By Azernews

By Abdul Kerimkhanov

Baku will host another event that will surely please jazz lovers. Baku Jazz Festival - 2019 will be held in the capital from October 18 to 27.

Baku Jazz Festival has become a member of the Europe Jazz Network, which brings together 115 members from 34 countries.

The festival will present the public a variety of styles and trends of jazz music - avant-garde, traditional classics, ethno-jazz, symphonic jazz.

In addition, thematic practical and informative programs with master classes of musicians, exhibitions of paintings and photographs, and lectures on worldwide cinematic jazz soundtracks will be presented. All this will take place in the context of the festival motto – "More jazz, more intellect!".

The festival will be held at such venues as the Landmark Business Center, the International Mugham Center, the Azerbaijan State Academic Musical Theater, as well as Baku Organ and Chamber Music Hall of the Muslim Magomayev Azerbaijan State Philharmonic Hall.

Midnight jam sessions after concert programs are the highlight of jazz festivals, and Baku Jazz Festival also continues this tradition.

In improvisations on a given topic, different performers will intersect both in style and in musical directions, often with a diametrically opposite background and their own cultural characteristics. Collective improvisations never heard before will be a special pleasure for spectators and jazzmen.

Baku Jazz Festival is an examination session for musicians of any level, and for Azerbaijani jazz musicians, it is, above all, a chance to demonstrate their potential. Unlike in previous years, this time there will be midnight sessions with free entry for all connoisseurs of jazz.

Within Baku Jazz Festival, the international jazz competition of young talents will demonstrate the potential of young performers. The list of jury members, as well as details about participation in the competition, can be found on the festival website, www.bakujazzfestival.com.

Jazz in Azerbaijan has a very rich history, thanks to talented musicians and composers such as Vagif Mustafazade, Aziza Mustafazade, Rain Sultanov, Jamil Amirov, Salman Gambarov, as well as the young geniuses such as Isfar Sarabski, Nurlan Novrasli, Emil Afrasiab, Elchin Shirinov and many more. 

The foundation of Azerbaijani jazz is associated with the name of the legendary musician Vagif Mustafazade. He was one of the founders of the national jazz music and the new jazz trend called jazz mugham.