Radka Minarechová Culture & Society
VIVID and full of energy on one hand, calm and mysterious on the other: jazz can be as different as the people who have dedicated their lives to playing it. The fact that this older musical style can combine very easily with rock as well as Latino rhythms could be attested to by anyone who was at the Incheba Expo Centre in Petržalka, the venue for Bratislava Jazz Days, during the October 21-23 weekend.
The first edition of Bratislava Jazz Days (BJD) was brought together in 1975 by amateur jazz musicians and during its first years it involved mostly musicians from Czechoslovakia or parts of the former USSR. But in each year since it has become more international and has gradually changed its look. This year’s festival looked like a reunion of US-based jazz performers seeking to permanently entrench this kind of music in Slovakia, in the heart of Europe.
