Jazz Festival Steyr 2014

The Steyr Jazz Festival has been running since 2006 in Austria’s 12th most populated town, Steyr. The lineup this year has many international artists flying in from as far away as Brazil and the USA.

Videos

Video Highlights of the Steyr Jazz Festival (jazzfest)

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Lineup & Schedule

The Steyr Jazz Fest lineup is shown below.

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The 2014 Steyr Jazz Festival lineup is as follows:

Thursday – 20.03.2014

19.30: John B Williams 5tet (USA/A)

Friday – 21.03.2014

19.30: Modern Shape 4tet (A)

21.00: Michaela Rabitsch (A/SBN)

Saturday – 22.03.2014

19.30: Trio Akk:zent (A)

21.00: Rudi Berger 5tet (A/BRA)

Sunday – 23.03.2014

10.00: Jazzbrunch im Schwechaterhof (Leopold Werndl Str. 1, A-4400 Steyr)

11.00: Blue Horn (A)

14.00: Musikende

what do you think of this years lineup?

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Artist Info

John B Williams 5tet (USA/A)

John B Williams – double bass

Andy Middleton – tenor & soprano sax

Lorenz Raab – trumpet

Oliver Kent – piano

Klemens Marktl – drums

Modern Shape 4tet (A)

Martin Gasser – alto sax, EWI

David Gratzer – electric-guitar

Philipp Kienberger – electric-bass

Markus Fellner – drums

Michaela Rabitsch (A/SBN)

Michaela Rabitsch – trumpet & vocals

Robert Pawlik – git

Joe Abentung – bass

Dusan Novakov – drums

Trio Akk:zent (A)

Victoria Pfeil – saxes

Paul Schuberth – accordion

Johannes Münzner – accordion

Rudi Berger 5tet (A/BRA)

Rudi Berger – violin

Mauro Rodrigues – Flute

William Evans – Piano/Keyboards

Stephan Kurman – Bass

Mike Clark – Drums

Blue Horn (A)

Miriam Fuchsberger – vocals

Manfred Banglmayr – trumpet, fluegelhorn

Michael Kreuzer – piano

Tickets

Tickets for the 2014 Steyr Jazz Fest are between €10 – €65 (breakdown below).

Thursday: pre-sale EUR €15,00 – €EUR 18,00

Friday: pre-sale EUR €25,00 – €EUR 28,00

Saturday: pre-sale EUR €25,00 – €EUR 28,00

Sunday: pre-sale EUR €10.00 – €EUR 10.00

4-Day Pass: pre-sale EUR €55,00 – EUR €65,00

** Discount for students: 50%

Advance Tickets

Available in all Ö TICKET centers, and at +43 (0) 664/4158010 or sounddesign@aon.at

Interview

Recently Festival Archive was lucky enough to interview Peter Guschelbauer, Artistic Director of the Steyr Jazz Festival Festival. We asked him a few questions about this years festival, hear what he has to say below.

The Jazz Festival Steyr is now in its 8th year which is a brilliant achievement and one you must be proud of. Can you tell us how long you have been working with the festival and give a little history as to how you made your way into your current position?

I am the founder of the festival and I am the artistic and the financial director of it. So if I want to book an artist I have to discuss only with me, myself and I, if I can afford him.

I started 8 years ago with a friend in an open air location with a nice stage at a river, therefore the festival was beginning of July. 2 years later this location was closed and so I talked to the director of the cultural department of Steyr, a beautiful and very old city, 50 km away from my birth town Linz, if he could offer my a nice indoor location and he gave me the wonderful old theatre and so it was clear I had to postpone my festival into spring or fall, and I decided to go into March. So I had a great new location and a new time period.

Many people would think that planning a festival would be an ideal job but I can imagine that it must be fraught with stresses and complications. During your role within the festival what do you find to be the most challenging aspects of your job?

As I am now since 40 years in the music business, as a musician, label, distribution, promotion and publishing manager, concert promoter etc. it was never a problem to have enough good contacts to great musicians and agencies worldwide, the main problem was always the money, because you could not have a break even at a jazz festival only with selling tickets. It takes good sponsors and that was always the challenging factor for this festival.

The lineup for this year is very impressive and has a host of many exciting and dynamic performers; which performer are you looking forward to seeing most and do you have any tips for festival goers out there seeking some fresh new acts?

My international performers this year will be first of all the former Horace Silver bassist John B Williams from Los Angeles, who will perform with the crème of the Austrian jazz musicians and the Viennese jazz violinist Rudi Berger who went after his participation at the Vienna Art Orchestra to New York, where he lived for almost 10 years and the followed in 1998 his friend Tonino Horta to Brasil, where he lives till now.

He will come to Steyr with a great line up of Brazilian and US American musicians like the former Herbie Hancock – headhunters drummer Mike Clarke etc.

My special tip for a fresh new act would be the Trio Akkzent, 2 of the musicians are Steyr residents, which is an unbelievable trio of two accordionists and a female saxophonist. Wonderful musicians and a wonderful music!!

Show rest of Interview...

It’s always been a great mystery to me as to how the festival handles act selection. Are there specific criteria that artists have to meet? Are acts selected purely on talent and performance alone or do your gut instincts and emotions come into play when making decisions? Also, who has the final say as to who performs (if there is just one artistic visionary?!)? When you are longer in the business, you develop friendship to different musicians and as in my case you make albums with a lot of great projects, and the best one you will bring of course in your festival. In this year I got about 300 applications for the 2014 festival, so it is always very difficult. A lot of them you can not afford, but the good thing is that I can make the decisions completely alone, that makes it a little bit easier. Over the years the festival has grown from strength to strength and has now established itself as one of the great events in the international jazz festival circuit; what do you think has been the key to the festivals continued success and what are some of the major difficulties your team are faced with each year? The jazz festival in Steyr is still a very small one, but in a very nice location and in a beautiful old town. The key to success can only be continuity, musical quality, nice location, a good hotel and good restaurants, that is what musicians like. The main problem we face is the more and more difficult situation of sponsorship. Can you tell us a little about your favorite moments of the past 2013 Jazz Festival Steyr? My favorite moment of the festival in 2013 was the concert of the Korean pianist Soo Cho and the Argentine saxophonist Javier Girotto, it was an amazing concert. Are there any programmes/clinics, educational or otherwise, that run alongside the Jazz Festival Steyr? If people wished to participate in any of them what is the best way for them to find out some more information? At the moment not, there are just the concerts. The festival has now been around for a long time and some would say that the past couple of years has been the festivals’ best years, how do you strive to make each year better than the last and where do you see the festival in 10 years? I hate rankings of all kinds, so every year had some great moments and I always try to work on the quality of the music and to improve the structures of the festival. In 10 years I hope I can say that the festival is one of the most important festivals in Central Europe. Organising a festival of this calibre takes incredible skill, team-work, coordination and dedication. Outside of your direct festival planning team (who seem to do an outstanding job by the way!) is there any person or groups of people you would like to especially thank for their help in making the festival a success? First of all to my wife Uli, because she is in charge of the artist support, above all she makes the best coffee and pastries in town, second to my technician Christoph whom a lot already know from our recording studio or from other concerts I organise, he makes the best sound!! Many people say that it’s the festivals diverse range of jazz styles and the introduction of other similar music genres that has led to the success of the festival. How do you manage to walk the fine line between keeping both the jazz purists happy with the programme lineup and audiences with lets say a more ‘general’ taste in music? We have here in Steyr a more “conservative” audience, that means hardbop is a great style everybody loves and I always try to spread some fusion projects into the program. What is the biggest marketing challenge you face when trying to spread the word about the festival? Are there any particular avenues or strategies you have focused on that have led to noticeably good results? As we are a small festival with a small budget, I try to collect more and more email addresses to reach directly the music lovers and to make the losses as small as possible. In the last year we collected now more than 2.500 addresses of jazz lovers and the story goes on. For people wishing to help out at the festival this year round can you please tell them a little about any volunteer opportunities you offer or other ways they can help? I have a great team and together we will make this year’s festival. But in case someone is a great jazz lover, he/she shall send me an email. What would be your best advice for somebody visiting the festival for the very first time? He shall visit the first day, and in case he liked what he has heard, he shall buy tickets for the next day etc. Can you give an estimate for your predicted turnout/attendance rate for the 2014 Jazz Festival Steyr? I am sorry, no. And finally, who are your personal all-time favourite jazz performers? Joe Zawinul´s Weather Report, and there is a reason for it, I was Joe’s promoter his last five years from 2002 – 2007.

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