The line-up for the 15th edition of Gent Jazz Festival (07.07-16.07.16) is almost finalised. Today sees the announcement of names such as John Cale, Dave Harrington Group, OakTree, Kamikaze, ALA.NI, Allen Stone, Day Fly and The Germans.
The festival had previously announced artists such as Kamasi Wahington, Pat Metheny-Ron Carter, St Germain, dEUS ‘Soft Electric’, Ibrahim Maalouf, Jill Scott, Lianne La Havas, Balthazar, Ibeyi and Max Richter. Find the full programme enclosed.
On 9th July, John Cale and the Dave Harrington Group will complete the line-up on the main stage. Welsh musician and songwriter John Cale needs no introduction. From The Velvet Underground to his Music For A New Society, it’s been an impressive career. Most people know Dave Harrington as one half of Darkside, his electronica project with Nicolas Jaar, but this year he will debut his new band and album at the Ghent Jazz Festival. It’s an album that sits somewhere between improvisation, jazz and electronica. The OakTree trio will close the Garden Stage on 9th July. Max Richter has made a few small changes to his concert repertoire and will present a combination of The Blue Notebooks and Infra, rather than Sleep as formerly publicised.
As previously stated, Sunday 10th July is given over entirely to bands from Ghent. Kamikaze (Bart Maris, Filip Wauters, Kristof Roseeuw and Tom Wouters) will reform just this once (?) to close the festival day.
On 14th July the Main Stage will play host to artists such as Jill Scott and Lianne La Havas, as well as London’s ALA.NI and the soul of Allen Stone. The following day Dutch band Day Fly will be at De Bijloke, with an act alternating somewhere between soul and hip-hop.
The final day of the 50th edition of the Ghent Jazz Festival will be closed by The Germans.
Gent Jazz Festival is also making active efforts to encourage young musicians and to help them grow with Jong Jazztalent Gent, a joint initiative with Duvel Moortgat Brewery. The Wout Gooris Trio won the competition in 2015, and the band was given one year to realise a special project. The result of this is to be seen and of course heard live for the first time during this edition of Gent Jazz Festival. Jong Jazztalent Gent is once again on the lookout for a laureate. Registration for the competition is through the popular VI.BE platform of Poppunt. The eventual winner is selected by a group of professionals from the sector.
Furthermore, within the collaboration project with HoGent Conservatorium School a guest musician is asked to elaborate a coaching project with a group of students from the conservatory. This year no less than three guest musicians are working on three different projects.
SABAM is once again handing out the SABAM JAZZ AWARDS on 8 July. An artist with a promising future is rewarded with €10,000, based on his or her track record, with another €5,000 going to a top young talent.
Tickets & info: www.gentjazz.com
