Although there are still two concerts left before the end of this year's JazzFestBrno festival, the organisers are already coming up with the line-up for next year. From the beginning of February to May, they’ll be offering a total of thirteen concerts featuring major world jazz stars and intimate performances from the Club Life series in the stylish Cabaret des Péchés. The winner of five Grammys, singer Dianne Reeves, one of the most respected figures in the world of orchestral jazz, nine-time Grammy winner Maria Schneider with the Oslo Jazz Ensemble, jazz piano stars and Grammy winners Kris Davis and Sullivan Fortner, the British trio Mammal Hands combining jazz and electronics, Italian virtuoso guitarist Matteo Mancuso - these and many others will all be coming to Brno.
"This year's line-up brings our usual jazz mix, to which you can add any style without changing its essence," explains Vilém Spilka , the festival's artistic director, adding: "I’m happy that after almost a quarter of a century we’re still managing to bring new, less familiar faces to the Czech Republic alongside the legends. This goes to show that jazz is a living genre in the good hands of the upcoming generation."
The trio of British musicians making up Mammal Hands will be appearing at the Fléda club on 1 February as one of next year's most progressive ensembles. Since they first got together, they’ve gained a great reputation for their unique blend of jazz and electronica as well as their intense hypnotic live performances. "They're inspired by jazz, contemporary classical, electronic and minimalism, but have created their own inimitable style from these influences," says Spilka.
Festival-goers will remember pianist and Grammy winner Sullivan Fortner from 2022, when he accompanied American singer Cécile McLorin Salvant. Sullivan Fortner will be coming to Cabaret des Péchés as part of a trio on 18 February. “With these two others, he’ll showcase that huge advantage of his that we already know from his last performance in Brno: wonderful empathy as a player and perfect synergy with his partners on stage," adds Spilka.
Few figures in orchestral jazz are as widely respected as American conductor and composer Maria Schneider, winner of nine Grammy Awards and seventeen nominations. Her great mentor was the legendary big band innovator Gil Evans, with whom she collaborated on a tour with Sting and on the soundtrack to The Color of Money. On 6 March, Cabaret des Péchés will host Maria Schneider and the Norwegian Oslo Jazz Ensemble, mainly performing works from the album Data Lords, for which she won two Grammys and was nominated for the prestigious Pulitzer Prize.
Italian virtuoso guitarist Matteo Mancuso, who fuses jazz, rock and funk, will be playing at the Sono Centre on 13 March. Mancuso is famed for his masterful fingerstyle without a pick, reminiscent of the classical guitar or flamenco technique. He’s won praise for his artistry from many of the instrument's virtuoso players. "His improvisational skills are light years ahead of the rest of us," raves Al Di Meola. "I was totally amazed when I heard Matteo. The future of the guitar is in the hands of people like him," says Steve Vai. And Joe Bonamassa adds: "I've never seen anything like it, it seems to me that he’s invented a new instrument!"
On Sunday, 16 March, the Sono Centre will be hosting singer Dianne Reeves, who returns to Brno six years after her triumphant concert at the Janáček Theatre. Her virtuosity, improvisational skills and style led the charismatic Reeves to become the first artist in history to receive the Grammy Award for Best Female Vocal Performance for three consecutive recordings in the jazz and R&B category. "Listeners and critics love Dianne Reeves as she can offer genuine artistic quality in a very listenable format," adds Spilka.
On 18 March, the Sono Centre will be hosting one of the most iconic figures on the contemporary jazz scene, American saxophonist Kamasi Washington, performing his only 2025 concert in the country. He will be appearing in Brno as part of his tour for last year's Fearless Movement album. "Kamasi Washington routinely plays jazz festivals, as well as giant summer events like Primavera Sound, Glastonbury and Coachella. He regularly collaborates with rappers such as Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar and producer Flying Lotus. So we’re glad that we’ve managed to attract him to such an intimate setting as the Sono," Spilka emphasises.
Jojo Mayer, ranked one of the fifty greatest drummers of all time by esteemed industry magazine Modern Drummer, will be appearing at the Goose on a String Theatre on 19 March. Mayer has created his own playing technique combining jazz, drum and bass and jungle. "He’ll be wowing Brno with his ME/MACHINE project - an improvisational duet between a machine imitating human behaviour and a human imitating machine behaviour," says Spilka.
Israeli jazz double bass innovator Adam Ben Ezra is releasing a new album, Heavy Drops, in late 2024 that promises to redefine the relationship between the double bass and percussion. The material will be performed on 8 April at Cabaret des Péchés. "Ben Ezra has developed a distinctive style of playing where the double bass also serves as a percussive instrument, and he’s not afraid to use electronic effects and real-time recorded loops," says Spilka.
Two-time Grammy-nominated guitarist Dominic Miller, who has a creative partnership with Sting spanning more than 30 years, will be playing twice on April 15 at Cabaret des Péchés. "Since 1991, he's been involved in every one of Sting’s albums not only as a guitarist, but also as a songwriter, even writing or co-writing a few hits. It's impossible to imagine Sting's recordings or concerts without Miller's unmistakable guitar with its specifically modulated sound," says Spilka. Yet Miller has also worked with other musicians and bands - from The Chieftains to Level 42, Phil Collins to Youssou N'Dour, and Chris Botti to Tina Turner.
On 28 April, fans can look forward to a double concert at Cabaret des Péchés. Brilliant double bassist Joe Sanders will be performing original music in a quartet. Despite his relatively young age, Joe has performed alongside jazz greats such as Dave Brubeck, Terence Blanchard, Ron Carter, Roy Hargrove, John Clayton, Herbie Hancock, Charles Lloyd and Wayne Shorter. The second part of the evening will feature saxophonist James Brandon Lewis with a trio praised by saxophone legend Sonny Rollins no less: “When I listen to you, I listen to Buddha, I listen to Confucius... I listen to the deeper meaning of life. You keep the world in balance." James Brandon Lewis comes from deep spiritual gospel roots, but has never been afraid to venture into free-jazz, funk or hip-hop. His highly energetic jazz trio has an unconventional saxophone - electric cello - drums line-up.
On International Jazz Day, 30 April, guitarist Milan Kašuba, one of the oldest Czech musicians still recording and gigging, will be celebrating his 85th birthday at Cabaret des Péchés, and the Brno jazz scene is unimaginable without him. "The evening will be a celebration of sparkling talent and indomitable diligence, virtues that are characteristic of the generation that entered the scene in the 1960s. Milan Kašub will be accompanied by a flourish of younger jazz musicians: saxophonist Radek Zapadlo, multi-instrumentalist Jiří Slavík, double bassist Peter Korman and drummer Martin Kleibl," adds Spilka.
Forty-three-year-old Canadian Kris Davis, who will be appearing with her trio on May 12 at Cabaret des Péchés, is one of the brightest jazz piano stars of her generation. With her avant-garde tendencies, she is part of the musical circle around John Zorn. She will be treating Brno to works from her latest album Run The Gauntlet, which she recorded as a stellar trio with bassist Robert Hurst (Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Diana Krall) and drummer Jonathan Blake (Randy Brecker, Chris Potter, Donny McCaslin). "This all-star trio will also be appearing at a JazzFestBrno concert," concludes the artistic director.
JazzFestBrno 2025 - programme:
Saturday, 1 February 2025 / Fleda: Mammal Hands
Tuesday, 18 February 2025 / Cabaret des Péchés: Sullivan Fortner Trio
Thursday, 6 March 2025 / Cabaret des Péchés: Maria Schneider & Oslo Jazz Ensemble
Thursday, 13 March 2025 / Sono: Matteo Mancuso
Sunday, 16 March 2025 / Sono: Dianne Reeves
Tuesday, 18 March 2025 / Sono: Kamasi Washington
Wednesday, 19 March 2025 / CED: Jojo Mayer Me/Machine
Tuesday, 8 April 2025 / Cabaret des Péchés: Adam Ben Ezra: Heavy Drops
Tuesday, 15 April 2025 / Cabaret des Péchés: Dominic Miller
Monday, 28 April 2025 / Cabaret des Péchés: Joe Sanders' Parallels, James Brandon Lewis Trio
Wednesday, 30 April 2025 / Cabaret des Péchés: International Jazz Day - Milan Kašuba 85
Monday, 12 May 2025 / Cabaret des Péchés: Kris Davis Trio
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