During three weeks, from 24 November to 13 December, jazz stars from 10 countries will bring 30 radiant concerts to Estonian audience. Headliners of Christmas Jazz are American musicians – singer Stacey Kent, drum legend Simon Phillips with his ensemble Protocol IV and singer-drummer Vinx.
Christmas Jazz star, charming singer Stacey Kent’s programme will feature songs in English, French and Portuguese, which will performed together with multi-instrumentalist Jim Tomlinson and Estonian Dream Big Band on 2 November in Nordea Concert Hall.
Drum ace Simon Phillips will bring his freshly released album and ensemble Protocol IV to Christmas Jazz on 30 November. The legend has played in Toto ensemble for 21 years, performed together with Mike Oldfield and his gripping drumming can be heard on the albums of Jeff Beck, The Who and other reputable musicians. Simon Phillips enchanted the Jazzkaar audience also five years ago in Hiromi trio. USA singer and drummer Vinx performed at Jazzkaar 18 years ago with ensemble Jungle Funk to a full house, now the musician brings with him a fresh groovy programme.
Exactly on the 100th birthday of Republic of Finland, their legendary folk ensemble Värttinä together with our Kadri Voorand will perform at Tallinn Creative Hub. Christmas Jazz invites to discover new and special artists from the United Kingdom – intimate and magical ALA.NI and pianist with amazing voice Tom Adams will introduce themselves to Estonian audience.
Duo of Polish virtuosos Marcin Masecki and Jerzy Rogiewicz will guide the listeners to the beginning of 20th century, where ragtime and silent films were most popular. The duo’s musical humorousness is inexhaustible and their ragtime’s will definitely entertain the audience.
More classical jazz can be enjoyed on the concert of Reigo Ahven trio, where one the top musicians of Finland Jukkis Uotila will collaborate, demonstrating the master-class of piano music. Fans of modern jazz will be entertained at the Jochen Rueckert Quartet concert, performing together with saxophonist Mark Turner. Afro-Cuban rhythms will be brought to the listeners by EMTA Big Band, conductor Jere Laukkanen. Latin Grammy winner guitarist and singer Hernan Romero music is inspired from flamenco and the abundant rhythms of Latin-America. They will perform together with Spanish singer and percussionist Carmen Estevez and Lithuanian saxophonist Kestutis Vaiginis all over the Europe as a trio and with a big orchestra.
For the 75th birthday of Jimi Hendrix, Jaak Sooäär, Robert Linna, Henno Kelp and Kristjan Kallas will help the audience to discover the guitar-legend’s music in 6 concerts all over Estonia. Singer Hedvig Hanson will present her new album “Talvine soojus” together with great Estonian musicians. Saxophonist-composer Maria Faust, whose programme Sacrum Facere is inspired from sacred music, will perform together with a band and an organ at Tallinn Dome Church. In her new album “Ilmamõtsa”, Mari Kalkun binds together the folklore of võru with songs featuring the lyrics of poet Juri Vella.
Christmas Jazz is sponsored by Jazzkaar Festival gold sponsor Danske Bank. The main sponsors of the festival are KAFO, Jazz Pesulad and Eesti Päevaleht, annual sponsors BMW, Tallink, Aktaprint and Reval Café. Christmas Jazz is also supported by the Estonian Ministry of Culture, Cultural Endowment, the City of Tallinn, the Embassy of Finland and the Embassy of Poland in Tallinn. In collaboration with Estonian Jazz Union, Estonian Music and Theatre Academy and Estonian Public Broadcasting.
Christmas Jazz tickets are on sale at Piletilevi sales points and on the internet www.piletilevi.ee. More information www.jazzkaar.ee and info number +372 666 0030.