12 exciting emerging jazz acts from across Europe, with daytime ‘Jazz Futures’ industry conference and after-hours jam sessions in DUBLIN this September 5-8th.
Programme announced today for the 12th edition of the award-winning 12 Points Festival, returning home to Dublin this September, in partnership with Beck’s BeKreativ at The Sugar Club. This pan-European showcase jazz festival is singular in it’s approach, presenting 12 emerging acts from 12 different European countries; the cream of the crop of a new generation of jazz and experimental music, performing over 4 nights at The Sugar Club, with late night jam sessions and the daytime industry conference ‘Jazz Futures’.
“The freshest, hottest sounds in jazz and contemporary experimental music.” - The Irish Times
Produced by Dublin-based Improvised Music Company (IMC), 12 Points is uniquely nomadic, alternating between Dublin and other vibrant young cities, with recent ‘away’ editions in Aarhus (2017) and San Sebastian (2016), both as integral parts of European Capital of Culture programming. The 2018 festival edition is presented in association with Beck’s Be Kreativ, a dynamic brand synonymous with championing up-and-coming creatives and will be presented at the Sugar Club, Ireland’s premiere venue for jazz, urban and ethnic music.
Early Bird ‘12 Band’ Festival Pass, just €49 for all 4 nights! On sale now. Book HERE. Individual Day Tickets will be released soon.
Programme announced today for the 12th edition of the award-winning 12 Points Festival, returning home to Dublin this September, in partnership with Beck’s BeKreativ at The Sugar Club. This pan-European showcase jazz festival is singular in it’s approach, presenting 12 emerging acts from 12 different European countries; the cream of the crop of a new generation of jazz and experimental music, performing over 4 nights at The Sugar Club, with late night jam sessions and the daytime industry conference ‘Jazz Futures’.
“The freshest, hottest sounds in jazz and contemporary experimental music.” - The Irish Times
Produced by Dublin-based Improvised Music Company (IMC), 12 Points is uniquely nomadic, alternating between Dublin and other vibrant young cities, with recent ‘away’ editions in Aarhus (2017) and San Sebastian (2016), both as integral parts of European Capital of Culture programming. The 2018 festival edition is presented in association with Beck’s Be Kreativ, a dynamic brand synonymous with championing up-and-coming creatives and will be presented at the Sugar Club, Ireland’s premiere venue for jazz, urban and ethnic music.
Early Bird ‘12 Band’ Festival Pass, just €49 for all 4 nights! On sale now. Book HERE. Individual Day Tickets will be released soon.
WEDNESDAY 5th September
• Julie Campiche Quartet (Geneva)
• Susanna Risberg Trio (Stockholm)
• nOx.3 & Linda Oláh (Paris)
Steering the an instrument not associated with jazz into new sonic terrain, Swiss harpist Julie
Campiche and her quartet create a dynamic yet uncluttered ‘electro-acoustical’ experience,
balancing structure with improvisation to create a wide range of exciting possibilities.
At just 26 years of age, Swedish musician Susanna Risberg is already well on her way to
becoming one of Europe's leading guitarists, with shades of Scofield and echos of Metheny, but
ultimately it’s all Risberg. Together with a tight rhythm section this trio moves effortlessly from
rocky, groove oriented pieces to more straight-ahead contemporary jazz.
If Parisian band nOx.3 featuring Swedish vocalist Linda Olah are hard to categorise it is
because their music is so diverse; Industrial minimalism meets traditional French chanteuse
meets abstract noise meets Noir soundtrack, all, somehow in perfect equilibrium. When words
don’t make sense, music does.
THURSDAY 6th September
• Mia Dyberg Trio (Copenhagen)
• Steiger (Gent)
• Kompost 3 (Vienna)
Danish alto saxophonist Mia Dyberg’s freewheeling trio are inspired, in large part, by the swing
and poetry of William S. Burroughs - emphasising playfulness, cut-up techniques, pulseawareness
and what she describes as “the silver smoke of dreams”.
Demonstrating the potency Belgium has when it comes to delivering interesting progressive jazz
music, piano trio Steiger exemplify this spirit of exploration. With each musician working across
jazz, pop, electronic, and experimental rock world they blur boundaries between the organic and
the electronic.
Austrian quartet Kompost3 bring ultra-tight beats, with trash-funk grooves emerging from dense
soundscapes punctuated by a healthy dollop of avant-garde, making for a compelling blend of
low-fi, fuzzed out, beat driven sonic goodness. Kompost3; a little funky. Sometimes a LOT funky.
FRIDAY 7th September
• Dowry (Dublin)
• Elliot Galvin Trio (London)
• Container Doxa (Ljubljana)
Our only soloist at 12 Points this year and it’s fitting that is an instrument so readily associated
with Ireland, however, a violin in the hands of Éna Brennan aka ‘Dowry’ fuses multiple sound
worlds, blending experimental folk, ambient improvisation, contemporary classical and Irish
traditional music, to create a haunting live sonic experience.
This is no ordinary piano trio. Maverick pianist Elliot Galvin is quite possibly one of the UK’s most
inventive instrumentalists, obliterating trends and banishing stereotypes. Starting with a blank
canvas he redraws the format, augmented throughout by various toys, stylophones, cassette
loops, electronics, melodicas, to create some brilliantly executed bright ideas.
Ljubljana’s Container Doxa are the first audio-visual ensemble to perform at 12 Points. From
abstract sounds and visual shapes, Doxa infuse contemporary club music with the protocols of
free improvisation and jazz futurism, recasting ideas from various music constellations; hip hop,
techno, abstract minimalism they retain fragments of jazz to create their own distinctive language.
SATURDAY 8th September
• Kjetil Mulelid Trio (Trondheim)
• The Rite of Trio (Porto)
• Dominic J Marshall Trio (Amsterdam)
Recently signed to Rune Grammofon, the Kjetil Mulelid Trio feature some of Norway's most
exciting young jazz musicians. This is a classic acoustic piano trio with some seriously beguiling
compositions, expertly balancing energetic, rhythmically complex and harmonically rich music
with beautiful evocative melodies synonymous with Scandinavia.
From Porto, The Rite of Trio describe their music as ‘jazz jambacore’. We would agree if we
knew what this was, but whatever they call it, we like it. Infinitely chaotic and complex, yet full of
love and humour this one loud, fuzzy and skronky guitar trio from the Iberian peninsula.
Fusing jazz with hip-hop and electronica, Dutch act Dominic J Marshall Trio’s blend of hard
hitting melodic jazz underpinned with slugged out hip hop grooves and daring dynamics, has
strong echoes of both Glasper and Kamasi, but with a distinctly European twist. Marshall is a
distillation of all that which is diverse, fresh, and kaleidoscopic in 21st century jazz.
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"12 Points Festival offers a feast of cutting edge music... you won't get better bang for your buck all year." - The Irish Examiner
TICKETING
Early Bird ‘12 Band’ Festival Pass, just €49 for all 4 nights! On sale NOW
Individual Day Tickets will be released soon at www.eventbrite.ie
