Great names of the European jazz scene and young Austrian jazz formations
On Thursday, the festival was first filmed. "A Portrait of Esbjörn Svensson" tells the story of pianist Esbjörn Svensson, who died tragically 10 years ago. On Friday, the "3 Tage Jazz" was officially opened in the Kunsthaus Nexus. As every year, the artistic director, Mario Steidl, has awarded the opening project to an Austrian musician. The quintet "Vienna Chamber Diaries" opened the festival with a great symbiosis of chamber music and free improvisation.
Five out of nine bands came from Austria. Alex Pinter presented his trio "Birds against Hurricanes" with guitar, piano and accordion. On Sunday Christian Bacanic thrilled the audience with his solo in the Mining and Gothic Museum Leogang. The concert of the string quartet "Violet Spin" reflected the joy of the unabashed groove again. And Austria was also represented at the free concert on the Stöcklalm: the trio Engel Mayr provided a thrilling atmosphere with rocking songs in the style of Jimi Hendrix, ZZ Top and Stevie Ray Vaughan.
But there were also musicians from France, Holland, Poland and Italy at the Winter Festival. Including the European jazz legend Henri Texier, who presented his current album "Sand Woman" with his Sand Quintet. For the first time in Austria was the brand new and magical trio "Baldych - Courtois - Telderman", to which the three exceptional musicians have come together very spontaneously. Programmatic breaks were made by the musicians Hélène Labarrière & Hasse Poulsen. They interpreted hits of pop history in a very free way, while the formation "Sudoku Killer" around the bassist Caterina Palazzi from Italy enriched jazz with post and stoner rock elements.
