One thing that sticks in my mind is that jazz means freedom and openness (…).
It’s not exclusive, but inclusive, which is the whole spirit of jazz.
Herbie Hancock
It is difficult to call Jazztopad a strictly jazz festival, because jazz cannot be reduced to only one genre. Jazz is a modern language of communication which, in my opinion, contains all kinds of ‘music’ and is a mix of cultures from around the world. This year's Jazztopad will be the same, which I divided this time into two parts.
The first weekend is the clash of legend with what is the freshest on today's jazz scene and, in my opinion, as well as according to many critics, the most interesting. On one hand, there is a rare opportunity to listen to the Chick Corea recital, on the other – the opportunity to get to know two formations that have made an unbelievable career in the world over the last dozen or so months: Sons of Kemet under Shabaka Hutchings and Jaimie Branch, whose last album came at the top of almost all summaries in 2017. Jazztopad concerts of these groups will be their only performances in Poland this year.
The second part of the festival above all consists of projects prepared specially for Jazztopad and musical discoveries that we have been presenting for several editions.
We are awaiting premieres of works by such artists as Brad Mehldau, Avishai Cohen (trumpet player) and Amir ElSaffar, as well as the premiere of a composition of the Australian Art Orchestra. For the first-time genius drummers, legendary Hamid Drake and master of Australian-Korean improvisation Simon Barker, will perform in a duet. We will also look at the musical crucible in Vancouver and the more and more interesting Italian and French scene.
For the finale: Esperanza Spalding, who will appear in Wrocław for the first time and will perform a programme prepared specially for Jazztopad.
Of course, there will also be concerts in apartments, meetings with artists, projects for children and workshops.
See you in November!
Piotr Turkiewicz - Artistic Director
