TALLINN - The coming weekend sees the conclusion to the 15th Jazzkaar jazz festival, which started on April 17. Most of the concerts will take place at the Sakala Center, but some events will take place at Cafe Amigo and Viru Hotel.
Unfortunately the tickets for the concert of the Brazilian bossa nova goddess Joyce are already sold out. Joyce, together with the Little Bit Crazy Band, will perform the best of her wonderfully breezy 1960s sound on April 23.
The next artist on the list is DuOud, a Paris-based duo playing Arabic-inspired music mixed with break beats, jazz and heavy guitar sounds. The duo skillfully uses the oud, a sort of ancient Arabian version of the European lute, as the main instrument. DuOud has been nominated several times for the prestigious BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards.
Cameroon's Manu Dibango, dubbed the "lighthouse of African jazz music," will be performing on the "night stage" at the Sakala Center on April 23 at 11 p.m. Dibango, who is possibly Africa's best known jazz saxophonist through his successful combination of African and jazz music, came to global attention in 1972 with his single "Soul Makossa." Some 20 years later Dibango won a court case against Michael Jackson, who used a sample from "Soul Makossa" in his 1982 song "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'."
One of the most eagerly anticipated events of the festival will be John Scofield's concert on April 24. Scofield is regarded as one of the top jazz guitarists in the world but his musical preferences are not only limited to jazz. His band plays all kinds of instrumental music from rock and blues, to country and fusion.
Apart from the better-known acts in the line-up, the festival program is also staging a concert of young jazz performers from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on April 24. The winners of the Sony Jazz Stage Festival that was held in Riga back in February will be among those performing.
The World Groove project, a multinational band whose eclectic music is a real crowd pleaser, will be followed by Vocal Six, a Swedish a capella band, in the festival's closing concert on April 25 at the grand hall of the Viru Hotel. But the very last events of the festival will be held at Cafe Amigo.
Jazzkaar 2004, Until April 25. Program at www.jazzkaar.ee
Tickets available from
Piletilevi and Piletipunkt
