Dear fellow citizens, dear guests and friends of Bansko,
Welcome to the most prestigious music forum in Bulgaria – Bansko Jazz Festival!
For a quarter of a century, summer in Bansko has been resounding to the rhythm of thefreest music – jazz. It inspires, excites and provokes us. It energizes us and gives us the strength to overcome obstacles, create traditions and discover new horizons.
I am glad that for eight festival days and evenings, from August 6 to August 13 2022, we will again be “All in the Jazz!” – united by the music for which there are no boundaries in space and time.
In this year’s edition of the Bansko Jazz Festival, we will have the privilege of enjoying a superb festival program with a rich palette of stylistic diversity. Along with world-class musicians, whose presence is an honor on every stage, we will also give young talents the opportunity to perform. We have prepared interesting side events that will add color and many more memories.
I welcome all participants in this amazing experience!
Dear friends, we are waiting for you in Bansko, where there is everything for everyone!
With respect,
Ivan Kadev,
mayor of Bansko municipality
The most prestigious jazz forum in Bulgaria – Bansko Jazz Festival – will be held in Bansko from August 6 to 13 with the call “Everyone in jazz!”. This edition definitely covers wide musical territories with guests from Brazil, the USA, Hungary, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Greece, Israel and Ukraine, as well as the color of Bulgarian jazz, including several specially created projects and/or collaborations for Bansko.
The undisputed big name is the drummer Billy Cobham – born in Panama, but at the age of 3 he moved with his family to the USA and became a legend. In the 70s he played with Miles Davis and then in the Mahavishnu orchestra led by John McLaughlin. He has worked with the greatest in jazz, but not only – from George Benson and Stanley Clarke to James Brown, Roberta Fleck. Peter Gabriel and Quincy Jones. An iconic name in the jazz world, with his own drumming school named after him.
One of the pianists Billy Cobham worked with, George Cable, also came from New York with his quartet.
A big magnet for the audience will undoubtedly be Salvador Sobral, who brought Portugal the Eurovision victory in 2017 with the gentle jazz “Amar Pelos Dois”. Each of his three albums, starting with Excuse me and continuing the story with Lisboa, Paris, create a unique beautiful musical picture worthy of any jazz festival.
Two evenings will take us to Brazil – with Igor Wilcox and his quartet and with one of the queens of bossa nova Rosalia de Sousa.
We cannot miss one of the leading Israeli jazz ladies – Dafna Levy; the Soulcrane Quartet from Germany led by trumpeter Matthias Schwenger; the Austrian “jazz export” Marina&The Kats with their reading in the world of neo-swing and their constant guest appearances at all the leading European festivals; from Italy – the sophisticated Ada Montelanico (who is the president of the Italian Jazz Association), and she and her quartet. There will be evenings dedicated to jazz in France, Indonesia and Turkey.
The opening is entrusted to an exceptional Bulgarian musical extravaganza, which gathers on stage the big band of Angel Zaberski and Militsa Gladnishka. Interesting is the collaboration between one of the most prominent native jazz pianists in the person of Ljubo Denev and the Armenian singer with an impressive contralto voice Arpi Alto and (especially for the jazz festival in Bansko) the joint project of the trio of the outstanding pianist Zhivko Petrov JP3 and the guitarist Hristo Vichev. who has been living and working in the USA for years.
