A concert of Austrian David Helbock - recipient of the Austrian 'Outstanding Artist Award' - opened late Thursday the 36, Skopje Jazz Festival (SJF).
Austrian pianist David Helbock belongs to the generation of jazz musicians who are heading off in their own individual directions, pushing the boundaries, radically re-configuring our understanding of what old and new music is, re-aligning composition and improvisation, and challenging common pre-conceptions about style and personality. The current trio of the pianist released their album 'Into the Mystic' in 2016 for the prestigious ACT label.
The Norwegian Trondheim Jazz Orchestra & Ole Morten Vagan, one of the most important and creative jazz ensembles in Europe, is also on this evening's programme. An important feature with Trondheim Jazz Orchestra is the band's flexible and varying size crew. During the course of the last seventeen years, the orchestra had great number of exciting projects with Norwegian and international jazz musicians such as Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, Joshua Redman, Erlend Skomsvoll, Eirik Hegdal, Sofia Jernberg, Jenny Hval and Stian Westerhus.
This year the four-day festival brings renowned jazz musicians from the United States, Europe and Africa.
One of the best female jazz singers in the world, Dee Alexander (USA), is coming exclusively for a one-off concert in Europe on October 20, followed by the Austrian trio Mario Rom's Interzone.
The concerts of two legendary names from the United States - Marc Ribot and the Young Philadelphians, and Steve Coleman and Five Elements - will perform on Saturday (October 21)", says the Skopje Jazz Festival.
One of the world's best jazz pianists Craig Taborn and his quartet (USA) is on the programme on October 22, followed by the Norwegian Paal Nilssen-Love Large Unit.
Two midnight concerts will also be held featuring Afro-beat legends Orlando Julius & The Heliocentrics (Nigeria/UK) on October 20 and UK's Anthony Joseph on October 21.
In addition, Roberto Ottaviano, the great name of Italian jazz, will have a solo show on October 22.
This year's SJF also includes a side programme comprised of screenings of two documentaries - The Jazz Loft According to W. Eugene Smith and Dixieland - as well as multimedia presentation "New Music in New York" of Ico Vidmar (Slovenia)
