# Europe in the Golden Season: The EU Jazz & Blues Festival’s Autumn – Winter 2026 Journey: Photos

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2026/10/17/310155/
- Published: 2026-10-17T02:00:46+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**From Frankfurt to Waiblingen, from Brussels to Baden, from Madrid to Tbilisi, 
and from London to Breda, Copenhagen, Stuttgart, and Essen, this programme reveals
the extraordinary variety of Europe’s live-music culture.**

An expansive musical journey through European cities, historic concert halls, intimate
jazz clubs, electrifying blues stages, and the artists whose individuality gives
contemporary music its inexhaustible life.

![](https://i0.wp.com/jazzblues.eu/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Jazz-Blues-e1790582659167.
jpg?resize=750%2C500&ssl=1)

Europe in autumn has a particular musical beauty. The days grow shorter, the air
becomes cooler, and the streets of its great cities acquire a softer light. In Brussels,
the architecture of old Europe frames the movement of modern life; in Frankfurt,
the pulse of international culture meets the intimate atmosphere of a jazz club;
in Madrid, the rhythms of the Iberian Peninsula open themselves to the restless 
energy of blues and electronic music. Farther north, London welcomes the expressive
force of electric blues, while Copenhagen offers a distinguished setting for the
meeting of Italian blues tradition and Scandinavian concert-hall elegance.

Against this richly varied cultural landscape, the EU Jazz & Blues Festival’s 2026
Autumn–Winter Jazz – Blues Season, directed and organized by Olivia Peevas, brings
together a broad musical vision: jazz in its most intimate and exploratory forms,
blues rooted in lived experience and tradition, and contemporary rhythmic music 
that draws upon the shared heritage of jazz, soul, funk, house, and electronic experimentation.

The concerts gathered in this programme reveal the remarkable diversity of that 
vision. Here, a Spanish singer and trombonist can transform the language of jazz
through an expressive meeting of voice and brass; a German big band can bring the
energy of electronic culture into orchestral jazz; a blues duo can connect Galicia,
Chicago, and Berlin through the elemental power of the guitar; and a Georgian piano
trio can carry the improvisational spirit of jazz into the heart of Tbilisi. This
is not simply a sequence of performances. It is a portrait of a continent listening
to itself through music.

### Jazz without borders: Europe’s intimate clubs and contemporary stages

![Rita Payés en el Teatro Eslava](https://images.openai.com/static-rsc-4/t-Hku4UybxI-
6DnT1OggxgZljEl2ZqK3rr927WAEdjXb3_Z5tr9Z4d_WMPFAHRRvFYVTFvF0vyC9x3X7ec2l9QdUP8aALwJUk2id8zrCTAtdDQ9BstnCHsz7M9_2UaOn6V5PDi6uT0Ba2KgSwoKrEx2TyiiJWOLzfIGS08IswQ8?
purpose=inline)

### **Rita Payés — Jazz Montez, Frankfurt, Germany**

### The singing trombone and the poetry of Mediterranean jazz!

Frankfurt is a city of striking contrasts: a modern financial metropolis whose international
character is reflected in its cultural life. Within this environment, Jazz Montez
provides a more intimate perspective on contemporary music, bringing adventurous
artists into a setting where the audience can experience the delicate details of
performance at close range.

Rita Payés belongs to a generation of Spanish musicians who approach jazz not as
a closed tradition but as a living language. Her dual identity as trombonist and
vocalist gives her music a particularly personal character. The human voice and 
the brass instrument share a common expressive territory: both can whisper, sigh,
stretch a phrase, or rise into an impassioned declaration.

Her musical vocabulary draws upon jazz improvisation, the harmonic softness of bossa
nova, and the lyrical sensibility of Iberian and Mediterranean song. The trombone,
often associated with powerful ensemble writing, becomes in her hands an instrument
of intimacy and nuance. A vocal phrase can be answered by a warm, rounded brass 
line; a melodic idea can return in instrumental form, acquiring a new emotional 
colour.

Such a musical approach is particularly suited to a small club, where silence becomes
part of the performance and every subtle change in phrasing can register with the
listener. The Frankfurt appearance represents the kind of encounter that makes European
jazz so compelling: a distinctly personal voice meeting an international audience.

![Jazzrausch Bigband - Techno Symphony | Festspielhaus Baden-Baden](https://images.
openai.com/static-rsc-4/CnD_siqOtH0ygOWLFgfpiU4nicgg3j74UWoNFgZkIuFfzjO1AZY9YNrBQ5MVD_HFsgoVZJqCJUG7KS6aNSkqcQ1kmA3MyqfwoX3lIGYrM4K-
U8r1Ql9GCuAKiL8KOSaqn7Qc5GXrH_VrvMVMbwaVmUkyCViPYmigRGZ04G2_pu4?purpose=inline)

###  Jazzrausch Bigband — Bürgerzentrum, Waiblingen, Germany

Euphoria: the orchestra becomes a dance floor! On 15 October 2026, Waiblingen welcomed
the Jazzrausch Bigband to the Bürgerzentrum for its Euphoria programme, presented
in the Ghibellinensaal. The concert was advertised as a meeting of big-band sound,
house music, and techno.

This is an ensemble whose artistic identity challenges conventional expectations
of a jazz orchestra. The familiar brass architecture of big-band music—trumpets,
trombones, saxophones, rhythmic precision and carefully shaped ensemble passages—
is placed in conversation with the repetitive propulsion of electronic dance music.

The result is not simply jazz accompanied by a beat. It is a meeting of different
musical philosophies. The orchestra’s written arrangements provide structure, density,
and dramatic direction, while improvisation introduces risk, surprise, and the individuality
of the performer. Electronic rhythms can create an almost hypnotic foundation over
which the brass section rises in expansive waves.

The title Euphoria captures the ensemble’s essential ambition: to turn collective
musical energy into a shared physical experience. The rhythm is designed not merely
to be heard but to be felt, while the orchestral dimension gives club music a scale
and harmonic complexity that electronic production alone cannot reproduce in quite
the same way.

Waiblingen’s Bürgerzentrum, a civic cultural venue, offers an interesting counterpoint
to the band’s club origins. The music that first established itself in Munich’s 
electronic underground now occupies a concert hall, demonstrating how radically 
the boundaries between jazz, dance music, and contemporary orchestral performance
have become more permeable.

![The Oscar Peterson Trio of 1961 was Peterson at the piano; Ray Brown - double 
bass; and the drummer Ed Thigpen](https://images.openai.com/static-rsc-4/PQP6AJlo9fFkxaMTrZlCwB7dvNo0E16XBH9k9vdGoinz09ZH4j6dzZYLg9lMGkt7TaRoNStn9kMllxktK__Efzx8TmiQs8VD2fb_qjDE_U-
M8dJfRtuHJUqkZcw9wky6RrfCFgpmvChla2k8lWzxkCgIlpEr-JKwsc2fEvZ5mgQ?purpose=inline)

### Tribute to Oscar Peterson — The Music Village, Brussels, Belgium

Swing, virtuosity, and the enduring language of the piano trio! Brussels has long
occupied a special position in Europe’s jazz geography. Its cultural life reflects
the meeting of languages, national traditions, and international artistic currents,
while its smaller clubs preserve the immediacy that makes live jazz such a distinctive
experience.

At The Music Village, a tribute to Oscar Peterson brought attention to one of the
great architects of modern piano-trio jazz. The announced performance on 15 October
featured Belgian musicians Maxime Moyaerts on piano, Victor Foulon on double bass,
and Armando Luongo on drums. The programme was presented as part of the club’s Greatest
Jazz Composers Week.

Peterson’s legacy is inseparable from rhythmic vitality. His piano playing combined
dazzling technique with a deeply rooted sense of swing, bringing together the sophistication
of harmonic exploration and the direct pleasure of a compelling melody. Yet the 
essential lesson of his trio music is not speed or virtuosity alone. It is the art
of making three musicians sound like one remarkably flexible musical organism.

The pianist establishes a theme, expands it through variations, and opens new harmonic
pathways. The bassist is not merely a timekeeper but a melodic partner, grounding
the harmony while suggesting alternative directions. The drummer shapes the music
through accents, brushes, cymbal patterns, and the subtle manipulation of rhythmic
tension.

A tribute to Peterson is therefore also a tribute to musical conversation. The Belgian
trio’s announced programme of Peterson compositions, jazz standards, and individual
interpretations offered a framework in which the tradition could be honoured without
being reduced to imitation.

In a room such as The Music Village, swing becomes something immediate and human:
a rhythmic agreement between musicians and listeners, renewed with every chorus.

![David Helbock / Julia Hofer Duo | Jazzclub Ilmenau e.V.](https://images.openai.
com/static-rsc-4/pQ7PSWMc4rhthXL7VWxTnYzoge9lrxo6u8FnTJWGK2J8an6NnnhHt5S9R8Sn8xaw8hbx4uqtniVn0zW3fBiE8FPKbG7ONcGX0d4b5sXfDbgEAGBvThVOVWQlxJSjGMe8Kkr6Qq9jRMh9YO6ioi6dI-
eCiCDi6L1FYXx2BHTOTXU?purpose=inline)

## David Helbock and Julia Hofer — Jazz in Baden, Baden, Switzerland

A meeting of piano imagination and the expressive voice of the bass! In Baden, a
Swiss town whose historic character is balanced by a lively contemporary cultural
scene, pianist David Helbock and bassist Julia Hofer bring the intimacy of a duo
into focus.

Their collaboration is especially intriguing because it places two instruments with
very different physical and sonic identities in close dialogue. The piano can supply
harmony, melody, rhythmic punctuation, and a broad spectrum of colours within a 
single gesture. The bass can ground the music, shape its melodic direction, and 
create a lyrical countervoice beneath or alongside the piano.

In an accomplished duo, the absence of a full rhythm section does not mean an absence
of rhythmic energy. Instead, the pulse can be created through the relationship between
the musicians: a repeated piano figure, a bass motif, a sudden change in dynamics,
or a phrase that seems to suspend time before finding its way back to the groove.

Helbock’s musical curiosity and compositional imagination make him a compelling 
partner for Hofer, whose command of the bass allows the instrument to move beyond
a purely supportive function.

Their album Faces of Night explores a varied musical landscape, drawing upon jazz,
classical writing, and other sources rather than restricting itself to a single 
idiom. Their Baden performance belongs to this broader artistic conversation.

The appeal of a duo lies partly in its vulnerability. Every note matters; every 
silence becomes meaningful. With no large ensemble to conceal behind, the musicians
must listen closely, respond instinctively, and continually reshape the musical 
space they share. The result, at its most successful, is chamber jazz of unusual
intimacy: thoughtful, flexible, and rich in small discoveries.

### Madrid: where the blues meets the city’s restless rhythm

![Schmölz: Da steppt der Blues-Bär - Kronach - Neue Presse Coburg](https://images.
openai.com/static-rsc-4/nfQcvKYQ-hNSL5uK8EAGKO3B9QcgesvEc8wUr_7aq945ybWEAjZnCDrTEJ8ayjTOOAOO6s_r-
FfkQWnjFR0YNH9x15xlCY5MdwzVGNO4LDP_d5kaMq0uCVoEYYR6EC76UCJe1xbxbIfszpH2g7l-dxh-8YlRkbq4fgZ8iejN4Jg?
purpose=inline)

### Will Jacobs & Marcos Coll Band — Villanos del Jazz, Madrid, Spain

An air bridge between Santiago de Compostela, Chicago, and Berlin! Some musical 
partnerships seem to make geographical distance irrelevant.

The collaboration between American guitarist and vocalist Will Jacobs and Galician
harmonica player Marcos Coll is one such meeting: a musical bridge linking the European
Atlantic coast, the historic electric-blues tradition of Chicago, and the international
creative environment of Berlin.

Their story is compelling because their musical personalities emerge from different
generations and experiences, yet converge in a shared devotion to the blues. Coll,
formerly associated with the Galician band Los Reyes del KO, has built a reputation
through his work with blues musicians and his encounters with figures including 
Buddy Miles and Mick Taylor. Jacobs represents a younger generation carrying Chicago’s
electric-blues tradition forward, preserving its essential vocabulary while bringing
his own energy to it.

Berlin became the meeting point for their partnership. Their contrasting backgrounds
provide the foundation for a dialogue in which the harmonica can answer the guitar,
challenge it, or extend a phrase into a different emotional direction. The guitar
supplies both rhythmic propulsion and melodic fire; the harmonica brings a vocal-
like intensity, capable of sounding conversational one moment and almost orchestral
the next.

The rawness of their recordings is an important part of their identity. As described
in the supplied festival information, their two albums were captured in single-day
studio sessions without post-production interference. That approach favours immediacy
over perfectionism: the small fluctuations of timing, the natural dynamics between
players, and the energy that comes from musicians reacting to one another in real
time.

The Madrid concert, scheduled within the official Villanos del Jazz programme at
Sala Villanos on 15 October, places this transatlantic blues partnership within 
a festival known for a broad view of contemporary jazz and related music.

The deeper significance of this duo is that the blues does not belong to a single
country or generation. Its language travels because its central themes—resilience,
longing, humour, disappointment, freedom—are universal. In Jacobs and Coll, that
language finds two distinctive voices and a common pulse.

![Motor City Drum Ensemble | Zero](https://images.openai.com/static-rsc-4/5jkbhHhveHwsgoig_rKRKXaOpglFHTSJOhpSWPkKcM2oiIPqh-
fsnLMUHv5ffGuqjHC7daBURKbIipUaDkaMfgh6vFHLdvGRbCzhzgrK5HheJlouo9LX4DNG1pLHQsq3Yt05jx_zyz5cAJNuxOFCRpvQdzwjH-
M9gFLHL0LteQo?purpose=inline)

### Danilo Plessow (MCDE), Marcos Boricua & Javi Frías — Villanos del Jazz, Madrid

The deep history of jazz and soul transformed into a contemporary dance experience!
Madrid’s nightlife provides a natural setting for Danilo Plessow, internationally
known as Motor City Drum Ensemble, and fellow selectors Marcos Boricua and Javi 
Frías.

Plessow’s artistic identity is rooted in a rare combination of historical knowledge
and rhythmic instinct. His interest in Detroit’s musical legacy, jazz, soul, disco,
and house allows him to approach DJ performance as a form of cultural interpretation.
Rather than treating records as isolated objects, he places them in dialogue, revealing
the continuities between musical eras and scenes.

His early engagement with drums and sampling helped establish an approach that is
both technically informed and attentive to the physical character of rhythm. A bass
line, a fragment of percussion, a vocal phrase, or a warm keyboard chord can become
the starting point for an extended musical journey.

The name Motor City Drum Ensemble acknowledges Detroit’s importance to electronic
music, but the deeper reference is to the city’s wider musical inheritance: the 
relationship between Black American musical innovation, dance-floor culture, and
the expressive language of soul and jazz.

Plessow’s work on the DJ-Kicks and Fabric mix series, alongside his releases as 
part of Vermont, illustrates the breadth of his musical interests. His selections
are distinguished by an understanding that groove can be both physical and intellectually
rich.

In the company of Marcos Boricua and Javi Frías, this appearance offers the possibility
of a broader conversation between records, rhythmic traditions, and the instincts
of three selectors. The DJ booth becomes an instrument of its own, shaping atmosphere
through sequence, contrast, repetition, and release.

This is jazz and blues culture seen from another angle: not necessarily through 
improvised solos, but through the long historical currents of rhythm, harmony, and
collective movement that have also shaped electronic dance music.

### Tbilisi: Georgian musical identity and the international language of jazz

![ბექა გოჩიაშვილი პირველ მასწავლებელზე: ,,ტიბეტში რომ ბერებთან წახვალ და ვერ აღწერ,
ეს შეგრძნებაა..." - რადიო ფორტუნა / Fortuna.ge](https://images.openai.com/static-
rsc-4/wsf6j_kE87zy6Al6GO_sZXEc3Bu7ti3nJue-kQiY_1_c3Jh3TFFClpf0Yy-q3LmE5efpVOPxKEFXD8Rk_j1-
riqOULICnC4vciY0vZomKSWlt0Z-IO36nW70VeYsCGkfb_edeUzMCdOiOOJUp5D4a77gvVtNxa3ff1nYS_pUFMw?
purpose=inline)

### Beka Gochiashvili Trio — Tatuza Jazz Club, Tbilisi, Georgia

### A contemporary piano trio in the heart of the Caucasus!

Tbilisi is a city where layers of history coexist with a vigorous modern cultural
life. Its streets and avenues reveal the meeting of Georgian tradition, European
influences, and the broader musical currents that have travelled across the Caucasus
for generations. Jazz feels at home in this environment because it is itself a music
of exchange, transformation, and individual expression.

The Beka Gochiashvili Trio, featuring Beka Gochiashvili on piano, Levan Deisadze
on bass, and Zaza Tsertsvadze on drums, brings three essential elements of small-
group jazz into a concentrated musical setting. Gochiashvili’s role at the piano
is that of both architect and explorer. The pianist establishes harmonic direction,
introduces melodic ideas, and can move rapidly between tightly articulated rhythmic
figures and expansive improvisational passages. In a trio, the bass and drums do
far more than provide accompaniment: they determine how the music breathes, how 
tension develops, and how a spontaneous idea becomes a shared composition in the
moment.

Deisadze’s bass provides the meeting point between harmony and pulse, while Tsertsvadze’s
drums can create a flexible rhythmic framework capable of supporting both intricate
subdivisions and broad, powerful grooves. The most exciting moments in piano-trio
jazz often occur when the three musicians momentarily seem to abandon a predictable
structure, only to discover a new musical direction together.

The venue, Tatuza Jazz Club at The Telegraph Hotel on 31 Shota Rustaveli Avenue,
places this encounter within Tbilisi’s central cultural landscape. The intimate 
club setting is particularly appropriate for music whose character depends upon 
communication, risk, and immediate response.

There is also a symbolic importance to presenting this trio in Georgia. Jazz is 
an international language, but its strongest practitioners never sound entirely 
anonymous. Their individuality emerges from personal experience, cultural memory,
and the specific musical environments in which they have developed.

In Tbilisi, that international language gains a distinct local resonance: a reminder
that jazz continues to flourish wherever musicians are prepared to listen deeply,
improvise courageously, and make the unfamiliar feel natural.

Venue address and ensemble details are taken from the festival information supplied
for this report; a concert-specific photo archive has not been independently confirmed.

### The European blues circuit: from London’s intimate stages to the Netherlands

The blues occupies a special place in this autumn–winter programme. Its history 
is inseparable from migration, hardship, resilience, and artistic reinvention. Born
from African American musical traditions, it travelled across the Atlantic, transformed
British and European rock, and inspired generations of musicians who continue to
explore its emotional possibilities.

The artists in this section demonstrate how the blues can remain faithful to its
roots without becoming trapped in nostalgia. It can be explosive, playful, technically
adventurous, and deeply personal.

### ⌊Erja Lyytinen Tickets, Tour and Concert Dates – www.livenation.fi⌉⌊Erja Lyytinen Tickets, Tour and Concert Dates – www.livenation.fi⌉Erja Lyytinen — Half Moon, London, United Kingdom

The slide guitar as a voice of fire and freedom! London is one of Europe’s historic
homes of electric blues. Its clubs and concert venues have long welcomed musicians
who reinterpret American blues traditions through the energy of British rock and
the restless imagination of contemporary performers.

At the Half Moon in Putney, Finnish guitarist and vocalist Erja Lyytinen brings 
a formidable instrumental voice to this tradition. The venue’s intimate atmosphere
is particularly well suited to blues-rock, where the relationship between performer
and audience often becomes part of the music itself.

Lyytinen’s slide guitar is central to her artistic identity. The sliding movement
across the strings creates a vocal quality that ordinary fretted notes cannot quite
reproduce: pitches can bend gradually, sustain with extraordinary intensity, and
move between notes in a manner that recalls the human voice. In the hands of a skilled
player, the guitar seems to cry, laugh, protest, and celebrate.

Yet her playing is not defined by expressive bending alone. The slide technique 
becomes part of a larger musical vocabulary that includes sharply articulated riffs,
dynamic changes, rhythmic precision, and extended solos. Her blues-rock approach
allows traditional blues feeling to coexist with the power and scale of contemporary
electric music.

The Half Moon appearance, listed for 15 October 2026, was advertised with fellow
performer Ross Harding. The venue describes Lyytinen as an established international
blues-rock guitarist with more than two decades of recording experience and a reputation
for energetic live performances.

The appeal of her music lies in the balance between control and abandon. A solo 
can begin with a spare melodic statement and gradually expand into a torrent of 
sound, but the emotional thread remains clear. The technical achievement matters
because it serves the feeling rather than replacing it.

In London, Lyytinen’s performance represents the enduring vitality of blues-rock:
a music that can be loud without being empty, virtuosic without losing its humanity,
and contemporary without forgetting where its expressive language began.

![Robert Jon + The Wreck reschedule UK tour dates and add extra show](https://images.
openai.com/static-rsc-4/bvjR8TpzYlEr2gCtTl9M6yHsaftMoNdTErfU0-8OvSZgnwtqeIHHEienI9F3MHOoXQI813fkf9Dh_IkumLtQGVfsm1byE8yjk-
sO77LCdD17RMJep5rifbfUdo2J0mWQNErtPZpEVvopXrioGs6plVpmlb2e-2gTvaKaBnfNsdQ?purpose
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### Robert Jon & The Wreck — California soul and Southern blues

A powerful transatlantic expression of American roots music! Emerging from Southern
California, Robert Jon & The Wreck draw upon a musical landscape in which Southern
rock, blues, soul, and roots music meet. Their sound belongs to a tradition that
values the expressive power of the electric guitar, the strength of a compelling
vocal line, and the collective force of a band playing with conviction.

Southern soul is not simply a matter of musical style. It is an approach to performance
that places emotional directness at the centre of the arrangement. The voice must
communicate, the rhythm section must establish an irresistible foundation, and the
guitar must be capable of moving between melodic storytelling and unrestrained release.

In the band’s musical language, the influence of blues provides a foundation for
rock’s broader dynamics. A riff can establish the identity of a song almost immediately;
a change in the rhythm can create a moment of anticipation; and a guitar solo can
turn the energy of a composition toward a dramatic climax.

What makes this tradition particularly suited to a European blues season is its 
openness. American roots music has influenced generations of British and European
musicians, while European audiences have helped sustain its international touring
culture. Each performance therefore becomes part of a continuing exchange rather
than a simple presentation of an imported genre.

For Robert Jon & The Wreck, the live stage is the natural setting for this musical
approach. Their ensemble sound is designed to be experienced collectively, through
the relationship between lead vocals, guitars, bass, drums, and the changing intensity
of the arrangement.

Their inclusion in the wider European programme adds a distinctly American voice
to the festival’s international conversation. Where jazz often reveals its ingenuity
through improvisational complexity, this strand of blues-rock places particular 
emphasis on momentum, melodic strength, and the physical immediacy of performance.

### ![Concert The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band in Mezz, Breda op 15 oktober 2026](https://images.openai.com/static-rsc-4/QgVnpEm2xwsYklRwWnKdjYWdAVf4xDGvjNZmPRV6dCk102xkYVSqmWZG3MpXpuo5YiImQ9syJNJBp7_jV-RpzEIotBMr8MOqV44K3BrMmyCnssK-dj8Pa9dRqlj7ldgUfO8NLohHgvgzGqnFurW2hudNrAXK1Z-vjDMuoL6dXXo?purpose=inline)

### The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band — MEZZ, Breda, Netherlands

The front porch comes alive in a European concert hall! The Netherlands has a long-
standing affection for blues, from small pub stages to major concert venues. In 
Breda, MEZZ offers a meeting place for diverse musical communities, providing a 
contemporary setting for artists whose music draws upon American roots traditions.

The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band approaches country blues with a striking combination
of historical awareness and exuberant performance. At the centre is Reverend Peyton’s
fingerstyle guitar technique, which allows melody, bass movement, and rhythmic accents
to coexist within a single instrument. Rather than separating the guitar into distinct
accompaniment and solo roles, fingerstyle playing can create the impression of several
musical voices operating simultaneously.

The result is an earthy, rhythmic style that recalls the intimacy of traditional
front-porch blues. The music can sound deceptively simple, but its effect depends
on intricate coordination: the thumb establishes a steady foundation while the fingers
shape melodic phrases and syncopated accents above it.

The band’s performances also embrace the theatrical side of country blues. Strong
rhythms, direct communication with the audience, and a lively sense of humour give
the music a communal quality. The blues becomes something to participate in, not
merely something to observe.

The venue’s event information confirms the group’s appearance, providing a reliable
anchor for this stop on the festival’s wider roots-music journey.

The band’s significance lies in the way it connects historical technique with contemporary
performance. Its music honours the expressive economy of early country blues while
bringing that language to audiences accustomed to amplified sound and modern stage
production.

In Breda, the imagined front porch becomes a meeting place for different generations
and cultures. The essential ingredients remain unchanged: a compelling rhythm, a
guitar that speaks with its own personality, and a musical tradition that continues
to offer joy, release, and a sense of belonging.

### Copenhagen: Zucchero and the enduring power of Italian blues

### ![Zucchero cumple 70 años: la voz italiana del soul que conquistó el mundo | LOS40 Classic | LOS40](https://images.openai.com/static-rsc-4/kn82HW9pIZ0EOHoP6_uguoMVNwfHodDQ7HVzjs0TJZn-aUFJeeUOXwyr86wyF9W1Ab07oF3zW53Yc7AucnwNyIRwjVTwMFR-xPE0wHjCw6vmXYdFbayCT-qrgerS6lp-0NstIzzUiNKpAW6f6gYKfKhCL243IzNUwnCPPQQlNAg?purpose=inline)

### Zucchero — DR Koncerthuset, Copenhagen, Denmark

Overdose D’Amore GOLD: the Mediterranean soul of the blues! Copenhagen’s DR Koncerthuset
is a fitting setting for a major concert by an artist whose music has travelled 
far beyond the borders of his native Italy. Zucchero has spent decades developing
a distinctive musical language in which blues, soul, gospel, rock, and Italian melodic
tradition coexist.

His importance to European blues lies partly in the way he has absorbed the genre’s
expressive principles without abandoning his own cultural identity.

The blues provides a foundation of rhythmic weight, emotional directness, and vocal
intensity, while Italian songwriting contributes a melodic sensibility shaped by
language, romance, and theatrical expression.

Zucchero’s voice is an essential part of this identity. It can sound rough-edged
and powerful, yet remain deeply lyrical. His performances often draw their energy
from contrast: a restrained verse opens into a fuller arrangement; a soulful phrase
gives way to a strong rhythmic passage; gospel-influenced backing textures broaden
the sound into something communal and celebratory.

The Overdose D’Amore GOLD tour, described in the supplied programme as concluding
at DR Koncerthuset, provides a natural framework for celebrating this musical journey.
A concert-hall setting gives the music room to expand, allowing the interplay of
voice, rhythm section, guitars, and supporting musicians to achieve a scale that
smaller clubs cannot always accommodate.

The broader significance of Zucchero’s music is that blues has never been confined
to one language. Its emotional vocabulary can be transformed through Italian lyrics,
Mediterranean melody, rock arrangements, and soul-inflected performance while retaining
its fundamental expressive force.

In Copenhagen, that fusion becomes a meeting between the intimacy of song and the
grandeur of a major concert stage. The blues is not presented as a museum piece,
but as a living tradition capable of absorbing new influences and speaking to audiences
across generations.

### Stuttgart: Gretchen Parlato and Taylor Eigsti — the art of listening

### ![Taylor Eigsti / Gretchen Parlato / Ben Wendel… - UK Jazz News](https://images.openai.com/static-rsc-4/6fN6g6xgalEOKhRCLELRxsQ_LwPHBecLDtBR0ear-ig5RaVWrYZdA7LFpM19gQNxUwCBGmY2T85Di23mhe1JNybx5Hndmjp4esCCsUjRttpyiP2nMoVLMWVFLhRSLTyX3aZM3muuajxR7ZOYja5DnDmhk_6IFUBBBY722VmKb7o?purpose=inline)

### Gretchen Parlato and Taylor Eigsti — BIX Jazzclub, Stuttgart, Germany

Intimate vocals, harmonic imagination, and the poetry of restraint! Stuttgart’s 
BIX Jazzclub offers an environment in which subtlety can become the principal attraction.
In a small jazz room, the listener is close enough to hear the breath before a vocal
phrase, the resonance of a piano chord, and the delicate rhythmic adjustments that
occur when musicians respond to one another.

American vocalist Gretchen Parlato has developed a distinctive approach to contemporary
jazz singing. Her style favours nuance over force, using carefully shaped phrases,
understated dynamics, and rhythmic flexibility to reveal the emotional possibilities
of a melody. She can make a single note feel significant not through volume but 
through its placement, colour, and relationship to the surrounding silence.

Pianist Taylor Eigsti brings a complementary sensibility. His playing combines harmonic
sophistication with rhythmic invention, creating musical spaces in which a vocalist
can move freely without losing the underlying structure. The piano may offer a delicate
harmonic suggestion, a flowing countermelody, or a more assertive rhythmic figure
that changes the direction of the performance.

The BIX programme lists Parlato with Eigsti on piano and keyboards, Alan Hampton
on bass and guitar, and Jonathan Barber on drums. The announced performance was 
scheduled for 16 October 2026.

This combination makes the concert particularly interesting from an ensemble perspective.
The bass can move between harmonic grounding and melodic response; the drums can
create momentum without overwhelming the vocal line; and the piano can alternate
between accompaniment and independent improvisation.

The finest vocal jazz does not treat the singer as a soloist standing above an accompanying
band. Instead, the voice becomes one instrument among several, participating in 
a continuous conversation. A lyric can be reframed by a chord, a rhythmic accent
can alter the meaning of a phrase, and a pause can become as expressive as a sustained
note.

In Stuttgart, this kind of performance represents jazz at its most attentive and
intimate. It asks the audience not simply to admire technique, but to listen closely—
to notice the small decisions through which musicians create a shared emotional 
world.

### Essen: Vincent Peirani and Émile Parisien — a living organism of sound

![Der exzellente Sopransaxophonist Emile Parisien ist seit zehn Jahren dabei, Drummer
Yoanne Serra, Peirani, Bassist Julien Herne und Pianist/Keyboarder Tony Paeleman
waren schon als Jugendliche miteinander befreundet - wahrscheinlich ein nicht unwesentlicher
Beitrag zur wundervollen Band-Chemie. (Foto: Hans-Jürgen Bürkle)](https://images.
openai.com/static-rsc-4/m6D076eCyS7wz4HzkbhRoLJ3HJcJJA6ydgs-eEO7F1671Im8xP7-er_tZNuQJkVHOXOd8eTgG9b67chvvwAPPhEY2nIfn2_k7KHnhDn9bnQGwanr0fjum07Z74oB_vgr1Wb2_yZdrybj3xggu1dPv77wrodXg82bfsBlLOjCNzA?
purpose=inline)

### Vincent Peirani & Émile Parisien — Living Being, Philharmonie Essen, Germany

The accordion and saxophone enter a new musical universe! Essen occupies a distinctive
position in Germany’s cultural landscape, and its Philharmonie provides a concert
setting in which adventurous jazz can be heard with clarity and depth.

On 16 October 2026, French accordionist Vincent Peirani and saxophonist Émile Parisien
brought their Living Being project to Essen in a quintet configuration featuring
Julien Herné on electric bass, Tony Paeleman on Fender Rhodes, and Yoann Serra on
drums.

The pairing of Peirani and Parisien is particularly compelling because both musicians
have developed highly individual approaches to their instruments. Peirani treats
the accordion as an expansive source of sound, capable of moving between delicate
lyricism, dense rhythmic patterns, and almost orchestral textures. Parisien’s soprano
saxophone offers a contrasting voice: agile, penetrating, and capable of turning
a short melodic fragment into an extended improvisational narrative.

Their collaboration avoids the limitations of conventional instrumental roles. The
accordion is not confined to folk associations, and the saxophone is not restricted
to familiar jazz phrasing. Both instruments become vehicles for musical transformation,
moving between lyrical passages, rhythmic intensity, and unexpected shifts of mood.

The Living Being concept expands this dialogue through a rhythm section whose members
bring experience from different musical environments. Herné’s electric bass connects
jazz with contemporary rhythm-driven styles; Paeleman’s Fender Rhodes introduces
a warm, elastic keyboard texture; and Serra’s drumming can accommodate both acoustic
interplay and the influence of electronic music.

These contrasting backgrounds are central to the group’s identity. Rather than presenting
a sequence of unrelated styles, the quintet aims to create a coherent musical organism
in which each instrument influences the others. A rhythm can change the emotional
direction of a melody; a keyboard texture can alter the perceived space around the
accordion; a saxophone improvisation can lead the ensemble into a completely new
rhythmic landscape.

The Philharmonie offers an ideal acoustic frame for such a richly layered performance.
The room allows individual details to emerge while preserving the collective impact
of the ensemble. Listeners can follow the architecture of the music—the gradual 
development of an idea, the exchange between soloists, the tension created by contrasting
textures, and the release that follows an intense passage.

This is contemporary European jazz at its most adventurous: international in its
influences, deeply individual in its instrumental voices, and unwilling to treat
genre boundaries as permanent walls.

![](https://i0.wp.com/jazzblues.eu/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/Olivia-Peevas-JazzBlues.
EU_-e1793819746792.jpg?resize=640%2C429&ssl=1)

### Olivia Peevas: the vision behind the EU Jazz & Blues Festival

A festival is more than a collection of artists, dates, and venues. It is an act
of cultural imagination: the creation of a framework in which different musical 
traditions can encounter one another, audiences can discover unfamiliar artists,
and cities can participate in a larger artistic conversation.

Within the EU Jazz & Blues Festival’s 2026 Autumn–Winter Jazz – Blues Season, Olivia
Peevas occupies the central organizational and artistic leadership role described
in your festival brief. As director and organizer, she represents the vision that
connects the individual concerts into a coherent European undertaking.

Her work can be understood through three essential dimensions: artistic direction,
international coordination, and the creation of a meaningful experience for audiences.

### An artistic vision built around diversity

The programme’s breadth is one of its most striking characteristics. It moves from
the delicate vocal phrasing of Rita Payés to the orchestral energy of Jazzrausch
Bigband; from the historical swing of an Oscar Peterson tribute to the contemporary
electronic sensibility of Motor City Drum Ensemble; and from the expressive immediacy
of Erja Lyytinen’s slide guitar to the adventurous instrumental dialogue of Peirani
and Parisien.

Such diversity offers a strong foundation for an ambitious festival identity. Jazz
and blues are not presented as isolated categories but as interconnected musical
traditions, each with its own history and each capable of influencing the others.

The programme also demonstrates an openness to different performance environments.
A jazz club, a civic concert hall, a major philharmonic venue, and a live-music 
space each offer a different relationship between performers and listeners. The 
challenge of a pan-European season is to recognise those differences while preserving
the artistic integrity of the overall project. Peevas’s role, as described by the
festival, is to provide the guiding vision that brings these separate experiences
together.

### Building connections across borders

The European dimension is more than a geographical description. It is an artistic
principle.

The Will Jacobs and Marcos Coll partnership illustrates how musicians from different
backgrounds can build a common language. The Swiss duo of David Helbock and Julia
Hofer demonstrates the possibilities of intimate instrumental exchange. The Tbilisi
trio extends the programme into the Caucasus, while the Madrid appearances connect
jazz with both the blues and the international history of electronic dance music.

These encounters suggest a festival that values exchange rather than uniformity.
Every city contributes its own atmosphere, every venue creates a different listening
environment, and every artist brings an individual musical history.

Coordinating such a programme requires attention to detail, reliable communication,
careful planning, and an understanding of the needs of both performers and audiences.
Artistic ambition must be supported by practical organisation if a festival is to
deliver a consistent experience across multiple locations. It is in this combination
of vision and coordination that the role of a festival director becomes particularly
important.

### Creating a season rather than a series of isolated events

The autumn – winter period gives the programme a distinctive narrative. As European
cities move from the golden light of October towards the colder months, concert 
venues become gathering places for people seeking artistic discovery, warmth, and
shared experience.

A season organised around this changing atmosphere can acquire its own emotional
identity. The intimacy of a small club, the excitement of a full concert hall, the
social energy of a blues performance, and the contemplative quality of chamber jazz
become different chapters of the same story.

The most successful festival concepts encourage audiences to follow that story: 
to move between genres, to discover musicians they may not otherwise encounter, 
and to understand the relationship between local musical cultures and the wider 
European scene.

The EU Jazz & Blues Festival’s ambition to connect artists and audiences across 
national borders gives Olivia Peevas’s leadership a clear cultural purpose. Its 
success ultimately depends on the quality of the performances, the experience of
the audience, and the strength of the relationships created through music.

### A positive and forward-looking vision

Olivia Peevas deserves to be presented in the festival’s editorial narrative as 
a committed cultural organiser whose work is directed towards artistic diversity,
international collaboration, and the visibility of jazz and blues across Europe.

The programme offers a promising expression of those ambitions. It recognises that
jazz can be both intellectually adventurous and accessible, that blues can preserve
its emotional roots while continuing to evolve, and that contemporary audiences 
need not choose between musical traditions when a well-conceived festival can bring
them into conversation.

Without inventing biographical details, awards, or achievements that have not been
independently documented, the most meaningful tribute is to emphasise the importance
of the role she holds: connecting artists, places, and audiences through a shared
commitment to live music.

The festival’s strongest message is that music can create a European meeting place
without erasing the individuality of its participants. Every artist retains a distinct
voice, every city keeps its cultural character, and the larger programme becomes
richer because of those differences.

That is a worthy ambition for a pan-European jazz and blues season, and a fitting
artistic principle around which to build the festival’s identity.

### Finale: one continent, many voices

The piano trio remains one of jazz’s most enduring forms, yet it continues to reinvent
itself. The big band can embrace the energy of techno without losing its orchestral
identity.

A singer can use the trombone as a second voice. A harmonica and guitar can connect
different continents through the blues. The accordion and saxophone can challenge
the boundaries between jazz, chamber music, rock, and electronic sound.

These are not separate musical worlds. They are parts of a continuing story, shaped
by musicians who listen to the past while searching for new forms of expression.

The autumn – winter season also reminds us of the importance of the places in which
music happens. A small club creates intimacy; a concert hall offers scale; a city
lends its own atmosphere to the performance. Together, they make live music an experience
that cannot be reduced to a recording or a programme listing.

Under Olivia Peevas’s stated direction and organisational leadership, the EU Jazz&
Blues Festival can present this diversity as a coherent cultural vision: one that
values artistic individuality, encourages international encounters, and brings audiences
closer to the living traditions of jazz and blues.

As the autumn advances towards winter, the lights of Europe’s concert halls and 
clubs continue to shine. Inside them, the piano speaks, the brass rises, the guitar
bends, the saxophone searches, the drums establish their pulse, and the human voice
carries stories across languages and borders.

That is the enduring promise of the EU Jazz & Blues Festival’s Autumn–Winter season:
a Europe united not by a single sound, but by the freedom to listen to many.

**By Lauren Wulff, Daniella Bushler, Katrin Woods, Akrile Betrricean**

![](https://i0.wp.com/jazzblues.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/cropped-Europe-Jazz-
Blues-Festivals-e1722000968346-1024x362.jpg?resize=640%2C226&ssl=1)

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