Jazzkaar Festival 2009

Festival Jazzkaar celebrates its 20^th anniversary!

This year the Tallinn International Festival Jazzkaar celebrates its 20^th birthday. From April 18^th to 26^th musicians from 17 countries will perform 32 concerts in Tallinn. In addition concerts will take place in Tartu, Pärnu, Viljandi, Otepää etc.

Jazz festivals in Tallinn started already in 1949 and were organised until 1967. The founding of Jazzkaar in 1990 could be called the re-birth of festivals in Tallinn. The main performer of the first Jazzkaar was the trombone virtuoso, band leader, composer and jazz teacher Ray Anderson (USA) with his quartet. Later h ehas performed at Jazzkaar several times. This year he is back as the Jazz Ambassador for the Jazz Month celebrations and will also put together the Jazzkaar Dream Band.

In addition to Ray Anderson the main performers of Jazzkaar 2009 are the 9-time Grammy winner saxophone and clarinet player Paquito D'Rivera from Cuba, vocal legend 7-time Grammy winner Al Jarreau and one of the brightest stars of Brazilian bossa-nova — Joao Bosco. The final act of Jazzkaar Festival will be the black diamond of soul Angie Stone (USA). The festival line-up will also feature the stars from European new jazz scene — Andy Emler Megaoctet (Fra), singer Solveig Slettahjell (Nor), percussion virtuoso Marylin Mazur (Den) and young Fado star Ana Moura (Por). The club acts fill feature Cro-Magnon (Jap) and Us3 (UK).

Estonian musicians will perform their new repertoire and introduce new album material at the festival. To name just a few — Villu Veski, Raivo Tafenau, Tanel Ruben, Jaak Sooäär, Meelis Vind, Lembit Saarsalu, Siim Aimla, Kadri Voorand, Paabel, Külalised, Maria Faust etc.

The artictic director of Jazzkaar Festival, Anne Erm says: "20 years old Jazzkaar will offer an especially bright rainbow of music this time and anyone who comes to the concert will be overtaken by strong and special emotions because there is no space for anything gray or mediocre at this festival. Jazzkaar is a celebration and everyone willing to hear good music is invited to the party."

The festival has a tradition of organising one day in museums and art galleries, where the admission to concerts is free (only the museum ticket is needed). The home of the festival for this year is the Russian Cultural Centre in Tallinn, where several concerts are held every day for 5 days. In addition there will be photo exhibitions, sale of new jazz CDs, cafes etc. A free concert will be performed by the Estonian Border Guard Big Band and soloists.

For the third year we are celebrating the Jazz Appreciation Month — in April and during the festival the winner of the most important jazz prize in Estonia — the Elion Jazz Award — will be announced. In addition there will be a Young Jazz Talent award and for the first time also a Jazz Educator award. In these difficult times the festival is glad that the largest Estonian telecommunication company Elion will remain as the golden sponsor of the festival — with them the award tradition was brought to life.

Festival Program

Saturday, April 18 | Opening Day

Calle Real (Cuba-Sweden)
Pirita Flower Pavillion, 9 pm

Sunday, April 19 | Day of Tallinn

Siim Aimla Band & JazziMaal
Kumu Art Museum Auditorium, 12 am

Tõnu Raadik & Henn Rebane
Gallery of Design and Architecture, 1 pm

Ingrid Lukas Duo
Museum of Occupations, 2 pm

ETV Girls Choir, Tallinn Beat Box Choir & Napoleon Maddox (USA-Est)
Kumu Art Museum Auditorium, 3 pm

Margus Vaher Trio
Niguliste Museum, 6 pm

Monday, April 20 | Tribal Day

Maria Faust Group (Den)
Kumu Art Museum Auditorium, 6 pm

Felix Lajko Duo (Hun)
Kumu Art Museum Auditorium, 8:30 pm

Tuesday, April 21 | Northern Day

Villu Veski — Jukka Eskola 5tet (Est-Fin)
Russian Cultural Center Big Hall, 6 pm

Napoleon Maddox & Meelis Vind (USA-Est)
Russian Cultural Center Small Hall, 7:30 pm

Solveig Slettahjell (Nor)
Russian Cultural Center Big Hall, 8:30 pm

Wednesday, April 22 | Midday

Estonian Border Guard Bigband feat. Ewert Sundja
Russian Cultural Center Big Hall, 6 pm

Baltic Trio (Est-Lat-Lit)
Russian Cultural Center Small Hall, 7:30 pm

Al Jarreau (USA)
Estonia Concert Hall, 8 pm

ERGO Jazz Session Vol 4: Tok Tok Tok (Ger)
Russian Cultural Center Big Hall, 9 pm

Thursday, April 23 | Tropical Day

João Bosco Quintet (Bra)
Russian Cultural Center Big Hall, 6 pm

Will Calhoun (USA)
Russian Cultural Center Small Hall, 7:30 pm

Ana Moura fado (Prt)
Russian Cultural Center Big Hall, 9 pm

Kadri Voorand feat. Jussi Kannaste (Fin-Est)
Theater NO99 Jazz Club, 9:30 pm

Friday, April 24 | Sunny Day

Andy Emler MegaOctet (Fra)
Russian Cultural Center Big Hall, 6 pm

Tuule Kann — Jaak Sooäär (Est)
Russian Cultural Center Small Hall, 7:30 pm

Paquito D'Rivera Quintet (USA-Cuba)
Russian Cultural Center Big Hall, 9 pm

ASK (Est)
Theater NO99 Jazz Club, 9:30 pm

Cro-Magnon (Jap)
Rock Cafe, 10 pm

Bach In The Night: Andres Mustonen Jazz 4tet
Tallinn Jaani Church, 11 pm

Saturday, April 25 | Jazzkaar Day

Marylin Mazur Celestial Circle (Den-Swe-UK)
Kaarli Church, 3 pm

Rütmiallikal (Est)
Russian Cultural Center Big Hall, 5 pm

Paabel (Est)
Russian Cultural Center Small Hall, 6:30 pm

Jazzkaar Dream Band feat. Ray Anderson & Will Calhoun (USA-Est)
Russian Cultural Center Big Hall, 8 pm

US3 (USA), Külalised (Est)
Rock Cafe, 10 pm

Lembit Saarsalu 4tet
Theater NO99 Jazz Club, 9:30 pm

Sunday, April 26

Angie Stone (USA)
Tallinn City Concert Hall, 7 pm

Jazzkaar Festival website