
Renowned for presenting a jaw-dropping array of talent year after year, this year’s forthcoming North Sea Jazz Festival looks to have outdone itself with a mind-blowing line-up that draws from the adjoining musical worlds of jazz, R&B, funk, and blues. The Rotterdam-based festival – which has been going since 1976 and is dubbed the largest indoor event of its kind in the world – is scheduled for the weekend of 13th to 15th July and promises a smorgasbord of musical delights.
There’s much to enamour the hardcore jazz buffs but those who are aficionados of supergroups, then they’re in for a treat. They’ll be able to hear Hudson featuring Jack DeJohnette, John Scofield, John Medeski and Scott Colley; Pat Metheny in the company of Antonio Sanchez, Linda Oh and Gwilym Simcock; drummer Billy Hart and his Quartet with special guest Joshua Redman; Vijay Iyer Sextet in whose ranks are Graham Haynes, Mark Shim, Steve Lehman, Stephan Crump and Jeremy Dutton; ‘R + R,’ an exciting combo with Robert Glasper, Terrace Martin, Christian Scott, Taylor McFerrin, Derrick Hodge and Justin Tyson; and ‘Queen of Sheba’, a symphonic project from Ibrahim Maalouf & Angelique Kidjo. And if these acts aren’t enough to satiate your jazz palate, singer Cécile McLorin Salvant, the Mingus Big Band, Pharoah Sanders, Marcus Miller, BADBADNOTGOOD and veteran pianist/composer Carla Bley are all booked to perform.
For those desiring something earthier, funkier, and more danceable, then the presence of R&B man Khalid along with The O’Jays, Earth Wind & Fire and Nile Rodgers & CHIC should hit the spot. And if it’s blues you’re after, Gary Clark Jr, is the man for you.
The icing on the cake, perhaps, is a keenly-antipated concert by man of the moment, jazz’s capped crusader, Gregory Porter, who will appear backed by the redoubtable Metropole Orkest under the baton of acclaimed arranger, Vince Mendoza.
Day tickets for North Sea Jazz Festival are on sale now and all-in tickets are available from the end of April at www.northseajazz.com/en/tickets.