A record 24 000+ people came to enjoy music at the 27th International FestivalJazzkaar that ended on Sunday. In addition to ticket sales, the free concerts day and the increased scale of the urban project contributed to large audience figures. An prominent feature of this year’s program was the large amount of good new Estonian music.
Among the more popular concerts were the guitar legend Al Di Meola, the multiinstrumentalist and singer Bernhoft, the vocalist José James, the saxophone virtuoso Chris Potter, Marten Kuningas’ “Tribute to David Bowie”, the clubby Hidden Orchestra and singer-composer Kadri Voorand.
Jazzkaar 2016 featured 197 musicians, as many as 115 of them Estonian. The festival presented new albums from singer Kadri Voorand, singer and fiddler Maarja Nuut, bassist Janno Trump’s “Trump Conception” and bassist Peedu Kass’s “Peedu Kass Momentum”. During the 10 days of the festival, 370 Estonian jazz records were sold.
The festival featured 3 special projects. At the family concert “Jazz ABC” singer Kristel Aaslaid, poet Jürgen Rooste and saxophonist Siim Aimla with his band had the children singing and playing along. At the gala concert “Jazz Awards 10” award winners of the past decade came together. Jazzkaar was magnificently brought to an end by Maria Faust’s project “Velocipede”, combining sound, visuals and sports, with the audience pedalling along on the spinning bikes installed in the concert hall.
The 10th Estonian Jazz Awards were presented at this year’s Jazzkaar. The Danske Jazz Award was won by saxophone player, composer and band leader Maria Faust. Bassist Heikko Remmel is the Young Jazz Talent 2016. The Jazz Promoter Award was won by jazz club Philly Joe’s. Jazz Band of the Year was awarded for the first time and won by the vocal group Estonian Voices.
During the festival, 5000 cups of coffee were drunk by the visitors, performers and more than 150 volunteers. More than 3000 photos were published in Jazzkaar’s official photo gallery.
For the second time, Jazzkaar made its home in the Telliskivi Creative City. The main concerts took place at Vaba Lava and Punane Maja. During the free concerts day you could peek into the offices of Velvet, Safran and Funderbeam, as well as the Muhu Bakery and the jazz bus parked in front of the festival centre.
If you couldn’t make it everywhere, head to Jazzkaar’s homepage to get a deeper feel of the festival. The volunteer media team have published many reviews, interviews and audience polls, also in English.
Jazzkaar 2016 reviews, interviews and audience polls (in English):
http://www.jazzkaar.ee/en/news/
Jazzkaar 2016 in photos:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jazzkaar/collections/72157667388800245/
Also check out Jazzkaar Youtube for videos:
https://www.youtube.com/user/JAZZKAAR
Viljandi Vibes sessions at Jazzkaar (video interviews):