This year the Tallinn International Festival Jazzkaar celebrates its 20th birthday. From April 18th to 26th musicians from 17 countries will perform at 32 concerts in Tallinn. In addition to Tallinn concerts will also be taking place in Tartu, Pärnu, Viljandi, Otepää and other locations of Estonia.
This year the Tallinn International Festival Jazzkaar celebrates its 20th birthday. From April 18th to 26th musicians from 17 countries will perform at 32 concerts in Tallinn. In addition to Tallinn concerts will also be taking place in Tartu, Pärnu, Viljandi, Otepää and other locations of Estonia.
Jazz festivals in Tallinn started already in 1949 and were organized until 1967. The founding of Jazzkaar in 1990 could be called the re-birth of festivals in Tallinn. The headliner of the first Jazzkaar was a trombone virtuoso, band leader, composer and jazz teacher Ray Anderson (USA) with his quartet. Later he has performed at Jazzkaar several times. This year he is back as the Jazz Ambassador for the Jazz Month celebrations and will also put together the Jazzkaar Dream Band.
In addition to Ray Anderson the main performers of Jazzkaar 2009 are the 9-time Grammy winner saxophone and clarinet player Paquito D’Rivera from Cuba and one of the brightest stars of Brazilian bossa-nova – João Bosco. The closing act of the Jazzkaar Festival will be the Black Diamond of soul Angie Stone (USA). Festival line-up will also feature stars from European new jazz scene – Andy Emler MegaOctet (Fra), singer Solveig Slettahjell (Nor), percussion virtuoso Marylin Mazur (Den) and young Fado star Ana Moura (Por). The club acts fill feature Cro-Magnon (Jap) and Us3 (UK).
Jazzkaar has announced an additional artist- the concet of Al Jarreau (USA)! The seven Grammy awards that the singer has won in jazz, pop as well as R&B categories testify to his popularity and high album sales figures. And all this is at the service of Great Music.
Estonian musicians will play their new repertoire and introduce new album material at the festival. Villu Veski, Raivo Tafenau, Tanel Ruben, Jaak Sooäär, Meelis Vind, Lembit Saarsalu, Siim Aimla, Kadri Voorand, Paabel, Külalised, Maria Faust , to name just a few.
The artictic director of Jazzkaar Festival Anne Erm says: “20 years old Jazzkaar will offer an especially bright rainbow of music this time and anyone who comes to the concerts will be overtaken by strong and special emotions because there is no space for anything gray or mediocre at this festival. Jazzkaar is a celebration and everyone willing to listen to good music is invited to the party.”
The festival has a tradition of organizing one day of concerts in museums and art galleries, where you only need the museum ticket to see both the exhibition and the show. The home of the festival for this year is the Russian Cultural Centre in Tallinn, where several concerts are held every day for 5 days. In addition there will be photo exhibitions, new jazz CDs on sale, cafés etc. One special and free concert will also be performed by the Estonian Border Guard Big Band and soloists.
For the third year we are celebrating the Jazz Appreciation Month in April and during the festival the winner of the most important jazz prize in Estonia – the Elion Jazz Award – will be announced.
In addition there will be a Young Jazz Talent award and for the first time also a Jazz Educator award. In these economically difficult times the festival is glad that the largest Estonian telecommunication company Elion has remained as the golden sponsor of the festival.
Find your favourites in the program!
Tickets are on sale in Piletilevi ticket offices and www.piletilevi.ee.
More info:
+372 611 44 05, info@jazzkaar.ee