The next edition of our small but beautifully formed festival takes place 16-18 July 2017, when twelve bands will perform over three nights, selected from hundreds of online submissions.
The 2017 festival will be held in Aarhus, the 2017 European Capital of Culture, in association with Jazz Danmark and the Aarhus Jazz Festival
12 Points alternates between Dublin and partner cities, with previous editions taking place in Umea, Sweden, Porto, Portugal and Stavanger, Norway.
With our compact size, it’s a unique opportunity for artists to get to know each other, create lasting friendships and networks, and give their absolute performance best before an enthusiastic local audience, media and industry professionals.
There is no better festival to experience the breadth, energy, ambition and diversity through which young European musicians are making the jazz of tomorrow.
Improvised Music Company, the Dublin based curators and producers of 12 Points festival, today announce the programme for the 2017 edition of 12 Points, which will take place July 16-18 in Aarhus, Denmark, in association with Aarhus Jazz Festival and JazzDanmark,, and as part of this vibrant city’s European Capital of Culture tenure.
A ‘mezzanine festival’ for promising acts on their way to the next level in their careers, 12 Points is programmed each year by an open-call across the continent, engaging with emerging talent and local jazz scenes from London to Ljubljana, Bergan to Bari. Almost 500 acts applied to perform at this 11th edition of the festival, which was awarded the inaugural Europe Jazz Network Award for ‘Adventurous Programming’ in 2012.
The 3-day festival is uniquely nomadic – moving between Dublin and other exciting, young European cities. 12 Points festival 2017 will run concurrently with Aarhus Jazz festival which will broaden the audiences for the carefully chosen 12 artists and frame their music in the context of a bigger jazz programme.
12 Points 2017 PROGRAMME
Lars Fiil Frit Fald (Copenhagen – Denmark)
The 2017 festival opens suitably with some highly emotive music from hosts, Denmark, featuring 3 significant musicians from the Copenhagen avantgarde improv scene whose nuanced notes and textures demonstrate a mature sense of collective listening and atmospheric improvisation.Gripping stuff.
Kirke Karja Quartet (Tallinn – Estonia)
A rising talent on the Estonian jazz scene, Karje’s compositions are striking; moving effortlessly between atmospheric soundscapes, fast paced polytonal interplay and inventive rhythmic sketches which demonstrate a broad range of influences from the contemporary classical world.
Marie Kruttli Trio (Lucerne – Switzerland)
At just 25 the talented Kruttli has already earmarked her place in the upper pantheons of European piano trio’s. No hipster minimalism here just a bewitching virtuosity wrapped in a sophisticated musical language that is highly defined and displays a maturity of interpretation and delivery far beyond the collective age of this trio.
Post K (Paris – France)
Inspired by the clarinet strains and stride piano of the early jazz repertoire which defined this formative period, this French quartet, supported by the “Jazz Migration” series, create “new/old” music, firmly in the 21st century but taking inspiration equally from the original jazz giants like Blake and Waller as much as Brötzmann and Bailey.
Sheep Got Waxed (Vilnius – Lithuania)
Is this the “new weird”? The sound of Sheep Got Waxed is complex, idiosyncratic and in constantly stimulating, with band members using both hands and feet to play, employing an array of electronics and other sonic tools to create music that floats somewhere between free jazz, math rock and experimental electronic.
SCHNTZL (Brussels – Belgium)
Belgian duo SCHNTZL have been intensive collaborators since their early teens, crafting unique sonic landscapes together over a decade. And it shows. The maturity in this material is deftly honed through an almost telepathic musical understanding between Lasure & Van De Velde, resulting in music that brims with balance and poise.
BigSpoon (Dublin – Ireland)
South African saxophonist and adopted Irishman Chris Engel has a chameleon talent, outstanding in small and large ensembles, free improv, contemporary jazz, and latterly electronic music. Through this lens of electronic bits and bytes, BigSpoon emerge in the company of some of Ireland’s leading improvisers and electro-sonic explorers, creating mesmerising 21st century jazz with organic heart and and electronic soul.
chuffDRONE (Vienna – Austria)
Austrian quintet chuffDRONE create music which bubbles and swirls, rumbles and reverberates. The influences here are broad, from quieter introspective pieces to upbeat balkanique infused material. Add in some chamber pop, occasional tribal rhythms and a multitude of flourishes from each of the protagonists; this is a quintet with a lot to say.
Francesco Orio Trio (Crema – Italy)
Orio has been described as one of the most inventive pianists of his generation, no small feat in a country with a such a rich piano tradition. His playing has a distinctly lyrical touch and the playfulness in this trio is propelled by Orio’s ostinato grooves and occasionally angular motifs which lay the groundwork for buoyant improvisation.
Significant Time (Stavanger – Norway)
We stay in the Nordic regions for next act Significant Time, whose playful exploration of tradition and freedom elevate this orchestral ensemble from Stavanger, with the addition of voice as a melodic instrument, giving unlimited scope for wordless improvisation.
Tommy Moustache – (Rotterdam – Netherlands)
Direct from Rotterdam, Tommy Moustache enjoy defying critics and audiences alike with their ineffable brand of raw instrumental jazz with a healthy dollop of funk to boot. Its an almost schizophrenic live experience full of daring improv, dangerously good rock riffs, adventure-funk and all the good humour that you as audiences deserve.
Taupe (Newcastle Upon Tyne – UK)
A visceral, sonically compelling band from North England that feature razor-sharp polyrhythmic play, exploratory improv and raw, high energy live performances. Taupe draw collectively on free jazz, math metal and hip-hop grooves to post-bop, skronk and whatever takes their fancy, delivering invigorating
