Dear friends / Cari amici!
This summer/fall I´m completing my assignment as the artistic director for the Umeå JazzFestival. It´s been thirty-two exciting and inspiring years in the field of jazz and improvised music. In many ways I´ve been fortuned for this chance of living my dream as a professional. I am so grateful for the opportunities to meet so many wonderful colleagues, artists and listeners, e t c, during these years, especially through the work of the Europe Jazz Network. But now I'm moving on in life and many doings are on my bucket list, not the least waking up in the morning and seeing the day as an unwritten page. Mio caro popolo! Thanks for your friendship, devotion, inspiration and for your hard work in the jazz world. See you around - maybe Jazzahead or Europe Jazz Conference in Sofia!
I´m also super happy to announce the new artistic director of Umeå Jazz Festival for the next 3 years: the Swedish saxophonist, composer, arranger, producer and educator JONAS KNUTSSON.
And Jonas says:
I feel very surprised, happy and honoured to have been asked to be phased in as Umeå Jazzfestival's new artistic director. Umeå Jazz Festival has a special place in my heart because I grew up with the festival in the 70's when my parents were volunteers in the organization. I myself had simple assignments at the festival in childhood as a flower boy for Sarah Vaughan and Sandwich waiter to Muddy Waters and band, e t c. My concert experiences during childhood and youth at the festival contributed to me and several other young Umeå musicians choosing a course in music. I´ve have played at the festival many times over the years and also been the guest of honor of the year in 1999.
Stepping in and succeeding Lennart Strömbäck is overwhelming for me because I know that he has really put his soul into the work with the festival for more than 30 years. A fantastic work that means a lot to the music, musicians, audience and the city in the long term. Culture means cultivating and it takes a lot of time, love and care for it to grow and carry fruit. Perhaps this is what Lennart means when he sometimes talks about Jazzvärme?
If I have to summarize my entrance to the new assignment, it must be that the festival should be an inclusive party: regardless of age, gender, background and residence. It have to be in dialogue with the present, with its eyes into the future and with a historical perspective, concludes the festival's new director Jonas Knutsson.
This summer/fall I´m completing my assignment as the artistic director for the Umeå JazzFestival. It´s been thirty-two exciting and inspiring years in the field of jazz and improvised music. In many ways I´ve been fortuned for this chance of living my dream as a professional. I am so grateful for the opportunities to meet so many wonderful colleagues, artists and listeners, e t c, during these years, especially through the work of the Europe Jazz Network. But now I'm moving on in life and many doings are on my bucket list, not the least waking up in the morning and seeing the day as an unwritten page. Mio caro popolo! Thanks for your friendship, devotion, inspiration and for your hard work in the jazz world. See you around - maybe Jazzahead or Europe Jazz Conference in Sofia!
I´m also super happy to announce the new artistic director of Umeå Jazz Festival for the next 3 years: the Swedish saxophonist, composer, arranger, producer and educator JONAS KNUTSSON.
And Jonas says:
I feel very surprised, happy and honoured to have been asked to be phased in as Umeå Jazzfestival's new artistic director. Umeå Jazz Festival has a special place in my heart because I grew up with the festival in the 70's when my parents were volunteers in the organization. I myself had simple assignments at the festival in childhood as a flower boy for Sarah Vaughan and Sandwich waiter to Muddy Waters and band, e t c. My concert experiences during childhood and youth at the festival contributed to me and several other young Umeå musicians choosing a course in music. I´ve have played at the festival many times over the years and also been the guest of honor of the year in 1999.
Stepping in and succeeding Lennart Strömbäck is overwhelming for me because I know that he has really put his soul into the work with the festival for more than 30 years. A fantastic work that means a lot to the music, musicians, audience and the city in the long term. Culture means cultivating and it takes a lot of time, love and care for it to grow and carry fruit. Perhaps this is what Lennart means when he sometimes talks about Jazzvärme?
If I have to summarize my entrance to the new assignment, it must be that the festival should be an inclusive party: regardless of age, gender, background and residence. It have to be in dialogue with the present, with its eyes into the future and with a historical perspective, concludes the festival's new director Jonas Knutsson.
