The Garana Jazz Festival
Garana, Romania
July 21-24, 2011

Hidden in the heart of the Western Carpathians, the small village of Garana, —also called Wolfsberg by the Bohemian colonists who have inhabited it until some 30 years ago—has developed, during the last decades, into an international artist colony—hosting, for the 15th time this year, Europe's only open-air jazz festival, a kind of contemporary Woodstock. Instead of diminishing its appeal, the capricious climate and the special location seem to increase the ambition of the participants to belong to the "chosen," if not few, ones. Throughout its relatively short history, the festival has featured an impressive lineup of high-class artists —including Eberhard Weber Eberhard Weber
b.1940
bass , Mike Stern Mike Stern
b.1953
guitar , Jan Garbarek Jan Garbarek
b.1947
sax, tenor , Charles Lloyd Charles Lloyd
b.1938
saxophone , Jean-Luc Ponty Jean-Luc Ponty
b.1942
violin , Stanley Jordan Stanley Jordan
b.1959
guitar, electric , John Abercrombie John Abercrombie
b.1944
guitar , Miroslav Vitous Miroslav Vitous
b.1947
bass , Zakir Hussain Zakir Hussain
b.1951
percussion and Nils Petter Molvaer Nils Petter Molvaer
b.1960
trumpet —becoming one of the most significant musical events of its kind, attended by thousands of jazz lovers who travel each summer to the mountains, ignoring the risk of rain and the chilly nights.

This year's illustrious lineup rewarded the audience with four days of good music in a well thought-out balance of consistency and diversity.

Thursday, July 21

Bassist Avishai Cohen Avishai Cohen
b.1971
bass , the undisputed star of the festival, was flanked by two solid Romanian shows: Horia Crisovan Quartet—a double resonance of chords surrounded by waltz twirls, pitched by flamenco accents like the swish of a whip, and tamed towards the end into the steady flow of a quiet river, and Liviu Butoi Quartet, featuring vocalist Luiza Zan, who performed a singular show , a smooth, ever-revolving oscillation between lyrical and abstract modes, punctuated by the harsh, distinct tones of the saxophone.

Avishai Cohen Trio came, saw and conquered like a summer storm that leaves you fresh and energized—except their show lasted a lot longer than that. As if determined to heighten the mood of the gloomy afternoon, Cohen gradually played himself warm, transporting the audience into a euphoria of rhythm and musicality. A master of his instrument, combining melodious, resonating chords with spectacular bouts of percussion, Cohen—together with his young but versatile band of pianist (Omri Mor & The AndalouJazz Project Omri Mor & The AndalouJazz Project
and drummer Amir Bresler Amir Bresler
—performed a good two-hour show in which the audience played an ever-increasing part. During the eight encores, which made up the more spectacular and passionate second half of the show, music became a unifying factor flowing out to the dancing and singing audience and returning to the stage with intensified energy. A memorable show by a stunning musician who was having a great time was summed up by the words: "You are the best audience I ever had!"

The evening was closed by the Polish band Jazzpospolita, with a quaint performance, a fusion of post-rock and modern jazz elements with solid classical influences.

Friday, July 22

The second day opened with the remarkably fluid show of Frederika Krier Frederika Krier
b.1982
violin Quartet—guitarist Peter Meyer, bassist Malte Tonissen and drummer Diego Pinera Diego Pinera
—performing a homogenous synthesis of jazz, minimalism and world music influences. Krier—an international jazz violinist and composer born in Romania, raised in Germany and presently living in New York—gave a dynamic performance characterized by tight, well-structured melodic sequences emerging from the tense, obsessive rhythmical patterns into inspiriting grooves. The first surprise of the festival.

Hiromi Uehara

Hiromi Hiromi
b.1979
piano Trio Project found pianist Hiromi Uehara, together with contrabassist Anthony Jackson Anthony Jackson

bass, electric and drummer Simon Phillips Simon Phillips
—three names that hardly need any introduction—bringing a highly fueled act of perfect musical interaction, building up the synergic tension, which invariably led to the innermost essence of jazz. Hiromi's aggressive and exacting performance fused energy to the brink of explosion, and electrified the audience, which followed the show almost breathlessly. Jackson's instrumental mastery made the harmonic link between two explosive rhythmical poles—Hiromi's almost masculine attacks of the keyboard combined with enormous joy of playing on one side, and Phillips' clockwork drumming of almost scary exactness on the other. A perfectly oiled jazz machine.

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