Jazzbühne Lech Festival 2025, Austria
Lechwelten Convention Center, 12-15 August
Lech’s Jazzbühne Festival takes place in one of the most elegant mountain resorts in western Austria. Though mainly known for its skiing, there has been a tendency towards more summer events, such as annual classical music and philosophy festivals to make the atmosphere more “year round”.
Not least is the jazz festival which has been running for over 10 years. Philip Waldhart is a local resident who has been encouraged to put his love for jazz into an annual series of four concerts over four nights, initially in venues such as the local bus garage. His determination has been rewarded by there being a new bespoke concert hall in the village. Impeccable acoustics and atmosphere allowed us to focus on the music and the musicians seem to sense our enthusiasm!
It’s very much a chamber festival and all about the music with no really big stars. There are no efforts to court commercialism for the sake of it. And the festival has really taken advantage of this by bringing a gorgeous Fazioli piano, especially transported nearly 500 miles from Vienna! So all four nights were, unsurprisingly, piano-oriented and melodic with a strong sophisticated edge.
Sebastian Studnitzky & Andrii Pokaz
The first night was a duo of Berlin-based Sebastian Studnitzky on flugelhorn and Ukrainian pianist Andrii Pokaz. Studnitzky himself has a strong background in both classical and jazz music which showed clearly. The connection with Pokaz dates back to well before the recent war, and there was an album released which involved the Odesa Philharmonic Orchestra. The original tour ahead of the release was written up in a feature last year in UK Jazz News .
It created a beautiful and moving chamber interaction. And, by Studnitzky using flugel rather than trumpet throughout, it had a very personal lyrical sound, almost like the human voice. Meanwhile it was especially moving to have Andri Pokaz from Odesa, giving it an additional emotional layer: music therefore that gave us hope through the beautiful and thoughtful interplay.
Abuzar Manafzade
On the second night we heard Abuzar Manafzade from Azerbaijan. It was an extended piano solo concert in a more classical sense with both originals and other works, as Manafzade is a composer as well as a pianist. He also effectively used the melodica to enhance his performance, such as with the opening version of Rhapsody in Blue, imitating the clarinet. Other composers included Rachmaninov, Satie and Chopin, as well as some of his own recent compositions, which stood up well in comparison. There was a smart transition from a piece of his own based on Azeri folk to nuevo tango of Astor Piazzola. We really got to appreciate the Fazioli piano. Relatively little improvisation, but none the worse for that, as he linked the music in a flowing manner through his introductions, which mixed the personal and informative.
Two nights then followed with the ‘classic’ jazz trio of piano, bass and drums. Very different, perhaps reflecting the new generation and another at a more developed stage of their partnership.
The Finnish trio of young pianist Ida Alanen was relatively gentle and experimental. Music for the new generation,as they drew us in. Generally well balanced with a beautifully integrated approach, though it could seem tentative at times. They seem to be working hard to develop some added timbres to the sound, with some subtle textures created by the bass and drums especially at the opening. However, exceptionally for a concert with generally such great sound, they didn’t always carry well and got somewhat submerged.
Rembrandt Frerichs
The last night was given over to the trio of Rembrandt Frerichs. And we certainly could feel their experience come through in how they managed to communicate with us as an audience. Between the originals, they managed to slip in Chick Corea, Erik Satie, and Kurt Weill (with his “September Song” as an encore) There was a lot of joyous interplay and space for solos by all instruments, especially the drums, who were allowed to skitter across the instrument.
With this new space in situ, we must hope that the festival goes from strength to strength and there are also other interesting concerts as it evolves. It won’t need to emulate the high profile artists who play at the St Moritz festival in Switzerland, but there is the chance to have the best musical experience, rewarding the committed audience.
(Oliver Weindling)