Elbjazz
Marius Neset / Tony Allen / Michael Wollny & Friends
At ELBJAZZ, the Hamburg docks provide the backdrop for a unique musical event: since 2010, thousands of music lovers have been attracted by one of Europe’s biggest jazz festivals, which combines the unique maritime flair of the Hanseatic city with spectacular concert locations and immense musical diversity. In addition to nine concerts at the Elbphilharmonie, the many concerts and the supporting programme of the two-day festival take place at various locations such as the impressive Blohm+Voss shipyard. In 2018 the festival hosts concerts not only on both festival days (1 and 2 June 2018) at the Elbphilharmonie, but also three exclusive concerts on Thursday, 31 May 2018.
Jazz pianist Michael Wollny is the first Artist in Residence in the festival’s history. Wollny is currently regarded as one of Germany’s brightest jazz stars and at ELBJAZZ 2018 he’ll be performing on all three days in a variety of formations: with his trio; with guitarist Konstantin Gropper from Get Well Soon; and, as part of a quartet, with his friends and also ECHO Jazz award winners Andreas Schaerer, accordionist Vincent Peirani, and saxophonist Emile Parisien – a quartet that can safely be described as a supergroup of European jazz greats.
Festival passes are available at www.elbjazz.de. Due to the restricted capacity of the Elbphilharmonie, all festival guests – in addition to the purchase of a festival pass – can register for one concert at the Elbphilharmonie. Reservation is only possible from 8 November to 30 November 2017.
He is 32 years old but is already being considered as one of the excellent European saxophonists. Marius Neset, born in Bergen / Norway in 1985, has studied in Kopenhagen since 2003, where he was discovered by Django Bates. Neset experiments with different sounds. Jazz rock and electronics are his go-to genres, although a cooperation with strings has also occurred. Last year Neset released the album »Snowmelt« together with London Sinfonietta where he primarily plays the soprano saxophone. He appears at ELBJAZZ this year with a smaller ensemble, his so-called »working band«, where he is joined by bassist Petter Eldh, drummer Anton Eger and pianist Ivo Neame.
Art Blakey, the legendary bop-drummer who died in 1990, had a strong influence on Tony Allen. Towards the end of the 50s Allen began to beat the drums in Lagos/Nigeria and closely followed the music of Art Blakey and his colleague Max Roach. Later the now 77-year-old drummer became the pioneer of Afro-Beat. This year Tony Allen pays his respect to his Afro-American paragon with a tribute album which he’ll present at ELBJAZZ together with his four-piece band.
The programme item Michael Wollny & Friends conceals a quartet which one could confidently call a supergroup of European jazz. Among the friends of the German pianist and ELBJAZZ Artist in Residence is Swiss vocal acrobat Andreas Schaerer, accordionist Vincent Peirani and saxophonist Emile Parisien. »Out Of Land« is the title of a live-album by these four exceptional artists, where they once again explore the possibilities of their instruments and show how the boundaries of jazz can be pushed. And it was a success: Jazzwise magazine characterises the ensemble as follows: »The brightest and most charismatic stars of their generation in European jazz«.