Jazz in Latvia 2020

This issue was created by the Latvian Music Information Centre, with the support of the State Culture Capital Foundation of Latvia and in collaboration with JAZZin.lv, exclusively for the Jazzahead! trade fair and its guests to introduce our local talents to the world. Then the global crisis caused by a corona virus forced a postponement of this major jazz event of the year. However, after consulting with the artists we have decided to make this wonderful release available to a global jazz audience in form of a digital album.

“From dark and murky avantgarde jazz to crisp, palpable textures and soothing tone” is how the musicologist Dāvis Eņģelis describes one of the album's compositions, and this pretty much characterizes the whole album. While Latvia has a very strong jazz tradition (the first jazz concert by a touring band from the United States took place here in the 1920s), its history in our land is full of challenges. By the end of the 1970s the genre had gone so far underground that no one could have imagined that this music would rise again and become so popular among the young and stylish crowds. So here you go: Jazz in Latvia 2020 includes vocal jazz with original lyrics by local poets in English and Latvian, instrumental jazz ranging from tradition to melodic modern and avant-garde up to a fusion of funk and hip hop music.

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