Stockholm Jazz Festival
Skeppsholmen, Stockholm
June 10-12, 2010
Despite being in its fourth decade of existence, the Stockholm Jazz Festival is still looking rather sprightly. A quick look at the program is enough to understand why it has become one of city's most popular annual music events.
The thinking behind the smorgasbord (sorry) of artists chosen to play this year seems to be based more upon the notion of degrees-of-separation to jazz rather than anything else. There seems to be something for everyone on the line up, with popular hip hop, soul and funk acts like Missy Elliot, Kool & The Gang, Brand New Heavies, Jazznova, Omar and Roy Ayers all expected to draw big crowds to the Swedish capital.
Established jazz names, such as the wonderful Wayne Shorter Quartet and John Scofield (appearing with his Piety Street Band four-piece), are all welcome additions to the festival and enough to justify its position as a jazz event. Israeli bassist and composer Avishai Cohen, British stalwart Courtney Pine and newcomers trioVD all round out the bill nicely.
Celebrated Swedish pianist Bobo Stenson and his trio head up the list of local acts appearing over the weekend, which also includes the Erik Lindeborg Trio, Mats Gustafsson's Fire! trio and the Nils Landgren Funk Unit (featuring James Brown's trombonist Fred Wesley).
Even though the diversity of the programming may raise a few eyebrows from staid jazz circles, electric guitarist Chris Sharkey from British newcomers trioVD told AAJ he believes that “it is important to give the audience the chance to view jazz as broadly as possible. They have put Bobo Stenson, Missy Elliot and trioVD on the same bill. That speaks for itself!" High-energy three-piece trioVD is certainly going to be one of the more dynamic additions to the festival. Chris added that “this is our first time in Sweden and we are extremely excited about playing but unfortunately it's a flying visit for us so we won't see any other music. We are all particularly distraught at missing Missy Elliot!"
Robert Ikiz, drummer and representative of Stockholm Jazz Records, doesn't lament the diversity of the line up either and sees it as a way to get jazz to larger audiences. “I understand they get artists from different styles" he says. “This is because you simply can't draw a crowd of thousands to a jazz festival in Stockholm without having big names from other genres, it's sad but true. After all, this Stockholm, not Paris!"
The location for the three-day event is the pretty island of Skeppsholmen, right in the heart of Stockholm's picturesque city centre. The setting is ideal according to Robert. “It couldn't be better" he says. “When the weather is good (always a factor this far north) this is one of the greatest places in Europe to play." In fact, Avishai Cohen agrees, writing on Facebook that the “Stockholm Jazz Festival is one of my favourite places in the world to perform."
The team behind the festival, as well as Stockholm's premier jazz club Fasching, is young and hungry and has successfully booked several famous international artists and placed them alongside young and upcoming Swedes to provide the city with a vibrant addition to its summer calendar, not to mention a welcome respite from the inescapable royal wedding this month.
