Jazzkaar (Estonian : Jazzkaar) is an Estonian music festival which focuses on jazz music. This festival is the biggest jazz festival in Baltic states. [1]
First festival took place in 1990. [1]
In general, the festival lasts 10 days. Since 1990 about 3000 foreign artists from about 60 countries have participated. [1] Past performers have included Gregory Porter, Pat Metheny and Jan Garbarek. [2]
In spring 2017, the festival was visited by about 25,000 people. To date, this is an all-time record for this festival, [1] which is the best-attended festival in Estonia. [2]
John Zorn is an American composer, conductor, saxophonist, arranger and producer who "deliberately resists category". His avant-garde and experimental approaches to composition and improvisation are inclusive of jazz, rock, Jewish music, hardcore, classical, contemporary, surf, metal, soundtrack, ambient, and world music. Rolling Stone noted that "[alt]hough Zorn has operated almost entirely outside the mainstream, he's gradually asserted himself as one of the most influential musicians of our time".
Béla Anton Leoš Fleck is an American banjo player. An acclaimed virtuoso, he is an innovative and technically proficient pioneer and ambassador of the banjo, playing music from bluegrass, jazz, classical, rock and various world music genres. He is best known for his work with the bands New Grass Revival and Béla Fleck and the Flecktones. Fleck has won 17 Grammy Awards and been nominated 39 times.
The North Sea Jazz Festival is a festival held annually on the second weekend of July in the Netherlands at the Ahoy venue. The festival moved to Rotterdam in 2006 after the demolition of the Statenhal in The Hague where it was originally held. As of 3 November 2017, the festival is officially known as the NN North Sea Jazz Festival.
Viljandi is a town and municipality in southern Estonia with a population of 17,407 in 2019. It is the capital of Viljandi County and is geographically located between two major Estonian cities, Pärnu and Tartu. The town was first mentioned in 1283, upon being granted its town charter by Wilhelm von Endorpe. The town became a member of the Hanseatic League at the beginning of the 14th century, and is one of five Estonian towns and cities in the league. The once influential Estonian newspaper Sakala was founded in Viljandi in 1878.
Neeme Järvi is an Estonian American conductor.
The Festival international de Jazz de Montréal is an annual jazz festival held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Montreal Jazz Fest holds the 2004 Guinness World Record as the world's largest jazz festival. Every year it features roughly 3,000 artists from 30-odd countries, more than 650 concerts, and welcomes over 2 million visitors as well as 300 accredited journalists. The festival takes place at 20 different stages, which include free outdoor stages and indoor concert halls.
The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival is an annual celebration of local music and culture held at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, Louisiana. Jazz Fest attracts thousands of visitors to New Orleans each year. The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation Inc., as it is officially named, was established in 1970 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (NPO). The Foundation is the original organizer of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell Oil Company, a corporate financial sponsor. The Foundation was established primarily to redistribute the funds generated by Jazz Fest into the local community. As an NPO, their mission further states that the Foundation "promotes, preserves, perpetuates and encourages the music, culture and heritage of communities in Louisiana through festivals, programs and other cultural, educational, civic and economic activities". The founders of the organization included pianist and promoter George Wein, producer Quint Davis and the late Allison Miner.
Roy Anthony Hargrove was an American jazz musician and composer whose principal instruments were the trumpet and flugelhorn. He achieved worldwide acclaim after winning two Grammy Awards for differing styles of jazz in 1998 and 2002. Hargrove primarily played in the hard bop style for the majority of his albums, but also had a penchant for genre-crossing exploration and collaboration with a variety of hip hop, neo soul, R&B and alternative rock artists. As Hargrove told one reporter, "I've been around all kinds of musicians, and if a cat can play, a cat can play. If it's gospel, funk, R&B, jazz or hip-hop, if it's something that gets in your ear and it's good, that's what matters."
Dee Dee Bridgewater is an American jazz singer and actress. She is a three-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, as well as a Tony Award-winning stage actress. For 23 years, she was the host of National Public Radio's syndicated radio show JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater. She is a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization.
Ryo Kawasaki was a Japanese jazz fusion guitarist, composer and band leader, best known as one of the first musicians to develop and popularise the fusion genre and for helping to develop the guitar synthesizer in collaboration with Roland Corporation and Korg. His album Ryo Kawasaki and the Golden Dragon Live was one of the first all-digital recordings and he created the Kawasaki Synthesizer for the Commodore 64. During the 1960s, he played with various Japanese jazz groups and also formed his own bands. In the early 1970s, he moved to New York City, where he settled and worked with Gil Evans, Elvin Jones, Chico Hamilton, Ted Curson, Joanne Brackeen amongst others. In the mid-1980s, Kawasaki drifted out of performing music in favour of writing music software for computers. He also produced several techno dance singles, formed his own record company called Satellites Records, and later returned to jazz-fusion in 1991.
Jazz in Spain began with an interest in Dixieland or New Orleans jazz. In that time it evolved into other styles, often influenced by visiting Americans. In 1947 Don Byas introduced Tete Montoliu to bebop, and other efforts to combine jazz with flamenco occurred. Catalan and Galician music have influenced some regions.
The Humans were a British-American rock band featuring singer Toyah Willcox, drummer Bill Rieflin, and musician Chris Wong. They have released three studio albums and have performed live in the UK, Estonia and the USA before disbanding in 2020, following Rieflin's passing.
Heinrich Schultz was an Estonian cultural functionary, the organizer of international jazz festivals in Tallinn, Estonia, then part of the Soviet Union.
Estonian TV Girls' Choir is a choir established by Estonian Television. It grew out of the Children's Television Music Studio, which was founded in 1990. Today the choir comprises 30 singers aged from 14 to 20.
Jarek Kasar is an Estonian singer. He started his music career as a rapper.
Anthony Branker is an American musician and educator of Caribbean descent.
The French Institute of Estonia was founded in 1992 in Tallinn to promote cultural, scientific, academic, and language cooperation between France and Estonia.
Ülo Krigul is an Estonian composer.
Telliskivi Creative City is creative center located on Telliskivi Street in the northern part of Tallinn, Estonia. The center serves as a platform for the Estonian creative community and is situated on the former site of the Baltic Railway factory.