The sixth year of the international jazz festival JAZZFESTBRNO will take place in Brno between 24 and 29 April, 2007. The opening club concert of the event – the Matej Benko Trio performance - will be hosted at Stara Pekarna on Stefanikova street. Four main concerts will take place in the recently reconstructed Semilasso music hall. A musical feast has been scheduled for Sunday at the Janacek Theater, where the event will draw to a close.

The festival begins again with a fine intro, one that certainly promises to be captivating. Trumpeter Dave Douglas is often considered as a musician for the 21st century, his compositional inventiveness and improvisational creativity ranks him not only among the top of today’s trumpet players, but at the peak of music as a whole. The all star line-up of his Keystone Sextet, including saxophonist Marcus Strickland and drummer Gene Lake, will accompany the leader during his entire European tour promoting his album Keystone. Douglas’ performance on Wednesday 25 April is going to be the exclusive premier of his project in the Czech Republic. He will therefore be cast into the esteemed company of jazzmen (including Nnenna Freelon, Diane Schuur, Take 6, Kurt Rosenwinkel and many others), presented to Czech audiences for the first time by JAZZFESTBRNO. The Czech Basist Jaromír Honzák together with his polish cohorts Michal Tokaj and Lukasz Zyta and the Czech guitar wunderkind David Dorůžka will make sure that the evening, which will be topped off by a traditional jamsession, is successfully kicked off.

Both performers featured on Thursday night, Slovak Deep´nSpace and French Sylvain Luc represent a carefully and delightfully blended fusion of jazz and their own domestic cultures. None of these headliners, except the famous bassist of the former group Juraj Griglák, have ever visited Brno in the past and they certainly will make a considerable impression on the listeners. The Deep´nSpace is a new and progressive export item of the Slovak music scene (not necessarily solely jazz) gaining success and recognition on the stages of numerous festivals and clubs. The brilliant guitarist Sylvain Luc is not only a world class virtuoso, but also a charismatic entertainer, who spreads positive energy all around and his solo concert will reveal completely new realms of guitar playing.

The Friday concert promises creative and avantgarde bacchanalia. Limbo, a uniquely competitive representative of Bohemian creative music scene, will take care of the first course. The main course will be served by the “Mini Big Band” NUO, also from the Czech Republic. This combination will definitely please a wide range of jazz buffs as well as newcomers and open-minded listeners.

Saturday signals the next peak of the event, where the American fusion stars Victor Bailey and Lenny White are sure to shine with their brilliant sound. There is no doubt that teaming up a legendary drummer Lenny White and top-notch bassist Victor Bailey in one touring band is a great opportunity, completed by some young blood to deliver some serious fusion jazz, genuinely rooted in the genre soil. Their flawless groove, electronic effects and a bold musicianship will bring the audience to the boiling point.

The much anticipated Sunday festival evening will take place in the most dignified modern venue in Brno, the Janáček Theater which will host the great Robert Balzar Trio with the outstanding vocalist Dan Bárta, which boasts not only talented musical abilities, but showmanship and class as well. The second half of the musically abundant evening will feature the vigorous Eddie Palmieri Afro-Caribbean Jazz All Stars under the baton of Eddie Palmieri, a nine-time Grammy holder and “the Sun of Latin Music”. The ensemble will present its last year´s record Listen Here! for a memorable night of latin jazz. His festival appearance will be the first, similarly as the one of Douglas and Luc. Again, this year’s dramaturgy fulfills the essential festival motto – the combination of quality, exclusivity and originality.

The audience can also enjoy late night jam sessions and a creative workshop with the bass guitarist Victor Bailey as well. Preview club concerts and open air stages will take place in Brno’s jazz clubs and streets shortly before the start of the event.

You can find more info about the festival at www.jazzfestbrno.cz.