So what have we got? Well dive in to the full list here. Some you’ll find, for instance Brilliant Corners next week, are quite new. Some are stylistically fairly narrow sticking with genre-within-a-genre interests. My latest discovery Budleigh does this with its emphasis on the traddy-mainstream; or by complete contrast the mouth watering Tape to Zero with its cutting edge Nordic jazztronica and futurejazz. Some look to the bigger picture and contextualise the myriad of jazz styles by providing a mix of rock, R&B, and world music as well as hosting top jazz action (Pori, North Sea, Montréal). Some last just a weekend, and some a week or more; and one or two are run by artists themselves (eg Emulsion) and take place in clubs specially branded for the occasion or have title sponsors with a strong commercial brand attached (eg Jazzaldia).
You’ll also notice that many of the festivals have the same names mainly big American “jazz household names” cropping up. So for instance Cassandra Wilson is playing a lot in the Baltics soon; Gregory Porter is cropping up all over the place following his Grammy win as are the similarly garlanded Snarky Puppy, one of the bands that tour endlessly.
Some of the biggest names in jazz, the living “giants of jazz”, as the slang used to have it, are absent at least so far. For instance Herbie Hancock isn’t appearing much although he’s busy with the big Osaka Jazz Day concert soon and Newk’s taking a break for a bit, and others tour concert halls and medium sized rock venues as well as festivals although sometimes these overlap (the Pat Metheny Unity Group for instance). Clubs often co-operate with festivals to up their programming endeavours aiming to create something special around festival time, or simply to make sure they retain an audience when there’s increased competition from the concert hall or marquee down the road.
Here are my top festivals that have pulled out the stops with their line-ups this year plus additional reasons why they’re worth your time.
10 Brilliant Corners It’s too late to stop now. Eclectic and open-minded newish festival.
9 Gateshead Jazz Festival Good range of local and international acts. The Sage acoustics are a huge plus.
8 12 Points New bands are the future and 12 Points knows this.
7 Pori Dylan. Top jazz names. The long summer nights in western Finland. Great atmosphere. Crayfish.
6 Sligo Jazz Festival A summer school (the Sligo Jazz Project moniker covers everything going on) with well curated gigs running in tandem.
5 Emulsion Artist-led. Collaboration is the key element at Trish Clowes’ forward-looking chamber jazz-meets-new music & improv festival.
4 Montréal If it's size you’re after and more top jazz than you can possibly eat then Montréal is the ultimate.
3 Jazz sous les pommiers Plus points are the surroundings apparently and the gastronomy. Oh, and there are plenty of happening bands rocking up.
2 Love Supreme Jazz Glastonbury? Well maybe so. One of last year’s big successes.
1 Blue Note jazz festival No need to explain.
Stephen Graham