Jackie @ JazzFest

Day 7 - Students Ask anyone what makes Trondheim Jazz Festival so special and they all say it’s the students. There’s a good reason for this. Trondheim has a first class conservatory and the festival is built around the world renowned jazz course at NTNU Department for Music. The city has a population of 200,000 of which 40,000 are students. It’s impressive to see the number of students engaging with the festival and attending the gigs (not just the free ones). Further to this, there’s a special concert this afternoon – a collaboration between the Birmingham and Trondheim Conservatoires – 12 students in total and they form 3 bands. Each playing a half an hour set and performing at both Trondheim Jazz Festival and Cheltenham Jazz Festival. This is the next generation of jazz talent! As well as being a top class training ground for jazz musicians, Trondheim has a rich history of jazz and today the international guests joined a special walking tour of the city. The tour was led b...

There’s a place dedicated to the little ones at JazzFest and on Friday afternoon the Dokkhuset was transformed into a school playground and Ulfs winebar became the venue for a number of performances throughout the afternoon. The festival invites local primary schools to experience the festival – hula hoops, bubble making machines, balloons and jazz performances. It’s all free and a great way to introduce jazz to young ears.    This afternoon it’s the excursion for the International Guests – a whistle stop tour of the city by bus followed by a visit to the local brewery, at which there is an exhibition of work by local artist Håkon Gullvåg.     What’s great about attending a festival like this is that it gives you the chance to discover new music and this afternoon I caught a performance by the Nils Berg Cinemascope, described as one of the most original music experiences on the Swedish independent jazz scene. Their performance is based around ...

I’ve had the pleasure of working with one of the festival Board members this week. Tore Flesjø ran the Kongsberg Jazz Festival for over ten years and has been at the head of the Norwegian Jazz Federation for the same length of time. Our job this week has been to prepare for the arrival of the International Guests. The festival welcomes guests from the North Sea Jazz Festival, Tampere Jazz Festival, Cheltenham Jazz Festival, Town Hall/Symphony Hall Birmingham, Parma Jazz Frontiere, 12 Points Festival and journalists from Jazzthetik in Germany, Helsingin Sanomat (Finland’s national newspaper), Denmark’s Jazz Special, OrkesterJournalen from Sweden, Jazzism from Netherlands, Tor Hammerø Norwegian blog and the UK’s Jazzwise magazine. My job has been to prepare the welcome for each guest – to include local tourist information, a map, and festival merch (they have a balloon, bicycle seat cover and pair of sunglasses should they need them).     An important job - pr...

Jazz has taken over the city this week. Anyone visiting Trondheim can see the festival branding, you can’t miss it – there are flags and posters on display in the streets, bridges and major roads leading into the city. It looks great and it’s all done on a budget.       The branding hasn’t changed much over the years, it doesn't need to, but there has been one important change. On the suggestion of a visiting artist a couple of years ago, .NO was dropped from the title. They had suggested that the festival was in fact saying ‘NO’ to jazz! Eek.     The 2017 brochure design is clean and striking. Each year, the festival commissions local designers to come up with new design. Often they're students. They run a competition and the winner makes the cover! A clever idea to engage people with the festival and to give the print a different feel each year.   A festival highlight this evening is the Chris Potter...

Day 2 - The calm before the storm Today was the first festival meeting of the week. After some introductions it was down to business. There is a big task ahead and we're a small team but everything is covered.   Familiar topics were discussed: late changes to the programme, parking requirements, artist get in, sounchecks, marquee set up, festival branding, riders and transport logistics. We talked about a last minute addition to the programme. There has been some debate in the local newspaper around traditional vs contemporary arts. A local property developer had written a piece about artists not communicating their work with each other. In an attempt to encourage the debate further and to gain some press coverage, the festival has enlisted the help of three local jazz artists to perform a short lunchtime concert at the office of the property developer, a concert of traditional and contemporary jazz music. It will be the unofficial opening on the festival! ...

I’m at Trondheim Jazz Festival this week for 10 days of festival fun. Fresh from Gateshead International Jazz Festival last month and as part of Europe Jazz Network ’s staff exchange programme, I’m here to compare notes, share (and steal) ideas and make some new jazz friends along the way. T he festival welcomes local, national and international artists to multiple venues across the city. There are events taking place from Tuesday 9 to Sunday 14 May but my first day in Trondheim was yesterday, Sunday 7 May.   My host and JazzFest CEO Ernst Wiggo Sandbakk greeted me at the airport, festival brochure in hand!     After checking into my hotel, the Scandic Nidelven (an official partner of the festival), we discussed our plan for the week, who I can expect to meet (the Board, the planning group, press and sponsor), and where I might be able to help out on the festival. We also talked about some of the festival highlights which include a rare performance by Norway’s T...