For the first time, the festival was extended from seven to nine concerts. 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 the depths of winter in the middle of Salzburg's Innergebirge mountains. The festival was organised jointly by the Saalfelden Tourist Board and the Centre for Contemporary Music Association.
Big names from the European jazz scene and young Austrian jazz formations
On Thursday, the festival opened with a film for the first time. "A Portrait of Esbjörn Svensson" tells the story of pianist Esbjörn Svensson, who died tragically 10 years ago. 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. The quintet "Vienna Chamber Diaries" opened the festival with a great symbiosis of chamber music and free improvisation.
Five of the nine bands were from Austria. Alex Pinter presented his trio "Birds against Hurricanes" with guitar, piano and
with guitar, piano and accordion in his extremely unusual trio "Birds against Hurricanes". On Sunday, Christian Bacanic wowed the audience with his solo at the Leogang Mining and Gothic Museum. The concert by the string quartet "Violett Spin" reflected the desire for uninhibited groove. Austria was also represented at the free concert at the Stöcklalm: The Engel Mayr trio set the mood with crisp, rocking songs in the style of Jimi Hendrix, ZZ Top and Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Musicians from France, Holland, Poland and Italy were also represented at the winter festival. These included European jazz legend Henri Texier, who presented his latest album "Sand Woman" with his Sand Quintet. The brand-new and magical trio "Baldych - Courtois - Telderman", which the three exceptional musicians spontaneously formed, were guests in Austria for the first time. The musicians Hélène Labarrière & Hasse Poulsen provided programmatic breaks. They interpreted hits from pop history in a very free way, while the formation "Sudoku Killer" with bassist Caterina Palazzi from Italy enriched the jazz with post- and stoner rock elements.
