The Heineken Jazzaldia has released a preview of the programme for its 54th edition, to take place from 24th-28th July 2019, already featuring some of the leading contemporary jazz artists in greatest public demand.
Diana Krall, Jamie Cullum and Neneh Cherry could headline the bill at any festival, and all three will appear at the Heineken Jazzaldia. Also enormously interesting are the new projects by Joshua Redman, Maria Schneider and Donny McCaslin, added to which Schneider and McCaslin will unite to perform a composition by Schneider in memory of David Bowie.
Diana Krall is sublime both as a pianist and as a singer. Her stage elegance, her repertoire invariably selected with such fine taste and her irrefutable accomplishment have made hers an essential jazz name in the last two decades. She also has a gift for choosing her collaborators. This time round, she’s coming with Joe Lovano as her guest artist, in other words, with one of the top saxophone players on the world jazz panorama, always brilliant at the front of his own groups and a luxurious companion when joining other figures, like in this case. Backed by Lovano, Diana Kralle is expected to give an extraordinary concert, supported by her regulars, Robert Hurst (double bass) and Karriem Riggins (drums).
Jamie Cullum needs no introduction in San Sebastian. He left his exquisite visiting card in 2015, when he rolled out an astonishing display of his versatility in three performances: as a DJ, as a piano soloist and with his band. Cullum represents enthusiasm, contagious joy, boundless energy and vast amounts of music. He brings tears to the eyes when sitting at the piano to sing like the old crooners, and electrifies the audience when fronting his group. An early starter who still has a very long way to go.
Maria Schneider comes to the Heineken Jazzaldia for the first time to display her suggestive project with Ensemble Denada. Schneider is a prizewinning orchestra conductor and composer, winner of 5 Grammys, hailed by critics and audiences as one of the most decisive figures of today’s jazz. Only someone with her talent could lead a band like Norway’s Ensemble Denada, considered one of the most innovative in Europe. The group’s repertoire varies widely in both rhythm and melody, and its members have been carefully selected from among Norway’s best instrumentalists.
Donny McCaslin surprised a good part of the public with his fabulous performance at the Heineken Jazzaldia in 2017. Those who already knew him (he had been here in 2016 as part of the Steps Ahead Reunion Tour, and he participated in Blackstar, David Bowie’s last eternal album) were ready and waiting, but for those who discovered him at that time he was all of a revelation. McCaslin has notched up important experience in the jazz world thanks to his collaborations with Steps Ahead, Gil Evans, Danilo Pérez and Dave Douglas; he also landed a nomination for best jazz instrumental solo at the Grammys in 2004.
Donny McCaslin and Maria Schneider have formerly worked together and will coincide at the same Festival session. The first part will be brought to us by McCaslin as a quintet and the second will see Maria Schneider perform with Ensemble Denada on Sue (Or in a Season of Crime), the song she composed for Bowie in 2014, which earned her a Grammy and planted the seed of Blackstar. It is precisely Schneider who recommended Donny McCaslin to Bowie for recording Blackstar.
The singer Neneh Cherry has developed a sparkling and diverse career, becoming a great international figure thanks to songs like Woman and 7 Seconds or to her impressive version of Cole Porter’s classic, I've Got You Under My Skin. She has also promoted innovative projects including her collaboration with Scandinavia’s experimental jazz trio, The Thing, at the Heineken Jazzaldia in 2012, or CirKus, with which she performed in San Sebastian in 2007. Interest in the mise en scene of her most recent album, Broken Politics (2018) is causing great expectation.
Joshua Redman is one of the most charismatic sax players to have come out of the 90s. He is coming to present Still Dreaming, which we are fully justified in saying has been one of the most impeccable jazz albums of those released in 2018. With him he will bring an exceptional line-up: Ron Miles on the trumpet, Scott Colley on the double bass, and Dave King on drums.
