The 21st edition of Dusseldorf’s perennially popular Jazz Rally got a spirited launch Thursday, at a well received new venue by a pair of rollicking acts that set a solid, swinging standard for what promises to be another fine weekend of jazz along the Rhine.
Despite poor weather, a larger than recently usual opening “preview” night crowd showed up to cheer the Rally’s inaugural event at Rheinterrasse, an interesting complex with great patio views and a beautiful, adjacent garden park.
Inside, the Barrelhouse Jazz Band and Jorg Hegemann set a boogie woogie tone, the people danced along, and the beer flowed. It was exactly what the customers wanted.
This area of Western Europe has a strong appreciation for everything from experimental acid jazz to traditional US jazz classics, one reason that allows locations like Dusseldorf to maintain a first class festival consisting of nearly 100% jazz.
As usual, Dusseldorf’s program, running this year from May 16 to 19, is one of the region’s few large scale “jazz” festivals to feature a schedule made primarily of horn players, piano men, and other assorted swingers.
“Jazz is the name of the event, so why would we have bands that don’t play jazz?” mused Boris Neisser of Destination Dusseldorf, one of the Rally’s primary promotional groups. “The people who come to hear jazz know that’s what they will hear.”
And if they hear it, they will come. According to official estimates, tens of thousands pour into town for Jazz Rally weekend, during the German Pentecost holiday. When the weather is nice, those numbers seem like a conservative figure.
The musical showcase is a cultural collaboration between corporate and civic enterprises, and serves as great PR for the community. If overflow crowds and long lines are any indication, the message reaches the intended target.
Friday nights usually feature the weekend’s largest single show attendance, at the airport on a unique stage in an Air Berlin hanger. This year’s featured performer is popular German R+B crooner Xavier Naidoo. The Burgplatz, largest location in general festival area, will see how high the roof can be raised during sets by Candy Dulfer, The Jazzinvaders with Dr. Lonnie Smith, emerging UK soul man Lukas Graham, and the Karl Frierson Quintet.
Dynamic drummer Wolfgang Haffner provides one of Sunday night’s grand finales, and there are plenty more very good shows throughout streets that will echo with jazz at many smaller locations, amidst “the world’s longest bar” area of funky pubs and international eateries, which make up another of the Rally’s strong points.
This year holds a pair of significant venue changes while promising to deliver the same spectacular, swinging spring ritual that delights longtime aficionados or newcomers alike, turning picturesque cobblestone streets of the city’s old town waterfront area into a beer garden bandstand.
The delightful social interaction helps make Dusseldorf’s Jazz Rally special. Promotional powers at be understand that simply selling the event is not their focus, selling the city is. The performers and the audience in Dusseldorf enjoy a total jazz package.
At the Jazz Rally, Dusseldorf is an easy sell.
Despite poor weather, a larger than recently usual opening “preview” night crowd showed up to cheer the Rally’s inaugural event at Rheinterrasse, an interesting complex with great patio views and a beautiful, adjacent garden park.
Inside, the Barrelhouse Jazz Band and Jorg Hegemann set a boogie woogie tone, the people danced along, and the beer flowed. It was exactly what the customers wanted.
This area of Western Europe has a strong appreciation for everything from experimental acid jazz to traditional US jazz classics, one reason that allows locations like Dusseldorf to maintain a first class festival consisting of nearly 100% jazz.
As usual, Dusseldorf’s program, running this year from May 16 to 19, is one of the region’s few large scale “jazz” festivals to feature a schedule made primarily of horn players, piano men, and other assorted swingers.
“Jazz is the name of the event, so why would we have bands that don’t play jazz?” mused Boris Neisser of Destination Dusseldorf, one of the Rally’s primary promotional groups. “The people who come to hear jazz know that’s what they will hear.”
And if they hear it, they will come. According to official estimates, tens of thousands pour into town for Jazz Rally weekend, during the German Pentecost holiday. When the weather is nice, those numbers seem like a conservative figure.
The musical showcase is a cultural collaboration between corporate and civic enterprises, and serves as great PR for the community. If overflow crowds and long lines are any indication, the message reaches the intended target.
Friday nights usually feature the weekend’s largest single show attendance, at the airport on a unique stage in an Air Berlin hanger. This year’s featured performer is popular German R+B crooner Xavier Naidoo. The Burgplatz, largest location in general festival area, will see how high the roof can be raised during sets by Candy Dulfer, The Jazzinvaders with Dr. Lonnie Smith, emerging UK soul man Lukas Graham, and the Karl Frierson Quintet.
Dynamic drummer Wolfgang Haffner provides one of Sunday night’s grand finales, and there are plenty more very good shows throughout streets that will echo with jazz at many smaller locations, amidst “the world’s longest bar” area of funky pubs and international eateries, which make up another of the Rally’s strong points.
This year holds a pair of significant venue changes while promising to deliver the same spectacular, swinging spring ritual that delights longtime aficionados or newcomers alike, turning picturesque cobblestone streets of the city’s old town waterfront area into a beer garden bandstand.
The delightful social interaction helps make Dusseldorf’s Jazz Rally special. Promotional powers at be understand that simply selling the event is not their focus, selling the city is. The performers and the audience in Dusseldorf enjoy a total jazz package.
At the Jazz Rally, Dusseldorf is an easy sell.
