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Leuven Jazz is back!

Leuven Jazz is back!
Fred Hersch, © Tracey Yarad

From March 19 – 28, the Leuven Jazz partners will put a fresh portion of jazz on your menu. The highlight of this edition will be a streaming concert with American piano virtuoso Fred Hersch and three Belgian grand premières. Also on the programme: Too Many Fish, Eve Beuvens solo and four swinging carillon concerts.

Opening Night with Fred Hersch (20.03)

This year's online jazz festival will kick off with a deluxe streaming concert 'Opening Night'.

For three decades, NY-based Fred Hersch is one of the most innovative jazz pianists, combining virtuosity with abundant imagination. Exclusively for this Leuven Jazz streaming, he will play a solo concert at the Soapbox Gallery in New York, centred on his latest album 'Songs from Home'. It will be a warm, accessible concert with original compositions, standards and arrangements of pop songs from the sixties. This concert also gives a slight hint of Leuven Jazz 2022, where Hersch will be an artist in residence.

The three other sets of this evening, all recorded in Leuven, will also delight the jazz fans.

Drummer Antoine Pierre (Urbex, Next.Ape ...) will bring his new solo project 'VAAGUE' for the very first time before an (online) audience and for Cinema Paradiso ft. Jozef Dumoulin this concert will be the première of their brand-new album 'Volume #2'.

Leuven Jazz will also unite two inspiring artists for the very first time on stage: in 'Blind Date #1', Nabou Claerhout and Lynn Cassiers will provide a unique blend of trombone, vocals and electronics.

Too Many Fish (21.03)

Too Noisy Fish, the piano trio of Peter Vandenberghe (piano), Kristof Roseeuw (double bass) and Teun Verbruggen (drums), will celebrate its 10th birthday in 2021.

Under the moniker of Too Many Fish, the band will be expanded to an XL version of themselves, adding Belgian writer Dimitri Verhulst, trumpeter Bart Maris, saxophone player Bruno VansinaPhilip De Jager (vibes, marimba) and DJ Grazzhoppa to its classic line-up.

Expect a unique trip with compositions shifting between contemporary music, exotica and free jazz.

Eve Beuvens solo (27.03)

Belgian pianist Eve Beuvens (Heptatomic, Mikael Godée-Eve Beuvens Quartet, ...) gains international acclaim for her fresh, contemporary and intelligent jazz style. She will perform a varied and accessible solo programme, combining original compositions with songs by Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington.

Swinging Bells (19, 23, 24 & 26.03)

No tolling bells in these 'Swinging Bells' concerts, but some swinging improvisations by three of the Leuven carillons (University library, Park Abbey and Saint-Peter's Church).

Compositions by George Gershwin, Django Reinhardt, Toots Thielemans, Scott Joplin and Duke Ellington ... to be savoured in the open air, or at home via live stream.

More to come

This does not complete the 2021 edition, as more concerts will follow in April and May.

More details will be announced in due time, see here for programme and tickets.


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