On June 28th and 29th, the first Czech-Austrian showcase festival, CENTRAL EUROPEAN JAZZ SHOWCASE, will take place at the Goose on a String Theater in Brno. The festival is organized by JAZZFEST BRNO and JAZZWERKSTATT POYSDORF.
The Central European Jazz Showcase (CEJS) was originally planned for November last year, but the pandemic stepped in. However, the concept of a two-day concert show of bands from the Czech Republic and Austria was retained, and the bands selected last summer will finally be presented to an international audience composed of delegates from festival and venue program directors, booking agents and journalists.
CEJS is a tailor-made project for bands that have the potential to establish themselves abroad. The main aim of the showcase is to support the music export of jazz bands so that they appear more often on the programs of clubs and festivals abroad and thus popularize Czech and Austrian jazz scenes. CEJS is organized as a competition, and the first – already certain – result of those export efforts will be a concert for four winning bands at the Pizza Express Jazz Club in London. The winners will be selected on the spot by the present delegates who will listen to the individual performances.
In the program there’s space devoted not only to presenting young and emerging bands from the Czech Republic and Austria (Kristina Barta Event Horizon, B/Y Organism, Zabelov Group, Marta Kloučková Quintet, Purple Is The Color, Eloá Gonçalves Trio, Nikol Bóková Trio, Anna Maurer Trio, PRIM, Kind Images, HI5, trio akk:zent) but also established Czech ones (Jaromír Honzák Quintet, David Dorůžka Trio, Vertigo, Dorota Barová Trio, Tellemarkk, Ondřej Štveráček Quartet, Invisible World, Cotatcha Orchestra).
A complete list of performing bands and delegates can be found at www.jazzshowcase.cz.
The only change from the original concept is the decision of the organizers to make the CEJS for invited delegates only, due to the measures in force against the spread of coronavirus.
“Nothing compares to a live concert experience in the close presence of musicians on stage fully engaged in the creative process. I dare to say that most music promoters think the same way – after all, presenting live music is often their lifelong mission. I also dare to say that most organizers often choose bands based on their own experience with their live performances. A good opportunity for self-presentation of music groups is offered by the showcase format, in which various ensembles present themselves to the promoters in a concentrated way,” says Vilém Spilka, director of JazzFestBrno.
Links:
Central European Jazz Showcase