International Jazz Festival Münster

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John Tchicai (1987)

The International Jazz Festival Münster is a jazz festival that takes place every two years (odd years) on the first weekend in January in Münster . The organizer is the city's cultural office. The festival focuses on contemporary European jazz. It "is not only known for its program philosophy, which values ​​quality and contrasts, but also for the practice of introducing new formations and projects to an audience for the first time."

The concerts take place in the Münster Theater. Fritz Schmücker has been the artistic director for many years . Since 2004, a Jazz Inbetween concert has been held between the concert years .

history

It was originally founded by the AStA of the University of Münster in the autumn of 1978 and first took place in the summer of 1979 in the concert shell in the palace garden. The following year the festival was moved to the meadows on Lake Aasee because the castle garden was not available again. This relocation was associated with logistical difficulties, led to an economic failure, but was also the first edition of the festival to be recorded and broadcast by WDR . Since then, WDR has been a partner of the festival. In the summer of 1981 it was held in front of 5500 spectators in the Prussian Stadium, but again led to a five-digit deficit. In 1982 the festival took place on a much smaller scale and was relocated from the Münster Jazz Club to the Jovel Music Hall, which was then located on Weseler Straße, so that for the first time it was not held in the open air. A new concept was applied in 1984 when Münster gave jazz concerts at different locations over a period of one week. Due to the limited financial resources, no stars were hired, as a result of which the audience numbers fell and as a result the jazz club had to file for bankruptcy. In 1985 the festival was held again in the Preußenstadion, which was associated with musical success. However, due to a fraud by a management of the festival, the funds were almost exhausted. The nationwide media response as a response to the festival in 1985 led to the city of Münster taking over the management as the organizer with financial participation and risk protection from 1986. Between 1986 and 1994 the festival took place eight times in the Halle Münsterland , where it was held on three days in June / July. a. Ornette Coleman , Don Cherry , John McLaughlin , Carla Bley , Charlie Haden and Chick Corea were on show and attracted up to 2500 spectators per day of the event. After the festival in 1994, the financing was again jeopardized, whereupon the operators of the Halle Münsterland demanded a more commercial orientation of the festival, which the then directors Fritz Schmücker and Hartmut Schmitz refused, so that since "1994 it has not been in the" new ", more commercial concept of the Halle Münsterland ”fit. The city theater has been the venue since 1997, “after a forced creative break”, and since then the cultural office of the city of Münster has been the sole organizer of the festival. In the same year, the festival changed from an annual festival to a biennial festival, with the festival being moved from the summer to the jazz month, which is poor in events.

Fritz Schmücker has been the sole artistic director of the festival program since 1999. The festival has always been sold out since it was held in the municipal theater, mostly in advance sales.

In addition to the aforementioned artists, musicians such as Elin Larsson , Keith Tippett , Marius Neset , Chet Baker , James Blood Ulmer , Michel Petrucciani and Jacky Terrasson have also performed here. The winners of the Westphalia Jazz Prize, which has been awarded there since 1994, also play regularly at the festival.

Performing musicians (last years)

In 2011 Christian Muthspiel , Joachim Kühn , Gianluca Petrella , Sidsel Endresen , Céline Bonacina , Omri Ziegele , Per Zanussi , Bobby Previte , Claudio Puntin performed with the trio Dolce Vita.

From January 4th to 6th 2013 at the 24th festival, Enrico Rava , Julia Hülsmann , Mattia Cigalini , Frederik Köster , Klaus Paier , Edmar Castañeda , among others, presented themselves .

The 25th Münster International Jazz Festival took place from January 9th to 11th, 2015. 100 musicians appeared in 17 concerts. In the 36th year since it was founded, the artistic director Fritz Schmücker pays his respects to the first edition in 1979: Jasper van't Hof , a musician at the first festival, has a premiere in the program. A good half of all concerts in the Münster Theater with musicians from 15 countries are premieres in Germany, such as Louis Moholo with Pino Minafra's MinAfric Orchestra .

At the 26th Münster Festival, the performing musicians and groups came from 13 countries: Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Morocco, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, UK and USA. There were u. a. the Silke Eberhard Trio, the Eva Klesse Quartet, the Quartet Alexander Hawkins p, Elaine Mitchener voc, Neil Charles b & Steve Davis dr, the duo David Peña Dorantes p & Renaud Garcia-Fons b, the British band Empirical , the Allison Miller Sextet , Brotherhood Heritage , the Trio Kaja Draksler p, Petter Eldh b & Christian Lillinger dr, the Trio Lucia Cadotsch voc, Petter Eldh & Otis Sandsjö sax, the quartet Andreas Schaerer voc, Luciano Biondini acc, Kalle Kalima g, Lucas Niggli dr.

Discography

Recordings of some concerts at the festival have been released on audio media:

Web links

Commons : Internationales Jazzfestival Münster  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Concert by the International Jazz Festival Münster (WDR 3) ( Memento from August 5, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ), June 26, 2013
  2. ↑ a b c Ultimo: Jazzfest Münster: Exoten & Überflieger , warm up, No. 26 / 14-2 / ​​15, December 15, 2014 - January 18, 2015, p. 4.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Westfälische Nachrichten : bankruptcies pave the way to success - history of the jazz festival: changing concert venues and financial fiasco , Münster / Kultur, Münster, January 8, 2015
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h Westfälische Nachrichten : Always sold out in the theater - history of the jazz festival: “Who's who of unknown jazz” becomes a successful concept , Münster / Kultur, Münster, January 9, 2015
  5. ↑ A rousing mix: The 18th International Jazz Festival Munster Jazzzeitung 2/2001, see. Also artistic overall panorama: strong moments at the 19th International Jazz Festival Münster Jazzzeitung 3/2003
  6. ↑ Henning Bolte: International Jazz Festival Münster 2017 , concert review in All About Jazz from January 26, 2017, accessed February 5, 2017