Aalen Jazz Festival

Roy Hargrove at the Aalen Jazzfest 2002

The Aalen Jazz Festival is one of the five largest festivals in Germany dedicated to jazz and related musical genres. It takes place every year on the second weekend in November in Aalen and expects around 13,000 visitors a year. Individual concerts in spring and summer complement the musical offer, and there are around 25 concerts a year. From the beginning the festival was characterized by stylistic openness; thereby forming fusion jazz , classical Hardbop , radio Jazz , Soul , African jazz and world music the core of the program.

The Aalen cultural initiative kunterbunt eV and voluntary helpers organize the festival.

history

The Aalen cultural initiative kunterbunt eV was founded in 1989 as a sponsoring association and today has around 200 members. In addition to the main purpose of organizing a top-class jazz festival in a small town like Aalen , the association primarily wants to show that you can do voluntary cultural work on a professional level. Ingo Hug (2019) is the artistic director of the festival.

The 1st Aalen Jazz Festival in 1990 already offers an ambitious program with musicians such as Heinz Sauer , Walter Wolfman Washington, Jasper van't Hof , Bob Malach and Eddie Harris . A year later Miles Davis played his last European concert at the 2nd Aalen Jazz Festival.

The following bands have performed over the years:

Dave Brubeck Albert Mangelsdorff Jim Hall David Murray McCoy Tyner Mike Stern James Carter Jan Garbarek Mousse T. Take 6 Dianne Reeves Archie Shepp Dieter Ilg The Crusaders Maceo Parker

Joachim Kühn Hiram Bullock Jimi tenor Esbjörn Svensson Trio Joo Kraus Kool & the Gang Steffen Schorn Marianne Faithfull Herbie Hancock Branford Marsalis Gary Moore Lizz Wright Biréli Lagrène Mario Bauzá

Peter Less Johnny Griffin Ron Carter Bugge Wesseltoft John Scofield Charlie Mariano Roy Ayers Chico Freeman Dr. John Al Jarreau BB King Ray Charles Fats dominoes Roy Hargrove Jan Delay & Disco No.

The organizers released live CDs for the various festivals.

Venues

The main venue is the Aalen town hall, where the major concerts take place. The collaboration with the artist hotel ended in 2017. In 2018, the late night shows took place on a second, smaller stage in the Aalen town hall. In 2019, among other things, the Ostertag was the venue for the late night shows. Smaller stages, for smaller appearances, have been the Kino am Kocher and the ZEISS Forum for several years .

Discoveries

The Aalen Jazz Festival always offers a stage for talents or for musicians who have disappeared from the focus for many years. When Lamont Dozier from the Motown songwriting team Holland-Dozier-Holland resumed his career as a singer, he gave his European premiere at the Aalen Jazz Festival. Little Jimmie Scott picked up on his greatest days in Aalen. Artists like Raul Midón and Lizz Wright also performed in Aalen before they were discovered by the mega-festivals.

Mr. Jazzfest

The guitarist Hiram Bullock , who died in July 2008, played more than ten times at the Jazzfest. Bullock liked to play "open end" and extended the nights with spontaneous jam sessions in the piano bar. There you could see him and spontaneous colleagues from other bands until dawn, sometimes even playing the piano.

supporter

The sponsors of the Aalen Jazz Festival include companies and institutions such as B. the city of Aalen, various newspapers and energy suppliers.

Web links

Commons : Aalener Jazzfest  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Homepage Aalen Jazz Festival
• Festival guide

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Aalen Jazz Festival - The concert event in Aalen. Retrieved January 16, 2019 . 
2. ↑ Aalen Jazz Festival - The concert event in Aalen. Retrieved January 16, 2019 . 
3. ↑ Aalen Jazz Festival - The concert event in Aalen. Retrieved October 15, 2019 . 
4. ↑ Aalen Jazz Festival - The concert event in Aalen. Retrieved January 16, 2019 . 
5. ↑ Aalen Jazz Festival - The concert event in Aalen. Retrieved January 16, 2019 .