Leipzig Jazz Festival Attracts About 5,900 Visitors

With a program for children, the Leipzig Jazz Days sent a message about the future on Sunday. In the afternoon at the Lichtspieltheater Connewitz, the theme was “The Ear Is Watching…” With the 50th edition of the Jazz Days in the trade fair city, the festival’s status as a fixture in the German jazz scene was reaffirmed, and the organizers gave themselves high marks.

German Jazz Legends Join the Anniversary Celebrations

For the anniversary, the Jazz Days featured 29 concerts across 13 venues over nine days. German jazz legends also took the stage. Pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach (88) played with the Globe Unity Orchestra, and trombonist Conny Bauer (83) had already performed at the premiere of the Leipzig Jazz Days back in the day.

Festival aimed to create a dialogue between tradition and the present

“For its 50th anniversary, the Leipzig Jazz Days deliberately bridged the past, present, and future of jazz,” organizers stated. In this way, the festival lived up to its mission of fostering a dialogue between tradition and the present while simultaneously providing inspiration for the future of jazz.

Project with young musicians from Austria and Italy

In collaboration with the South Tyrol Jazz Festival, the festival presented Laura Zöschg’s project “Loaness.” “Songs emerged from moments of silence and were further developed into a collective musical ritual as part of the ‘Euregio Jazz Workshop’ with young musicians from Tyrol, South Tyrol, and Trentino,” the festival announced.

Concerts were nearly 88 percent full

According to the organizers, the participating musicians ranged in age from 16 to 88. A new feature this year was an “audio walk” that brought Leipzig’s jazz history to life at six listening stations. With around 5,900 attendees and several sold-out concerts, the festival achieved an attendance rate of nearly 88 percent.