Tel Aviv Jazz marks 30 years

Long-serving artistic director Barak Weiss has drawn on a wide sweep of styles, genres and disciplines, and has come up with a something-for-everyone spread.

GERMAN-AUSTRIA collective Jazzanova.  (photo credit: Courtesy)
GERMAN-AUSTRIA collective Jazzanova.
(photo credit: Courtesy)
The Tel Aviv Jazz Festival marks its 30th birthday next month (December 18-20) with a typically varied lineup. The program features some big guns from abroad, including seasoned American Hammond organ player Joey DeFrancesco and French accordionist extraordinaire Richard Galliano.
Long-serving artistic director Barak Weiss has drawn on a wide sweep of styles, genres and disciplines, and has come up with a something-for-everyone spread which takes in the likes of ethnic-leaning rocker Beri Sacharoff, high energy German-Austria collective Jazzanova – which fuses jazz with chillout, funk and hip hop – and Ethiopian ethnojazz pioneer Mulato Astatke, while irrepressible jazz reedman Daniel Zamir joins forces with veteran pop keyboardist-vocalist-composer Yoni Rechter.
There are also gospel-influenced, electrojazz and Arabic colored offerings in what appears to be one of the most wide-ranging mixes the festival has produced to date.
The festival is produced by the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality in collaboration with Zappa and Gov Productions.
For tickets and more information: *9080 and zappa-club.co.il.