If you are a jazz music lover, chances are that you go to a festival every year. What you probably didn't know is that there are jazz festivals all over the world. If you like to travel, expand your jazz tastes and go to these international jazz festivals.
Akbank Jazz Festival, Istanbul, Turkey
October 17-October 27
The Akbank Jazz Festival is one of a diverse mixture of sounds from the country as well as all around the world. Last year's festival was dedicated to Arif Mardin. One artist that has performed there is Kurt Elling. Kurt Elling is very popular in jazz music today. In his ten year career, all six of his albums were nominated for Grammy awards. He has toured all around the world in places including Israel, Japan and Australia. In 2003, he was made Vice Chair on NARAS.(National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences) He has an album out this year.
Barbados Jazz Festival, Barbados
January 8-January 14
Some of the artists that will be performing here are Ruben Studdard, Anita Baker, Macy Gray and Robert Glasper. This is not a free Jazz music festival. Prices to hear performances range from $30 to $100, depending on the artist. If you want to attend this jazz music festival, you cannot order tickets internationally. You have to actually be in Barbados and provide the address where you'll be staying in Barbados and the tickets will be delivered to that address.
Brecon Jazz Festival, United Kingdom
August 11-August 13
Brecon Jazz has been around for twenty-four years. The best jazz music is performed at the brilliant Brecon Beacons National Park. It is located in Wales. The company, Brecon International Festival of Jazz Ltd., a charity organization, is backing the festival has an education and outreach program in Wales and the South-West of England, during the year.
This year, the Brecon Jazz Festival had an Artist-in Residence, Joe Lovano. Joe Lovano is one of the world's best tenor saxophone players and has been around since the '70's. He has performed in Woody Herman's orchestra and Mel Lewis's orchestra. The music he then went on to create broke boundaries collaborating with artists such as John Scofield, Hank Jones and Bill Frisell. He led the BBC Big Band at Brecon, taught a masters class to young welsh Jazz musicians. This year Brecon also featured "Women in Jazz". A couple of the artists were: Jessica Williams from the U.S. and Hiromi from Japan.
Copenhagan Jazz Festival, Denmark
July 6- July 15
In case you didn't know, the Danish are really into jazz. New artists as well as the old have been performing in the city. The concerts in the day are perfomed near the canals and historic homes. Some prefer to play small, crowded clubs. Every live performance is electrifying and memorable. Artists that have performed here are George Clinton and the P-Funk Allstars, McCoy Tyner Trio, Scandinavian Brasillian-Big Band,Mavis Staples W. Band, The Zawinul Syndicate and Maceo Parker. Jazz music is not something that is only appreciated in the states, but everywhere around the world. It is important to experience jazz music in other places so that the magic of jazz will ever be broadened, shared and continued to be translated for years to come.
Diana Krall is an accomplished singer, and jazz pianist. Diana was born in British Columbia Canada in 1964. She learned to play piano when she was just four-years-old. Everyone is her family are musicians. When she was in high school she played in a jazz group, and at just fifteen played in many restaurants in Nanaimo. She won a scholarship from Vancouver International Jazz Festival at 17 years old to go to Berklee College of Music. She stayed for one and a half years.
When she played in Nanaimo, Ray Brown, a famous bass player and ex-husband of Ella Fitzgerald told her to move to Los Angeles, California and improve her talents with Jimmy Rowles, a pianist. She did, and began to sing with him. This move led her to into a circle of producers and teachers who could further her career. In 1990 she went to New York and married the British musician Elvis Costello, on musician Elton John's estate in 2003. Diana and Elvis had twins Dexter Henry Lorcan and Frank Harlan James in 2006.
Listening to her fathers huge jazz music albums is what helped Diana be the musician she is today. She lost her mother to multiple myeloma in 2002, and her mentors Ray Brown and Rosemary Clooney in just a few short months of each other. Her younger sister is a strong supporter of her jazz music career.
Her first album came out in 1993, called Stepping Out. John Clayton and Jeff Hamilton were part of that record. Tommy LiPuma heard it and produced her next album Only Trust Your Heart in 1995. Her next album was called All For You: A Dedication to the Nat King Cole Trio, in 1996. That was nominated for a Grammy award and was on the jazz charts in Billboard magazine for seventy weeks. In 1997 Love Scenes was a hit record with Russell Malone on guitar, and Christian McBride on bass guitar.
In 2000, Diana went on a tour with Tony Bennett and was nominated for more Grammy awards. The Look of Love album went platinum, the following year. It went to number one on the Canadian charts, and on the Billboard 200, top ten. In 2001 Diana toured the world. The Paris Olympia concert was recorded, and Diana Krall-Live in Paris was released and went to the top of Billboard jazz charts, number 5 in Canada and the top 20 of Billboard 200. On the recording was a cover of Billy Joel's "Just The Way You Are" and "A Case Of You" by Joni Mitchell.
Diana also wrote with her husband after they were married, and wrote her own songs. The Girl in the Other Room was the result of her work, in 2004. This year, she was in a Lexus ad. Diana also sang "Dream a Little Dream of Me" with Hank Jones, a famous pianist. In 2003 she received an honorary doctorate from University of Victoria. In 2004 she was included in the Canada's Walk of Fame.