May 17 - 31 Here’s what you will find at the tenth annual Jazzfest Bonn
BONN · The Jazzfest Bonn 2019 offers a multifaceted concert program on its ten-year anniversary: With Mezzoforte and Tower of Power, Tony Lakatos and Joe Lovano, Manu Katché and Jason Moran.
The Jazzfest Bonn celebrates its tenth anniversary this year, and impresario Peter Materna (creative and managing director of Jazzfest Bonn) wants to make it a smashing success. It will kick off with an open air concert on the Marktplatz in Bonn city center. In the evening, things will move into the opera house so that many people can be accommodated, as Materna announced at the presentation of the program on Tuesday. To celebrate the anniversary (May 17 - 31, 2019), the director has increased the number of tickets for the 25 concerts from 1,000 to 7,000 on twelve evenings. As in previous years, the outstanding line-up of performers will ensure that tickets to these concerts will also be sold quickly. While there won't be any superstars of the jazz scene like in previous years such as Wayne Shorter, Dianne Reeves or John Scofield, there will be great legends like Mezzoforte and Tower of Power, and with Tony Lakatos and Joe Lovano, Manu Katché and Jason Moran, fantastic soloists. Riccardo Del Fra and the Yellowjackets bring long rediscoveries that are overdue.
And there is a whole series of younger acts to bring in some new accents as well. Ten years after the launch of the Jazzfest, Materna could rightfully look at what has been created and remain content. But he does not, instead he gives it a dazzling new makeover. At an estimated cost of 550,000 euros for 2019, the city sponsors 40,000 euros.
Young creatives
The highly talented and innovative quartet of the young bassist and composer Lisa Wulff will come together with the dignified bar jazz of Thomas Quasthoff and his quartet, whose line-up with Frank Chastenier, Dieter Ilg and Wolfgang Haffner is excellent. Among the young creatives is the Austrian bassist Lukas Kranzelbinder with his Formation Shake Stew, who performs in a double concert with the outstanding lyricist of jazz, Riccardo Del Fra, and his young quintet. The younger artists are also represented by singer Lucia Cadotsch and her dreamy project "Speak Low". She performs with the experimental Tobias Hoffmann Trio, working with electronic effects.
The categories young and established come together when the 27-year-old Jo Beyer from Cologne with his energetic contemporary jazz meets the Jean-Paul Bourelly Trio and their Jimi Hendrix program at the Brotfabrik. A similarly unique experience is likely to take place at the Volksbankhaus when the four young Neo-A-Cappella ladies of Of Cabbages And Kings perform with the founder of Weather Report, Miroslav Vitous, and his pianist Emil Viklicky.
R & B band Tower of Power from California
The drummer Manu Katché (drummer for Sting and Peter Gabriel), the legendary R & B band from Oakland, California, Tower of Power, and the fusion veterans of Mezzoforte are prominently featured. Pianist Jason Moran is on his way to becoming a classic. He shares the evening with a somewhat bizarre duo: Helge Lien and Knut Hem take a musical journey from the fjords to the Grand Canyon.
Saxophonist Materna will bring his colleague Joe Lovano to the party, along with trio Tapestry and the gifted drummer Eric Schaefer and his East-West project "Kyoto mon Amour". This will certainly be one of the outstanding evenings of the Festival 2019.
"We're a bit more experimental and a bit weird"
Materna also brings to the mix his saxophone colleague Tony Lakatos: he plays in the "Jazz Supergroup", founded by pianist Roberto Di Gioia under the name Web Web. A 1970’s sound can be expected there. To round it off, he has brought the Berlin singer Joy Denalane into the band. This very special evening gets its flavor from the talented bass player Kyle Eastwood. The son of Clint Eastwood is a star in France, he comes to Bonn with timeless classics and his great quintet. Bob Mintzer is the third saxophonist in the band. He not only brings the WDR Big Band together with the crazy electro duo Knower, but also shines with the fantastic fusion band Yellowjackets, which shares the evening with the wonderful Julia Hülsmann Oktett.
As it should be, the festival ends with a large ensemble in the Telekom Forum: The Legends of Mezzoforte meet the Furor der Jugend in the role of guitarist Monika Roscher's big band. "We're a bit more experimental and a bit weird," she once said. That's definitely good for the Jazz Fest Bonn.
Tickets are available at ga.de/tickets.
(Orig. text: Thomas Kliemann; Translation: ck)
