Aarhus Jazz Festival

Aarhus International Jazz Festival
A selection of artists that have played Aarhus Jazz Festival
Genre	Jazz, blues, experimental jazz and jazz-influenced rhythmic and electronic music.
Dates	Eight days in July
Location(s)	Århus, Denmark
Years active	1989 - present
Website
Aarhus Jazz Festival

Aarhus International Jazz Festival (or Aarhus Jazz Festival) is an eight-day jazz festival in Aarhus, Denmark. It is held every year in July, August or September. The festival performs at the Aarhus Concert Hall, as well as many different venues across the city. Many concerts are played outdoors in the public space and are for free. From 2014 and towards 2017 when Aarhus becomes European Capital of Culture, Aarhus Jazz Festival has decided to turn its focus more towards European Jazz. This will include jazz from Poland in particular, since the city of Wrocław is Capital of Culture in 2016.

Initiated in 1988 by Musikhuset and local venues, Aarhus Jazz Festival has been an annual summer event in the city since 1989. The festival is bent on featuring new talents in jazz as well as both local and international stars. From the beginning, the festival has featured many notable and world-renowned international jazz stars and bands such as Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock, The Zawinul Syndicate, Clark Terry, Mike Stern and John Scofield - some of them several times - in a mix with more local notables such as John Tchicai, Jesper Thilo, Svend Asmussen, Ed Thigpen, Cæcilie Norby, Sinne Eeg, Marilyn Mazur, Pierre Dørge and Alex Riel. The programme is quite broad in its musical choices, often including world renowned blues performers like B.B.King, Bonnie Raitt, John Mayall or Danish blues acts like Kenn Lendings Blues Band, Shades of Blue or The Blue Junction. Alternative musical styles with jazz-influences have been represented by artists such as Nitin Sawhney, Sting, Dr. John, Abdullah Ibrahim and The Roots in a mix with many local, new or unknown names. The 2014 festival occurred on 11 July to 18 July, and featured more than 230 concerts at 29 venues.