For the first time, all three days of the festival were completely sold out.
A total of nine concerts were played on three different stages. On Friday and Saturday, three concerts each took place at the Kunsthaus Nexus, one at the Stöcklalm in Leogang (free of charge) and on Sunday two more at the Mining and Gothic Museum, also in Leogang. In contrast to the Saalfelden Summer Festival, the ‘3 Days of Jazz’ is a smaller festival organised in winter in the heart of Salzburg's Innergebirge mountains. The festival was organised jointly by the Saalfelden Tourist Board and the Centre for Contemporary Music Association.
Well-known names from the European jazz scene and Austrian jazz formations
On Thursday, the festival opened with a film. ‘Brüder Kühn - Zwei Musiker spielen sich frei’ - a documentary portrait of the two German jazz musicians Rolf (born in 1929) and Joachim Kühn (born in 1944), who have achieved world fame independently of each other and continue to perform despite their advanced age. On Friday, the ‘3 Days of Jazz’ were officially opened at Kunsthaus Nexus. As every year, the artistic director, Mario Steidl, has awarded the opening project to an Austrian musician - this year the Austrian trumpeter Lorenz Raab was invited to perform. The Lorenz Raab Septet followed in the footsteps of Miles Davis and took the piece ‘In a Silent Way’ by Joe Zawinul as the starting point for a musical expedition of this legendary recording.
International musicians from France, the USA, Germany, Hungary and Italy were represented. These included French jazz saxophonist Émile Parisien, who presented his latest album ‘Double Screening’ with his quartet. Another well-known name in the programme was Ken Vandermark, who joined forces with the musicians from Grencsó Collective Special 5 and performed the closing concert on Friday. Klaus Paier, Asja Valcic, Gerald Preinfalk and Patrice Héral set new standards in exploring the not quite everyday combination of their instruments and invited the audience to the concert on Saturday evening at Kunsthaus Nexus. Other highlights included the French trio Aïrés and the Italian band Ghost Horse, who performed with the exceptional American artist Dan Kinzelman.
Sunday at the Leogang Mining and Gothic Museum was all about Austrian musicians. The exceptional young musician Clemens Sainitzer gave a cello solo in the newly opened Thurnhaus, followed by a performance by Gerald Preinfalk with Klaus Paier, who have been making music together for more than 20 years.
On Saturday afternoon, the Salzburg blues/rock band Brother Buffalo gave a free concert at the Stöcklalm on the Asitz. The musicians set the mood with powerful riffs, soulful voices and groovy beats.
