Once the restrictions are lifted, Jazzkaar 2021 festival will safely open the spring season of music festivals, bringing spiritual food and hope to the audience and offering work for the music sector. From 16 to 23 April we will host performances of exciting singers and top instrumentalists. For the first time, our programme includes performances of no less than three orchestras. Only today a limited number of concert tickets of the newly announced artists are offered at 40 percent discount.
The main programme of Tallinn International Jazzkaar Festival features musicians from twelve countries. Our cross-genre festival will treat you with a wide variety of music, including soul-nourishing jazz, soul, fusion, R’n’B, piano minimalism and electronics among other genres. The festival will be opened by the luminaries of Estonian jazz: Raivo Tafenau presenting his new album, The Same Differences with his ensemble, guest musicians and Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, and the legendary Estonian pianist Tõnu Naissoo celebrating his 70th birthday with a concert of Tõnu Naissoo Electric Group.
“We have gained a lot of experience in organising a safe festival last year and we will continue to give our best this spring. After all, Jazzkaar 2020 and Christmas Jazz 2020 clearly demonstrated our audience’s sense of responsibility and the capability of professional event organisers to safely conduct festivals even in the most difficult times. We are taking the current situation in the world very seriously. Therefore, for the sake of safety we have prepared for the festival with 50 percent attendance capacity. The seats in the concert venues are fixed either as single units or in pairs in checkerboard pattern,” Anne Erm, the artistic director of the festival introduces the current situation. As the seats are carefully counted, the number of tickets available is considerably smaller than usual.
Jazzkaar 2021 also presents an array of international artists. We will bring to you the American singer and actress Dee Dee Bridgewater performing unforgettable works of jazz classics with Estonian Dream Big Band; the English singer Lucy Woodward, whose collaboration with the supergroup Snarky Puppy brought them their first Grammy Award; the French multi-instrumentalist Mino Cinélu, known from Miles Davis’ ensemble, performing with the legendary Norwegian trumpeter Nils Petter Molvær; as well as the Swiss piano minimalist Nik Bärtsch who will present music from his fresh solo album.
Mystical folk and modal jazz are virtuously combined by the French-Syrian flutist and singer Naïssam Jalal. The Norwegian jazz singer Torun Eriksen, the rising British soul and R’n’B star Sahra Gure and the mesmerizing Swiss jazz vocalist Lucia Cadotsch will present their broad interpretations of the enchanting sound palette of vocal music. Introducing their latest work will be the popular name in the Finnish urban and indie scene, Jesse Markin.
Several Estonian musicians and their international groups are preparing new concert programmes and albums for this year’s festival: Joel Remmel Trio, Janno Trump Clarity Ensemble, Florian Walter and Mart Soo, deLULU, London-Tallinn Cosmic Bridge, The Motown Sound and Tanel Ruben Quintet. We also aim our focus on albums released in 2020: Raivo Tafenau’s The Same Differences and Argo Vals’ In Loving Memory Of, which takes listeners on a journey through electronic soundscapes. Dagö will present their seventh album, Küte for the first time in Tallinn; Florian Walter and Mart Soo will bring to the audience the cosmic retrofuturistic music from their album, Golden and Other Ratios, and Mingo Rajandi Quintet feat. Liisi Koikson will perform exciting songs from their debut album, To Be!. New Wind Jazz Orchestra will make their Jazzkaar debut, performing the compositions of the internationally acclaimed pianist and composer Kristjan Randalu, with several premieres in their programme.
For the seventh year in a row, Telliskivi Creative City will become the spring-time jazz oasis in Tallinn, welcoming music lovers in its well-known excellence. You can enjoy concerts on Vaba Lava and in the concert venue of Fotografiska Tallinn. In order to provide a safe festival experience, the organising team of Jazzkaar will follow the national requirements for conducting public events. In cooperation with the Health Board, additional measures have been considered to make it as safe as possible for the audience, musicians and organisers to participate in the festival. We have also developed the Safe Festival Guide.
“We advise you to purchase your tickets electronically. This way the organiser receives the contact details of ticket buyers and is able to contact them if needed. We also implement on-site ticket personalisation to ensure the safe concert experience. Today, on 26 February, tickets to the newly announced artists are offered at 40 percent discount. The number of discounted tickets is limited!
The 32nd Tallinn International Jazzkaar Festival will take place from 16 to 23 April 2021 in different locations in Estonia. Please see the festival programme and introductions of 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.
Main programme of Jazzkaar 2021 festival:
Argo Vals Band; Dagö; Dee Dee Bridgewater & Estonian Dream Big Band (USA–Estonia); deLULU; Dirty Loops (Sweden); 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); Lucia Cadotsch Speak Low II (Switzerland–Sweden); Lucy Woodward (UK–The netherlands); Mart Soo & Florian Walter (Germany–Estonia); Mingo Rajandi Quintet; 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 Quartet & Guests, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra; Sahra Gure (UK); Scott DuBois & Gebhard Ullmann (USA–Germany); Stig Rästa; Tanel Ruben Quintet feat. Kadri Voorand & Kristjan Randalu; The Motown Sound; Tin Men & The Telephone (The Netherlands); Torun Eriksen Quartet (Norway); Tõnu Naissoo Electric Group and others.
The main sponsors of Jazzkaar Fetsival are JURA, Jazz Pesulad and Eesti Päevaleht. Our annual sponsors are BMW Inchcape, Tallink and Aktaprint. The concert of the legendary jazz singer Dee Dee Bridgewater will be presented by Viru Keskus. Prike, Telliskivi Creative City and Fotografiska Tallinn help us 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 and Pro Helvetia help us bring the musicians of their countries to Estonia. We would like to thank the Estonian Ministry of Culture, Cultural Endowment of Estonia, City of Tallinn and Enterprise Estonia for their support.