2022

This year, packed out just like it used to be and still with numbered seating, there were 8 concerts in the Plaza de la Trinidad, where performances on 3 out of the 4 days played to a full house.
The first day in the Trinitate Plaza, on 22 July, Hiromi, who gave a magnificent concert accompanied by a string quartet, rounded off a Japanese evening opened by Miho Hazama fronting the Musikene Summer Big Band.

On the 23rd, Steve Coleman & Five Elements treated his fans to an unforgettable concert. Later, the irreverent and cheeky Louis Cole produced a show that was one of a kind.
On the 24th, Amina Claudine Myers, who had previously received the Donostiako Jazzaldia life achievement award, gave a concert paying tribute to the gospel groups of the 50s. Next up was a concert by Ben Lamar Gay, visionary, spiritual and complex.

The concerts in ‘La Trini’ ended with the sax-player Lakecia Benjamin, who brought her personal take on numbers composed by Alice and John Coltrane. And finally the edition was brought to a close by Diana Krall, whose voice, piano and stage presence reflected her sentiment of familiarity and fondness towards an audience, a venue and a city that she particularly loves and that she rates as one of the best in Europe.

The Kursaal Auditorium was packed to the hilt every day, except on July 24 when we were 400 tickets short of a full house of 1800 attendees.

With a wide variety of styles, the Kursaal Auditorioa hosted 5 concerts of excellent artistic quality. Calexico, on the first day, delighted the public as they pushed the boundaries with their music. On the 22nd, Gregory Porter and his powerhouse of a voice left us with absolutely no doubt that he is one of the world’s leading Jazz singers. Iggy Pop, indefatigable, revolutionised the auditorium jam-packed with an audience who were on their feet from the first notes, on an afternoon that will definitely go down in history as one of the most memorable. On the 24th it was the turn of Yann Tiersen who brought an impressive visual show to take us through his Electronic Set. And to end, on the 25th, the great maestro Herbie Hancock once again demonstrated that he is one of Jazz history’s greats, taking us back through some of the most brilliant numbers of his entire career.

This year, like last, the FCC Victoria Eugenia Antzokia hosted what was the 8th edition of JazzEñe. All of the concerts were attended by an average of 650 people who enjoyed the 8 very fine musical proposals brought by Oreka TX, Chico Pérez, Verónica & Javier Sánchez, Carlos Sarduy Quartet, Moisés Sánchez, Daahoud Salim Quintet, Berta Moreno and Ernán López-Nussa.

On the 25th, this time not as part of JazzEñe, Marco Mezquida and Juan de la Rubia played to an almost full house with four hands, on the piano and the organ, reinterpreting pieces by Bach in an absolutely sublime concert.

This year, at last, we were able to return to the big beach stage to enjoy nine fabulous concerts. On July 20, Simple Minds put their all into celebrating their 40 years together, and the audience thanked them by enthusiastically turning out en masse. On the 21st, Mulatu Astatke, one of this year’s Donostiako Jazzaldia Award recipients, rendered a hypnotic and evocative concert followed by Curtis Harding, who charmed the audience with his “slop ‘n’ soul”. On July 22, The Excitements strutted their stuff with their energetic soul and R’n’B, after which the beach came alive as the audience danced to the fresh and festive punk pop of Carolina Durante. On the 23rd, This Is The Kit rolled out their exquisite indie-folk while Vintage Trouble once again caused a commotion on the beach with their soul guitar as their frontman, Ty Taylor, leapt down onto the sand to sing amongst the audience. Keler Gunea was brought to a close on July 24 by the commanding Pillow Queens and León Benavente, whose lively show saw the beach turn into a huge party.

This year we repeated the format of solo piano concerts at the San Telmo Museum cloister. These completely unplugged performances offer the possibility of enjoying the piano as part of a small audience and in a magical setting such as that of the museum cloister.

Four pianists, all top league, gave five concerts, the Ukrainian Vadim Neselovskyi performed his Odesa Suite in a concert whose proceeds will go to the Chernobil Elkartea association; on the 22nd, Craig Taborn drew us into his personal world with a powerful and fully improvised concert; on the 23rd, Sofiane Pamart played pieces of her own composition to a young audience, faithful followers of the French pianist; and on the 24th and 25th, Benny Green, who is always on top form, performed two different programmes as a tribute to his admired artists.

The packed terraces were hosted groups of different styles and origins. A diverse representation of Basque groups, chosen under the Festival’s Local Groups Selection initiative, highlighted the excellent health of today’s Basque Jazz scene: Carla Sevilla 5tet, Horda, Eva Alcaide, Musika Eskola Big Band, Caligrama, Trío Zemí, Gregario de Luze, Aldapeko Basque Latin Jazz, Hirukote and Swingin’ Bayonne. There were also interesting proposals from Gipuzkoa’s KatapultaTour circuit (Mikel Moreno, Kyxo, Teko Maisin and Rumbling Lips) and renowned international artists boasting brilliant careers: Sharon Clark, The International Classic Jazz All Stars, Bruce Barth Trio + Terell Stafford, Federico Buccini & Jemma label and Atrisma.

Our chill-out space par excellence, the Nauticool, brought concerts by the French-English duo J-Silk and their soul, hip hop and electronic combo. For its part, Fnac Foruma offered the concerts of Nat Simons and Èlia Bastida & Joan Chamorro. And Garbera was the setting for five concerts, two outside and three indoors. Broken Brothers Brass Band, Patáx, The Excitements, Sara Mansilla and Bruce Barth Trío each gave concerts at this new venue.