The Brussels Jazz Festival will celebrate its 10th anniversary in January 2025.
With its eclectic mix of emerging and established artists from Belgium and abroad, the festival has become a staple on the European jazz scene.
For this anniversary edition, the line-up spans from avant-garde jazz to symphonic collaborations and festive late-night sets.
Once again, the Brussels Jazz Festival is the go-to meeting place for jazz and music lovers alike.
Highlights include performances by jazz legends such as David Murray and Immanuel Wilkins, while artist in residence Bram De Looze will deliver unforgettable musical experiences through three different projects. In this year’s Jazz Meets Symphonic, none other than the Craig Taborn Quartet will be paired with Brussels Philharmonic.
The final evening, curated by the renowned London-based label Jazz re:freshed, promises to be a night full of groove celebrating young British talent.
The party starts in grandeur as the legendary US saxophonist David Murray opens the festival on January 9 with his new quartet.
]Murray, who has performed with jazz icons such as McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones, now leads a trio of young musicians to present his latest album Francesca (2024, Intakt Records). Saxophonist and emerging Belgian talent Simon Comté will perform a lunchtime concert with his quartet on January 10.
French singer and bassist Amy Gadiaga, based in London, immerses Studio 1 in a warm soul atmosphere. Gadiaga released an impressive album in 2024 on Jazz re:freshed, the London-based label that Brussels Jazz Festival is collaborating with for the first time this year.
“This anniversary edition not only marks a decade of the Brussels Jazz Festival but also celebrates the ongoing evolution of jazz in all its forms,” says Maarten Van Rousselt, the festival’s programme manager. “
Our mission is to provide a platform for both established names and up-and-coming talent, and this year we have put together a special programme that showcases the bandwidth and diversity of jazz music.”
With this in mind, a promising Brussels musician is appointed artist in residence for every edition.
Continuing the tradition of showcasing local talent, this year’s artist in residence is the Brussels-based pianist Bram De Looze who will present no less than three new projects at the Brussels Jazz Festival. On January 10th, he will premiere his new quartet featuring Thomas Morgan (double bass), Joey Baron (drums) and Hank Roberts (cello). The concert, presenting brand new compositions, will be broadcast live.
On Saturday, January 11 drummer Jake Long, a key figure in the British jazz scene and member of the band Maisha, and his band will entertain Brussels with an evening full of energy. Flock, a British supergroup led by Sarathy Korwar, featuring musicians from The Comet is Coming, Vula Viel and others, will be performing the same evening.
The night concludes with a performance by Belgian drummer Lander Gyselinck’s party band KVR with Niels Broos as keyboardist and Dries Laheye on bass.
Sunday, January 12 starts oƯ gently with The Rising Moon’s immersive concert, where the audience is surrounded by the band and can enjoy a relaxing soundscape.
Before the concert, a lunch will be oƯered to the audience.
The afternoon will spotlight Bram De Looze who will perform a special duo concert with the South Korean artist DoYeon Kim, in collaboration with the Korean Cultural Center. Kim, who plays the traditional Korean stringed instrument gayageum, will merge Western jazz and Eastern sounds in her Belgian debut.
The evening wraps up with a screening of Soundtrack to a Coup d’État, a film by Belgian director Johan Grimonprez about one of the most insidious political machinations of the 20th century, and the role played by legendary jazz musicians.
After a day of rest, the festival resumes on Tuesday, January 14th focusing on young Belgian talent, jazz students and professional musicians.
The Toots Thielemans Jazz Award will be presented to the most promising jazz student of the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel, with whom the festival is collaborating – another first. This year, the prestigious award goes to pianist YuTing Lee, who will perform with an impressive ensemble to wrap up the evening. On January 15, London-based saxophonist Camilla George takes the stage, followed by the highly acclaimed Immanuel Wilkins Quartet. The evening closes with Bodies, a young Brussels-based band known for their fresh and dynamic sound.
On January 16t Bram De Looze returns to the stage with his regular trio Vice Versa, featuring US drummer Eric McPherson and German bassist Felix Henkelhausen.
The trio will present new compositions recorded live for a future album. That same evening, the Craig Taborn Quartet, accompanied by the Brussels Philharmonic, will perform a world premiere under the banner of Jazz Meets Symphonic.
Taborn will present new work, arranged specifically for this occasion, in collaboration with Muziekcentrum De Bijloke and Flagey.
Merging symphonic and jazz sounds, this will be one of the highlights of the festival. Friday, January 17th audiences will experience a diverse mix of performances, starting with Ukrainian harpist Alina Bzhezhinska paying tribute to Pharaoh Sanders together with saxophonist Tony Kofi. They will be followed by Belgian group De Beren Gieren, who will present their latest album. In the evening, free-jazz collective Irreversible Entanglements will take the stage, followed by cool grooves from the Khalab Live Band.
The festival concludes on January 18th with an evening dedicated to emerging British talent, curated by the London-based label Jazz re:freshed in a first-time partnership with the Brussels Jazz Festival. Jas Kayser, Lenny Kravitz’s drummer, and bassist Daniel Casimir will deliver a double bill performance, followed by a double DJ set to to keep the energy going.
This closing party promises a thrilling fusion of jazz and club culture, wrapping up a decade of Brussels Jazz Festival in style. “This anniversary edition promises to be a unique and unforgettable musical journey, celebrating ten years of the Brussels Jazz Festival with an adventurous and diverse line-up,” concludes Van Rousselt.
