Explore jazz from around the world, July 11th to 14th 2019
In less than a month, Gărâna Jazz Festival returns with the 23rd edition, taking place July 11th to 14th. Four days in the Semenic Mountains, forty mountain bike paths, tens of square kilometers of lakes, forests and open sky. And JAZZ. A lot of jazz, the best jazz of today from artists that you know or that you will discover this year. Jan Garbarek Group feat. Trilok Gurtu, Jeff Berlin, Dennis Chambers, John Surman, Luiza Zan, Giovanni Guidi, Thomas Morgan, Bobby Previte, Grégory Privat, Renaud Garcia-Fons & Dorantes, Jacky Terrasson, Paolo Fresu & Lars Danielsson, Maciej Obara and Per Mathisen are just some of them artists you will listen to in July.
The two groups already announced for Sunday, July 14th, John Surman Trio and Moshulu, are joined on the Wolf’s Meadow stage by two others excellent projects.
Maciej Obara Quartet will be a true European jazz experience to bring us closer to the energy of Polish artists, so well represented on the same stage in previous years by Pink Freud and Adam Bałdych. Polish sax player Maciej Obara became famous on the international jazz scene in 2006 when he won the Bielska Zadymka Jazz Contest. Over the years, Obara developed his own original music language and collaborated with many artists from Japan, U.S.A. and Europe. In 2012 he founded an international quartet and recorded his first album with ECM Records – Unloved (2017). At Gărâna Jazz Festival 2019 three Scandinavian artists will join him on stage: Norwegians Håvard Wiik (piano) and Ole Morten Vågan (bass) and Swedish drummer Jon Fält.
Much-awarded and acclaimed around the world, American drummer Bobby Previte bring together again, after 20 years, the North American super group Bump, under the name Bobby Previte’s Classic Bump Band. The members are: avant-garde alto sax maestro Marty Ehrlich, innovator trombone player Ray Anderson, celebrated pianist and composer Wayne Horvitz and Jerome Harris, one of the most versatile American guitarists. It will definitely be 100% high class American jazz, fuelled by the energy, creativity and skill obtained over a period of 20 years of concerts and musical exploration.
Also on Sunday, the La Rascruce Inn stage will host the quartet of Berlin saxophone player and composer Philipp Gropper – Philm. The quartet, made up of pianist Elias Stemeseder, bass player Robert Landfermann and drummer Oliver Steidle, tests the limits of jazz and compels the audience to face an unpredictable musical universe. “Consequences”, their latest album, is a current interpretation of the reality of today and an exercise in imagination for each and every one of us.
At Gărâna 2019 you will explore Romanian Jazz alongside some of the best Romanian musicians in experimental concerts. ROMANIAN JAZZ MEETING, at its third edition, is the moment where the most talented representatives of Romanian jazz meet on the stages of the festival, especially in the La Răscruce Inn, the place that keeps the energy and liberty from 22 years ago when the festival was born.
Friday, July 12th, on the Wolf’s Meadow stage, the much-appreciated Timisoara guitar player Horea Crișovan and the most trendy jazz band from the same city, JazzyBIT, will present, within the Romanian Jazz Meeting, a project born last year, when they played together for the first time on the stage of Timisoara Jazz Festival 2018. An energetic combination of jazz and rock, sprinkled with blues, Latin and funk. The evening will end with an ambient jazz concert, also on the main stage: trumpet player Petre Ionuțescu and visual artist and musician Daniel Dorobanțu will build a multimedia installation inspired by the forests that surround Gărâna, a magical musical and visual environment that will be born after midnight.
Saturday, July 13th, the La Răscruce Inn stage will host singer and composer Luiza Zan and guitarist Iulian Pavelescu with their project Afrodizzy – a dynamic experient, with afro, jazz, funk and soul vibes, where the audience will play a key role. Two musicians, two friends, are aiming to test the optimism of the audience and their belief in a world that is just a little better, at least for a few tens of minutes. The same day, saxophone player Cătălin Milea will bring to stage “Jazz on Pink Floyd”with pianist Albert Tajti, bass player Michael Acker and drummer Iulian Nicolau – a tribute concert to the famous band Pink Floyd.
Sorin Zlat, one of the most talented Romanian jazz pianists of the new generation, presents “The land of Dreams”, alongside Gianni Gagliardi (Spain) – sax, Gianluca Renzi (Italy) – bass and Iulian Nicolau (Romania) – drums. We will listen to cool jazz, post-bop, Latin, avant-garde Sunday, at the La Răscruce Inn.
The Catholic Church in Văliug hosts three concerts that will benefit from its special acoustics: pianist Raul Kusak (Friday, July 12th), electronic artist Rodion G.A. (Saturday, July 13th) and Adrian Schwartz-Dinu & Horea Crișovan (Sunday, July 14th).
The complete Gărâna Jazz Festival 23 program is available online on www.garana-jazz.ro. Tickets and passes can be bought online through bilete.ro and www.garana-jazz.ro and in Wolf’s Meadow (in cash) right before the concerts.
