Welcome to NN North Sea Jazz!

North Sea Jazz Festival has been going strong since 1976, when the first edition took place in The Hague. Now celebrating its 46th edition (having been absent for two years due to Covid), and its 16th in Rotterdam, the festival has grown into the largest indoor music event in the world. In three days, you will be able to enjoy jazz at its finest, as well as many related genres, including blues, soul, funk, hip-hop, world, pop, and many

Personal lineup

We have a brand new app in which you can easily create your own lineup for the festival. It even gives you a heads-up when your favourite artist will start their performance! The app can be downloaded via app stores even today. It is the perfect way to create your personal route through the festival.

more. With a perfect mix of established artists and promising new acts, this festival o ers something for everyone. In addition to all that music, please also check out our many art exhibitions; you can find more information about them on the following pages. Also, the festival hosts a wide range of food and drink stands, many with terraces, as well as many places to shop at your heart’s content.

Contents

76 HIGHLIGHTS

78 SOUNDS OF DIVERSITY

A SHARED MUSICAL HERITAGE

81 PRACTICAL INFORMATION

82 COMPOSITION PROJECT NORTH SEA JAZZ

83 PAUL ACKET AWARD WINNER

84 ART EXHIBITIONS

86 DO MORE WITH YOUR FESTIVAL TICKET!

Download your ticket now

NN North Sea Jazz uses mobile tickets; these will be scanned on your phone directly from your Ticketmaster account (not from a pdf in your mailbox). So please log into your account before you leave for the venue and select your tickets before reaching the entrance.

YOU CAN READ MORE ABOUT MOBILE TICKETS AT NORTHSEAJAZZ.COM/ MOBILETICKETS

If there's one aspect that connects the hundreds of bands and artists who collectively make NN North Sea Jazz one major musical celebration for three consecutive days, it's the diversity on o er. This year's main theme is Sounds of Diversity – A Shared Musical Heritage, and the variety is reflected in acts that manage to simultaneously embrace tradition and innovation. No matter how diverse in nature, all of the music at North Sea Jazz can be traced back to the jazz and blues origins the festival started out with in 1976. Since its inception, the diaspora history from which jazz originated in the African-American communities has been highlighted throughout the festival. This year, the focus is on music that stems from our own colonial history in The Netherlands, with, as an example, the Diaspora Suite, performed by the Metropole Orkest, and conducted by Jules Buckley. It features both music and spoken word performances, played and recited by Dutch and international artists, who will convey the history of slavery. From page 78 onwards, there is some additional information on this theme.

Artist in Residence

We have succeeded in capturing one of the leading artists in contemporary jazz, esperanza spalding, to be our Artist in Residence. She will take to the stage at the festival on all three days, with her own band and Antonio Brown Dance, as part of a duo with Fred Hersch, and in three unique workshops where the public will be invited to participate.

Stellar women

The high percentage of women listed in the lineup is quite special: never before has the Hudson hosted an evening of almost all female acts in this largest of jazz halls within the festival area. New York jazz drummer/composer Terri Lyne Carrington made history with her latest project New Standards for jazz compositions written by women. She compiled a book of sheet music, New Standards: 101 Lead Sheets By Women Composers This also led to the album New Standards Vol. 1, on which Carrington brought a new arrangement to eleven pieces, performed exceptionally with a band that included pianist Kris Davis and bassist Linda May Han Oh. Carrington did put forward one condition for her arrival at NN North Sea Jazz, and one that the festival is happy to meet, namely that she will return over the course of the next two years to once again present work from the New Standards collection.

This year’s Hudson stint will see her surrounded by performances from other female composers in this series: Maria Schneider will perform music from her amazing Data Lords album for the first time in the Netherlands with the Oslo Jazz Ensemble, while esperanza spalding will give her first festival performance as Artist in Residence with pianist Fred Hersch, and Kris Davis will not only play with Carrington, but also in bass player Dave Holland’s band. Spread over multiple days and stages, there are many more jazz women to see and enjoy, such as trumpet players Laura Jurd and Lakecia Benjamin, harpist Brandee Younger and the saxophonists Kika Sprangers and Mette Rasmussen, the latter making her festival debut. There is also the promising new singer Samara Joy, who will show us why she was awarded with two Grammys. There are also a number of unique female artists this year from the worlds of pop, soul and hip-hop, such as Jill Scott, Little Simz and Janelle Monáe, whose genrebreaking music has emphasized the diversity of timbres across the stages in recent years. Sunday draws to a close with the lively singer Lizzo, who brings together R&B, soul and hip-hop in a fabulously festive spectacle.

Living legends

From blues (Buddy Guy) to pop (Tom Jones) and soul (Mavis Staples), the festival has once again managed to attract genuine legends this year. There is also the return of a pure jazzman, in the guise of Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek, whose last festival appearance dates back to 1979. In addition, there are performances by the brothers Wynton (also back for the first time in years) and

Branford Marsalis, who equally deserve to be included in the list of jazz legends, as do guitarists Pat Metheny and John McLaughlin; finally seen again this year with his band Shakti, along with pianists Kenny Barron and Abdullah Ibrahim

Internet generation

The number of young jazz musicians managing to attract packed pop venues by finding their own route to audiences through social media and the internet has been rapidly increasing since the American outfit Snarky Puppy debuted almost twenty years ago. Alabaster DePlume and MonoNeon create eclectic, adventurous music that refuses to be pigeonholed, but which definitely resonates with both jazz and pop lovers across the board.

Innovative hip-hop

Never has the hip-hop program been as strong – and especially topical – as this year’s lineup at NN North Sea Jazz. The wellrepresented British hip-hop has truly revitalized itself in recent years with the likes of Little Simz, Loyle Carner and Stormzy. Little Simz finally realized a breakthrough with her phenomenal album Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, while Carner recently sold out Paradiso no less than three times. Grime icon Stormzy meanwhile has put out a fairly jazzy album entitled This Is What I Mean, featuring many gospel influences, which he likes to perform live at jazz festivals. There’s also the talented newcomer Sampa The Great from Zambia, who is also pretty skilled at fusing a smooth blend of hip-hop, soul and jazz through her shows.