The biggest international jazz festival in the Baltic countries, Jazzkaar will begin tomorrow, on 23 August. From 23 to 29 August, Telliskivi Creative City will become a summertime jazz oasis where you can enjoy the various facets of vocal music as well as high-level instrumental performances. This year’s Jazzkaar will be opened by the grand masters of Estonian jazz, Raivo Tafenau and Tõnu Naissoo, presenting their new creations.
The programme of the 32nd Jazzkaar Festival features musicians from ten countries with 37 concerts in different places of Estonia. During the seven festival days, almost 116 events will take place in Tallinn, Tartu, Pärnu, Viljandi and Rakvere. The main festival programme will be supplemented by the free concert day, terrace concerts, Jazz Talks and the Urban Project.
“We are happy that the Estonian cultural life can go on: the Jazzkaar Festival will bring all concerts to the listeners in a safe way. This year is special because for the very first time the festival takes place in summer, which gives a bigger sense of freedom and summer vibes to the event. The festival will be opened and closed by concerts of two spectacular orchestras with our outstanding jazz artists: the opening concert will feature Raivo Tafenau and guests with Tallinn Chamber Orchestra; on the final festival day, Kristjan Randalu will perform with New Wind Jazz Orchestra conducted by renowned German composer and conductor Wolf Kerschek. And let us keep our fingers crossed and hope that in November we will be able to hear the main performer of this year’s Jazzkaar, Dee Dee Bridgewater with Estonian Dream Big Band, originally scheduled to perform during the festival period,” Anne Erm, the Artistic Director of the festival said, introducing this year’s concerts.
At the opening concert of the festival Raivo Tafenau will perform new music from his recent album, The Same Differences with Tallinn Chamber Orchestra conducted by Rasmus Puur. Celebrating his 70th birthday, pianist and composer Tõnu Naissoo and his Electric Group will present their freshly released album, Different Directions. Known for their dynamic sound language, Mingo Rajandi Quintet has given a new touch to the songs from their album released last year, To Be!. The opening night will be ended by the vibrant band of the French-Syrian flutist-vocalist Naïssam Jalal, performing music from her album Quest of the Invisible, which has won the highest jazz award in France.
We can enjoy the delicate nuances of vocal music at the concert of the outstanding Norwegian jazz singer Torun Eriksen, sharing the stage with some of the best Norwegian jazz musicians. The performance of Britain’s rising soul and RnB star, Sahra Gure promises to be an exciting first meeting with the Estonian audience. The American singer Lucy Woodward, known for her strong voice and bold performance style, will dive into the spheres of soul music and blues. The hot name in Finnish urban and indie scene, Jesse Markin will present his latest work from his album Noir, released in June.
The festival also offers an opportunity to enjoy world-class instrumentalists: the concert of the French multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Mino Cinélu with legendary Norwegian trumpet player Nils Petter Molvær is like the meeting of fire and ice, a true intertwining of cultures. Swiss pianist-minimalist and ECM artist Nik Bärtsch will present music from his fresh solo album, Entendre. The innovative Dutch trio Tin Men & The Telephone will surprise the audience with electronic sounds and a visual show.
Several acclaimed Estonian musicians will be also performing their new compositions or music from recently released albums, including Argo Vals Band, Dagö, deLULU, Janno Trump Clarity Ensemble, Joel Remmel Trio, Mingo Rajandi Quintet, Modulshtein, Raimond Mägi Trio, The Motown Sound, New Wind Jazz Orchestra & Kristjan Randalu and Tanel Ruben Quintet. London-Tallinn Cosmic Bridge and Mart Soo & Florian Walter will introduce international cooperation projects.
The beloved singer-songwriter Stig Rästa invites listeners big and small to his family concert. The audience can also enjoy a more intimate atmosphere at the terrace concerts where Ellip, Susanna Aleksandra with Andre Maaker and Eleryn Tiit will bring high-quality musical performances to people’s beautiful homes. The people of Tallinn will be also treated to the free concert day on 29 August, Jazz Talks, a record market and other exciting events, which are free of charge for all participants.
For the seventh year in a row, Telliskivi Creative City will become a hub of jazz music, bringing together the velvety August evenings and high-quality music. The events will take place at Vaba Lava and the concert space of the photographic art centre Fotografiska Tallinn.
According to the established regulations and in order to ensure a safe festival experience, only jazz lovers who have underwent the COVID-19 infection safety check can attend events at Jazzkaar 2021. The festival welcomes guests who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, recovered from COVID-19 within the past six months or have a valid negative test result. Upon entering the festival area, the guests who have undergone the COVID-19 infection safety check will be issued a secure festival wristband. A rapid antigen test can be performed at the festival testing point in Telliskivi Creative City. The price of the test is 6 euros for festival guests. More information about the safe festival experience can be found on Jazzkaar’s website. During the festival, a vaccination bus will arrive at Telliskivi Creative City, which is open to everyone on 26 and 28 August from 11 am to 7 pm.
The 32nd Tallinn International Jazzkaar Festival will take place from 23 to 29 August 2021 in different places of Estonia. Please see the festival programme and information about the artists on our website. Tickets are on sale at Piletilevi sales points and online at www.piletilevi.ee. See you at Jazzkaar!
Keep an eye on Jazzkaar’s activities on our website, Facebook and Instagram.
The main sponsors of the festival are JURA, Jazz Pesulad and Eesti Päevaleht. Annual sponsors are BMW Inchcape, Tallink and Aktaprint. The concert of the legendary jazz singer Dee Dee Bridgewater will be presented by Viru Keskus. Telliskivi Creative City, Prike and Fotografiska Tallinn help set up the festival hub. We are also supported by Reval Café, Overall, MyFitness, Kodupaber and Estonian Public Broadcasting. The French Institute, Embassy of Sweden, Embassy of Norway, Embassy of Finland and Pro Helvetia help us bring the musicians of their countries to Estonia. We would like to thank the Ministry of Culture, the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, the City of Tallinn and Enterprise Estonia for their support.
Main programme of Jazzkaar 2021:
Argo Vals Band; Dagö; Dee Dee Bridgewater & Estonian Dream Big Band (USA–Estonia); deLULU; Ellip; ImproVoc; Janno Trump Clarity Ensemble; Jesse Markin (Finland); Joel Remmel Trio feat. Liisi Koikson, Jukka Eskola (Finland), Aleksander Paal; London-Tallinn Cosmic Bridge (UK–Estonia); Lucy Woodward (UK–Netherlands); Mart Soo & Florian Walter (Estonia–Germany); Mingo Rajandi Quintet; Modulshtein; Naïssam Jalal – Quest of the Invisible (Syria–France); Mino Cinélu & Nils Petter Molvær (France–Norway); New Wind Jazz Orchestra & Kristjan Randalu; Nik Bärtsch (Switzerland); Nikita Korzoun Trio; Raimond Mägi Trio; Raivo Tafenau Kvartett & Guests, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra; Scott DuBois & Gebhard Ullmann (USA–Germany); Susanna Aleksandra; Stig Rästa; Tanel Ruben Quintet feat. Kadri Voorand & Kristjan Randalu; The Motown Sound; Tin Men & The Telephone (Netherlands); Torun Eriksen and the Spirit in the Dark (Norway); Tõnu Naissoo Electric Group and others.