 7, 2023 1:40 PM
ACT Records has become one of the most significant European jazz labels during its 30-year existence. As the German…
Harpist Alina Bzhezhinska, one of 15 European artists DownBeat critics selected as must-hear music.
Jul 12, 2022 2:56 PM
Many of us at DownBeat have found ourselves stuck at home lately, wondering what’s happening elsewhere — especially…
John Zorn’s Masada performing at Jazz em Agosto in Lisbon.
Apr 29, 2022 2:53 AM
In the summer of 2022, our jazz festivals will be free to run without nearly as many of the social distancing…
The Polish electric bassist Kinga Głyk led a funk-jazz fusion band at Szczecin’s Filharmonia on March 18.
Apr 5, 2022 2:16 PM
Szczecin is a port city in the northwest of Poland, very close to the German border. In 2021, its annual jazz festival…
Pianist Nik Bärtsch performs at Festival Jazzkaar.
Oct 18, 2021 12:44 PM
The last time that Swiss pianist Nik Bärtsch appeared at Festival Jazzkaar in 2018, half of his four-piece band called…
Tom Zé was part of a Brazilian contingent at the Moers Festival—which ran June 7-10 in Moers, Germany—that also included Clube Da Encruza, Sambanzo and Absimu Curtu.
Jun 14, 2019 9:23 AM
The Moers Festival started in 1971, and its roots reach deep into the vortex of free improvisation. That’s still the…
Darcy James Argue’s work at Angrajazz sounded like a descendant of Quincy Jones’ 1964 soundtrack for The Pawnbroker.
Oct 15, 2018 5:12 PM
Not many jazz festivals can boast the lush, historic setting of Angrajazz, which celebrated its 20th anniversary Oct.…
Damon Smith (left) and Ra-Kalam Bob Moses
Oct 7, 2018 5:39 PM
Since 2010, Plane Crash has featured the improvisatory skills of Henry Kaiser (guitar), Damon Smith (bass) and Weasel…
Dan Weiss performs at the Gent Jazz Festival in Gent, Belgium.
Jul 18, 2018 4:42 PM
The Gent Jazz Festival has been running since 2002, although prior to 2008, it was known as the Blue Note Festival.…
Storløkken’s Twilight Saloon performs at the Dokkhuset venue during Norway’s Trondheim Jazzfestival.
May 24, 2018 10:59 AM
Celebrating its 39th installment, Norway’s Trondheim Jazzfestival, which ran May 8-13, slotted starry Americans…
Dr. Lonnie Smith performs at one of three sets on April 5 at the Savannah Music Festival in Savannah, Georgia.
May 1, 2018 9:26 AM
Although the Savannah Music Festival embraces all forms of American roots music, most of its jazz programming takes…
Drummer Roy Haynes celebrated his 93rd birthday with a series of shows at New York’s Blue Note club during March.
Mar 26, 2018 9:22 AM
The middle of March was a wonderful time in New York for august gentlemen of jazz who still perform with strength,…
Keefe Jackson (left) and Dave Rempis perform at the Sons d’hiver festival in Paris on Jan. 29.
Feb 9, 2018 3:23 PM
From its modest beginnings in 1991, the Sons d’hiver festival steadily has built an international reputation for…
Drummer Moses Boyd, who gigs as Binker & Moses along with tenor saxophonist Binker Golding, recently played the Brussels Jazz Festival.
Aug 16, 2018 4:07 PM
There were three dominant artist groupings during the Brussels Jazz Festival. Naturally, there was a considerable…
Erwin Ditzner performs at the 2017 Enjoy Jazz Festival in Mannheim, Germany.
Nov 30, 2017 3:48 PM
Some festivals cram everything into a single weekend, but Enjoy Jazz, in the southwest of Germany, is an epic affair…
Marc Ribot performs at the 2017 Belgrade Jazz Festival.
Jul 30, 2019 3:54 PM
The Belgrade Jazz Festival is the ideal destination for after-midnight partying. Many such weekenders put their…
Liudas Mockūnas performs at the Vilnius Jazz Festival, which took place in Lithuania Oct. 12–15.
Nov 20, 2017 12:29 PM
The Vilnius Jazz Festival in Lithuania has a long-established reputation as a platform for free improvisation and the…
Arve Henriksen (left) and Jan Bang perform at the Punkt Festival in Norway, which ran from Aug. 31–Sept. 2.
Sep 12, 2017 1:26 PM
The ultimate distinction of Norway’s Punkt Festival is its devotion to the “instant live remix.” A band’s set…
Jim Black, drummer of Human Feel, performs Aug. 5 during Jazz em Agosto in Portugal.
Aug 14, 2017 8:05 PM
Rui Neves, the artistic director of Lisbon’s Jazz em Agosto (Jazz In August), describes his preferred musical sphere…
Shabaka Hutchings (left) and Kamasi Washington perform during the Gent Jazz Festival in Belgium.
Jul 27, 2017 9:13 AM
The Gent Jazz Festival always presents one of the most adventurous marriages between the music’s hardcore root and its…
Robert Fripp, of the band King Crimson, performs during the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal in Canada on July 3.
Jul 20, 2017 8:52 PM
If visiting Festival International de Jazz de Montreal on July 3, a King Crimson fan would have needed to set aside over…
The band LoFi, featuring saxophonist Laura Toxvaerd (right), performs during the Copenhagen Jazz Fest.
Aug 1, 2017 11:27 AM
The 10-day Copenhagen Jazz Festival has been happening every July since 1979, completely taking over this Danish capital…
Saxophonists Bill Evans (left) and Tommy Smith perform at Harro East Ballroom in Rochester, New York.
Jul 18, 2017 9:37 AM
The Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival is now up to its 16th edition, completely taking over the downtown…
American artists Ned Rothenberg (left) and Amir ElSaffar join Polish musicians Michal Bryndal and bassist Ksawery Wójciński for a performance during the Jazztopad festival in New York City.
Jul 6, 2017 8:52 AM
Jazztopad is a major Polish festival, with its 15th edition in Wroclaw set for November. For the last three years, a…
William Parker performs at the Red Hook Jazz Festival in Brooklyn on June 11.
Jun 21, 2017 4:41 PM
Other New York festivals, in more accessible locations and with much bigger budgets, enjoy way higher profiles, but the…
Joachim Kuhn performs at Like a Jazz Machine fest in Dudelange, Luxembourg.
Jun 1, 2017 4:50 PM
This sixth edition of Like A Jazz Machine took place over the long Memorial Day weekend (May 25–28), although in…
Han Bennink performs at Jazzkaar, a 10-day jazz festival in Tallinn, Estonia, that began April 21.
May 3, 2017 2:25 PM
Jazzkaar, a 10-day extravaganza in Tallinn, Estonia, is mostly set within the Telliskivi Creative City, a hub for the…
Aly Keita (left), Jan Galega Brönnimann and Lucas Niggli perform at London’s Vortex Jazz Club on April 17.
May 3, 2017 2:26 PM
Following the exceptional opening night performance by bassist Barry Guy, the Intakt Records season at London’s Vortex…
Jürg Wickihalder (left), Barry Guy and Lucas Niggli perform at Vortex Jazz Club in London April 16 as part of Intakt Festival
May 2, 2017 5:36 PM
The Swiss label Intakt Records, founded by Patrik Landolt, has been releasing high quality improvised (and often…
Mette Henriette performs at the 2016 Berlin Jazz Festival in Germany.
Nov 17, 2016 3:06 PM
The English journalist Richard Williams is now into his second year as programmer for the Berlin Jazzfest, which was…
Rob Mazurek performs at the 2016 Belgrade Jazz Festival in Belgrade, Serbia.
Jul 30, 2019 3:52 PM
Perhaps the Belgrade Jazz Festival would be considered something of a fresh discovery to many visitors arriving from…
Tigran Hamasyan performs at the Punkt Festival in Kristiansand, Norway, on Sept. 3.
Sep 27, 2016 11:14 AM
An increasing number of festivals are making their mark through unusual presentations, and Norway’s Punkt is a prime…
The Belgian blues artist Roland performs a tribute to Moondog at the Gent Jazz Festival in Ghent, Belgium, on July 10.
Aug 22, 2016 5:15 PM
This year, the Gent Jazz Festival in Belgium celebrated its 15th edition on July 7–16 with the kind of…
Joey Alexander (left) and Chick Corea play a duet at the Rochester International Jazz Festival in Rochester, New York, on June 28.
Jul 19, 2016 3:59 PM
Pianist Chick Corea is touring ceaselessly in 2016, appearing at many summer festivals prior to his historic residence…
Robert Glasper performs at the Blue Note in New York City on June 22 as part of the venue’s month-long jazz festival.
Jul 8, 2016 12:25 PM
The late show on the second night of Robert Glasper’s Blue Note residency on June 22 was virtually sold out—and…
Newly annointed NEA Jazz Master Dick Hyman.
Jun 28, 2016 3:23 PM
A freshly anointed 2017 NEA Jazz Master, the veteran pianist Dick Hyman gave a lunchtime recital at Saint Peter’s…
Makaya McCraven performs as part of the International Anthem Summer Showcase at (Le) Poisson Rouge in New York on June 12.
May 25, 2018 4:16 PM
On June 12, the Chicagoans invaded New York. That’s when (Le) Poisson Rouge held a showcase for International Anthem…
Arve Henriksen of Warped Dreamer performs at the 2016 Moers Festival in Moers, Germany.
Jun 13, 2019 2:34 PM
Thanks to its adventurous annual music festival, the small northwestern German town of Moers has built up a legendary…
Chris Potter performs at the Jazzkaar Festival in Tallinn, Estonia, on April 27.
Jul 11, 2016 12:20 PM
The Jazzkaar festival has been an annual event in Tallinn, Estonia, since 1990, when the Soviet period was coming to an…
Yellowjackets—Russell Ferrante (left), Will Kennedy, Dane Alderson and Bob Mintzer—played songs from a new album at Birdland in New York on April 19.
Apr 28, 2016 5:49 PM
Three days before the release of its new album, Cohearence (Mack Avenue), the superstar quartet Yellowjackets unveiled…
Harold Mabern performs at the Savannah Music Festival in Savannah, Georgia, on March 31.
Jul 11, 2016 1:01 PM
The concept of a piano trio is not new. In jazz, this entails the classic formation of piano, bass and drums, but in…
Trombonist Wycliffe Gordon (center) leads a 19-piece ensemble through his modern score to the 1920 silent film Within Our Gates in Savannah, Georgia, on April 1.
Jul 30, 2019 10:42 AM
Wycliffe Gordon feels right at home in Savannah. The Georgia-born trombonist has performed at the Savannah Music…
Ethan Iverson (seen here in a press photo) performed with trademark power and accuracy at Smalls Jazz Club in New York on March 19
Apr 18, 2016 4:15 PM
Right from the outset, the presence of a baritone saxophone as this combo’s dominant horn did much to imprint a strong…
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