Date:

4 July – 18 August 2010
Jazz Night: 17 July 2010

Venue/Address:

Small Market Square
Manggha Museum, ul. Konopnickiej 28
Harris Piano Jazz Bar, Main Market Square 28
Piec Art, ul. Szewska 12
Piwnica Pod Baranami, Main Market Square 27 (on the map)
U Muniaka, ul. Floriańska 3
Alchemia, ul. Estery 5
Drukarnia Jazz Club, ul. Nadwiślańska 1
Radio Kraków, al. Słowackiego 22
Kraków Opera, ul. Lubicz 48
Rotunda Club, ul. Oleandry 1

Website:

www.cracjazz.com

The Summer Jazz Festival is holding its own. The daily concerts are like a new hand at cards, and in this jazz deck there’s no lack of stars. The true aces up the sleeve will be played in August: Bobby McFerrin commemorating Chopin, appearances by the outstanding trumpeters Markus Stockhausen and Paolo Fresu, as well as a three-part concert organised by the German label Herzog Records.

Let’s begin at the end, for a change. The culmination of this jazz marathon promises to be impressive. The final concert will be a performance by one of the greatest contemporary jazz singers – Bobby McFerrin. The American artist rejects the label of “jazzer”, however. “My music is just playing with colours,” says McFerrin. And he’s certainly capable of frolicking colourfully. Using his four-octave voice, he is able to magic up a polyphonic jazz orchestra and seems to be capable of imitating any sound in the world. These musical romps made him world famous after recording Don’t Worry, Be Happy in 1988. The song was composed almost by accident during the last stage of recording an album, with a simple melody and an optimistic message, and soon began to live its own life. It seems that the sudden fame inhibited the Manhattan-born vocalist’s creative ingenuity. Over the past eight years he hasn’t recorded an album of his own. Happily, in spring this year the albumVOCAbuLarieS was released, and the critics are agreed that McFerrin is in outstanding form and his voice is still spine-tingling.

On 18 August (8pm) at Kraków Opera, the artist – with the perfect German NDR Big Band – will present his new Chopin project with arrangement by Gil Goldstein, the American keyboardist, composer, and professor at NYU. The programme will include krakowiaks, mazurkas, polonaises, obereks, and Polish folk tunes, in other words, everything that inspired Chopin so much. There’ll also be themes by Claude Debussy and Antonio Carlos Jobim, two great composers who were inspired by the Polish maestro’s heritage. The Chopin Project also includes jazz standards, and the trained ear will be able to pick up notes once played by Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and the Cracovian Zbigniew Seifert. And all this will be entwined with improvised commentary by McFerrin and the NDR Big Band!

For the festival, the beginning of August means the time for outstanding jazz trumpeters. On 1 August (8pm) at the Manggha Museum, Markus Stockhausen will be playing. This musician, born in 1957 in Cologne, worked very closely with his father, the distinguished composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, for a quarter of a century, and dad wrote many pieces for him. As a soloist, Markus has appeared in magnificent musical and dramatic works on the stage at La Scala, London’s Covent Garden, and the Opera in Leipzig. He is one of the most versatile musicians of our time, as shown by his recordings, where we can hear musical influences from the Orient, jazz-rock, and contemporary avant-garde music. For this concert, the trumpeter will be accompanied by Władysław “Adzik” Sendecki, who years ago was connected to the Kraków musical community and these days works permanently with the NDR Big Band – he’s considered one of the five best jazz pianists. 

There will also be virtuoso trumpet in the Manggha Museum the following day. On 2 August (8pm), the Paolo Fresu Devil Quartet will be playing. Born in 1961 in Sardinia, Paolo began playing trumpet as an eleven-year-old. From the very beginning, he was inspired by Miles Davis. Fresu’s musical horizons are so broad, however, that he can freely move between genres. He’s not afraid of experiment, evidence of which is the album he recorded with the Romany brass group Kočani Orkestar. 

The three-part concert organised by the German label Herzog Records also promises to be interesting. On 12 August (7pm) at Radio Kraków, Jessica Gall, the Studnitzky Trio, and the Nighthawks will appear. Jessica was born 30 years ago in Berlin and is a vocalist gifted with a deep, warm vocal tone. She flirts with pop and takes a pinch of country, but her calm voice usually takes us on a journey through the nightclub scene. Sebastian Studnitzky, in turn, is one of the most engaged of German jazz musicians. Using the trumpet and piano, he creates melodic and balanced music. This style of playing has made him the ideal musical partner for such groups and artists as Mezzoforte, Nils Landgren and Rebekka Bakken. After numerous tours and appearances at many festivals all over the world, the multi-instrumentalist has recently decided to spend some time creating his own music. “When I compose my songs, I already have the exact sound for them in my head,” says Studnitzky. The final group recommended by Herzog Records is the duet of Dal Martino and Reiner Winterschladen, who form the nu-jazz band Nighthawks. They move between jazz, pop, and ambitious lounge music. Just right for an atmospheric cruise. (Artur Jackowski, “Karnet” monthly)

15th Summer Jazz Festival at Piwnica Pod Baranami
4 July – 18 August
Organiser: Cracovia Music Agency
www.cracjazz.com

Programme
Special events:

4 July
New Orleans Sunday

9 July at 8 pm – Władysław"Adzik"Sendecki at Manggha Museum

17 July
Krakow's Night of Jazz 2010
at Mały Rynek

Jan Ptaszyn Wroblewski Sextet
Chopin Warsaw Paris Jazz Quintet & 
Orkiestra Akademii Beethovenowskiej    
International Polish Jazz Group "Chopin & Jazz" - J.Jarczyk/A.Olejniczak/D.Oleszkiewicz/J.Stefanski 
Marek Balata Band & Orkiestra Akademii Beethovenowskiej - Chopin Project

Rotunda Club
at 10pm
40th anniversary of   "Laboratorium"
and guests  Harlem Psychadelic (USA)

Night Club's Concerts
at 10pm
Harris, Piec Art, Piwnica pod Baranami, U Muniaka, Alchemia i Drukarnia


others events:
1 August
Markus Stockhausen & Władysław "Adzik" Sendecki at Manggha Museum

2 August
Paulo Fresu Quartet at Manggha Museum

12 August at 7pm HERZOG RECORDS presents in  Krakow Radio  :
Jessica Gall-Herzog Records
Studnitzky Trio –Herzog Records
“Nighthawks”-Herzog Records

18 August, at 8 pm
Kraków Opera
Bobby McFerrin & NDR Big Band - Chopin Project