jazzahead

jazzahead! 2026 will have a spectacular opening – a unique evening with the Norrbotten Big Band, known for its genre-busting collaborations. Sweden’s most innovative large jazz ensemble, from near the Arctic Circle, will open the trade fair and festival on Wednesday, April 22, 2026, at 8 p.m. in Messe Bremen’s Hall 7. The Grand Opening […]

Over two decades, jazzahead! has become established as one of the most important platforms for future jazz headliners to become visible internationally. Bands can apply from now until 8 October at jazzahead.de/showcases/ for one of the 38 coveted concert slots. Thousands of visitors and professionals from the jazz industry (booking, management, labels and more) will […]

A tremendous success for the jazzahead! trade fair. For the first time since the 2010s, the festival broke the 20,000 visitor mark: more than 23,000 attended from Wednesday evening to Sunday noon. The 130 concerts — spanning jazz, funk, afrobeat, electronica, and more — were well attended across over 40 stages throughout Bremen. Among them […]

The festival programme kicked off last night, and today the focus shifts to the opening of the trade fair – the two combining to make jazzahead! the unique event it is: by Sunday lunchtime, 20,000 concert-goers are expected to attend 130 concerts on more than 40 stages throughout Bremen, while around 3,000 delegates from more […]

How can lower-emission tours be conducted? How can younger generations be inspired to make music? How can albums and songs be marketed, and what role does streaming play in this? These questions are not just concerning jazz professionals, but everybody in the music industry. From Thursday, April 24, to Saturday, April 26, thousands of representatives […]

Discover international newcomers and established bands, check out experimental sounds, and danceable grooves in one long Friday night – all across the festival city of Bremen, with just one ticket. 85 concerts, 35 clubs, one ticket – the key facts of jazzahead! CLUBNIGHT. A night for all music lovers. From an upcoming New York Vocal […]

Discover international newcomers and established bands, check out experimental sounds, and danceable grooves in one long Friday night – all across the festival city of Bremen, with just one ticket. 85 concerts, 35 clubs, one ticket – the key facts of jazzahead! CLUBNIGHT. A night for all music lovers. From an upcoming New York Vocal […]

‘Good music is good no matter what kind of music it is,’ said Miles Davis. And jazzahead! has always had the mission to track down and to help people discover outstanding bands – increasingly to be found beyond the boundaries of jazz. 38 international acts will perform on three stages at the world’s largest industry […]

+++ The unique, one-off line-up for the Grand Opening concert of the trade fair on 23 April is now announced in full +++ All festival tickets now on sale +++ Improvisation & jazz for children, with workshops and concerts The keynotes of the largest gathering of the world’s jazz scene, MESSE Bremen’s jazzahead!, are above […]

Diversity and limitless variety: 38 acts with musicians from more than 20 countries will perform short concerts at the largest jazz trade fair in the world +++ Statements from members of our international juries As a place to discover the jazz world of today and to experience it live, brimming with life and with all […]

+++ Sustainability in the live events industry: jazzahead! 2025 in Bremen is taking the lead with a Green Touring Initiative +++ Touring becomes more sensible, effective and viable with Cooperative Booking +++ Selected showcase bands are available for performances around the dates of jazzahead! in April/May 2025 +++ Athina Kontou’s band Mother on a green […]

The first event of the MESSE BREMEN’s jazzahead! 2025 will be a major celebration and welcoming: the Grand Opening on Wednesday evening, an international gala concert, will offer a foretaste of the three jam-packed days (and nights!) of the festival and the fair, from 24 to 26 April 2025. Furthermore, the concert will not only […]

Registration for the 19th edition of jazzahead! at MESSE BREMEN starts today under the motto RECONNECT. Through registering, trade participants also gain immediate access to the ‘Talque’ online platform and thereby meet and exchange ideas, and be part of a very large and probably unequalled international industry network. Over the next eight months, jazzahead! itself […]

This Sunday 14 April saw the 18th edition of jazzahead! trade fair and festival in Bremen come to a close. With 2,985 registered professional participants from 66 nations and a total of 14,490 visitors attending the jazzahead! festival, the expectations set by the organizer Messe Bremen were more than met. “We were tempted to put […]

Yesterday the start of the 18th edition of jazzahead! is taking place in Bremen from 11 to 14 April. One of its first highlights was a well-attended opening ceremony with several performances by musicians from the 2024 partner country the Netherlands and representatives of the focus theme „Jazz from Africa“. Götz Bühler, Artistic Advisor of […]

A central element of jazzahead! is the Professional Programme of panels, talks and presentations at the trade fair, which is the largest of its kind anywhere in the world. From Thursday, 11 April to Saturday, 13 April, industry leaders from the international jazz sector will gather in Bremen to make connections, discover new music and […]

With just under a month to go, the jazzahead! leadership team has just given its main press conference in the run-up to jazzahead! 2024. On Tuesday afternoon they were at Union Brauerei Bremen, which will be one of several first-time venues included in this year’s CLUBNIGHT. The team presented this year’s programme of around 120 […]

A special highlight and a favourite feature of Bremen’s jazzahead! in April is its party night, CLUBNIGHT, treats for both newbies to the jazz scene and for people who’ve seen it all. This year’s city-wide extravaganza, on Friday 12 April, starts at 5 pm and, in some venues, goes straight through into the early hours […]

Key themes of the showcase programme at the forthcoming jazzahead!2024 are: a superb array of acts from the Netherlands, this year’s partner country; a very strong presence of women among the 40 acts, particularly in the role of bandleaders; a wide range of music from all areas of jazz; a clear societal message. The jazzahead! […]

The selection process for showcase acts is now complete: from a total of around 800 applications, five international juries bringing a high level of expertise have made their decisions. The 40 acts who will be performing at the showcase concerts for jazzahead! 2024 are announced today. jazzahead! 2024 is an event produced by MESSE BREMEN. […]

jazzahead! goes mambo – and presents the first names for its next edition in 2024. Dutch trumpet star Maite Hontelé and the internationally renowned Dutch youth jazz orchestra NJJO (Nationaal Jeugd Jazz Orkest) – and more guests still to be announced – are booked for the Gala Concert, which will take place on Saturday, 13 […]

Trade fair and festival to take place in Bremen already mid-April 2024, three full days and nights from the 11th to the 13th – Registration for professional participants has begun – Showcase application period for musicians has opened – Partner Country the Netherlands In keeping with the motto “New Horizons” the registration for the 18th […]

The 17th edition of jazzahead! at MESSE BREMEN came to an end at the weekend with a ceremony officially marking the handover to next year’s partner country. For three days and nights, Bremen once again became the world metropolis of jazz. Germany, as this year’s partner country provided many concert highlights, especially via the programme […]

Dear colleagues, jazzahead! 2023 started yesterday morning at MESSE BREMEN. One of the highlights of the first day of the trade fair was a major opening ceremony which was very well-attended. There was live music from, among others, two of Germany’ leading jazz musicians, trumpeter Till Brönner and bassist Dieter Ilg. The Mayor of Bremen, […]

jazzahead! Trade fair from 27 to 30 April in Halls 6 and 7 of MESSE BREMEN In a fortnight from today, the jazzahead! Trade Fair 2023, the biggest jazz industry gathering in the world, will start its 17th edition! Both the trade fair and the festival will start on Thursday, 27 April, and continue until […]

CLUBNIGHT will be on Friday 28 April, when, for one night, one ticket will give admission to no fewer than 30 clubs – 36 showcase concerts will take place at the MESSE BREMEN site – The German Jazz Prize concert is on the Thursday evening 27 April – Evening of words and music with German […]

A Change is Gonna Come…After this April’s jazzahead!, Ulrich Beckerhoff and Peter Schulze, Artistic Directors of the world’s biggest jazz industry gathering, will leave the team, it is announced today. After seventeen years, both of them are very much of the same mind: they now want to make the way clear for the next generation. […]

Challenge and opportunity The four “Commissioned Works” bands are taking shape and their performances are set to be both highlights and focal points of jazzahead! 2023. Bandleaders Heinrich von Kalnein, Daniel Erdmann and Felix Schlarmann talk about their projects. Thursday, 9 February · The “Commissioned Works” programme, in which four German bandleaders resident in other […]

The jury’s decisions have been made, jazzahead! 2023 at MESSE BREMEN continues to take shape – there is a definite buzz of anticipation here! Out of no fewer than 576 applications, 32 artists and bands have been selected to perform at the world’s largest jazz trade fair from 27 to 30 April. These are in […]

Four „Commissoned Works“ are announced as part of the Germany partner country programme. Band line-ups announced. jazzahead! in New York: a delegation from Bremen will be travelling to the U.S. metropolis in January to present jazzahead! and this year’s partner country Germany. And that’s not all: Ingrid Laubrock will give an exclusive concert in the […]

The night when Bremen’s clubs open their doors for jazzahead! will take place on Friday, 28 April. And that’s not all: a very popular feature of the evening has been restored: The “All-In-One” ticket, which entitles the holder to attend all of the concerts on the same evening is also making a welcome return. In […]

jazzahead! 2023 is going to be different, and in several respects: perhaps the most striking difference is the choice of Germany as partner country. In other words, the partner country and the host country will be the same for the first time. „We actually see this choice as overdue,“ says Sybille Kornitschky. Kornitschky, who runs […]

jazzahead! 2022, held under the motto „Together Again“, has come to a successful close. Following on from Canada this year, next year‘s partner country is already in place: it will be Germany, which means that the host country will combine two roles. „The principle of having a partner country is to place a country in […]

The jazzahead! Trade Fair, taking place from Thursday 28 April to Sunday 1 May at the MESSE BREMEN site, is looking to the future. Participants will see new paths and initiatives being taken in this area. „We want to explore the topics which are important for our scene,“ says Sybille Kornitschky, who runs jazzahead! for […]

Lots of music and plenty of variety: those are  some of the things which this year’s jazzahead! at MESSE BREMEN has to offer. At last, after a two-year hiatus, the festival is back. From 14 April to 1 May there will be over 100 concerts on the site of the Messe, and also in several […]

 In April, the Hanseatic City of Bremen is once again set to be the world’s jazz jazz capital for a few weeks – with all that goes with that: the stars, the concerts, interaction with others from the industry, and the joy of being together again. The organizers are extremely confident that this year’s jazzahead! […]

With a host of new ideas, and a significantly larger hall with more exhibition space, jazzahead! is heading towards its next edition in spring this year. „We’re back – and the offering is even more attractive,“ says Sybille Kornitschky, who runs jazzahead! for MESSE BREMEN. The trade fair itself will take place from 28 April […]

Bremen – all the dates are now in place and advance booking is open: a grand opening concert by Nova Scotia singer-songwriter Erin Costelo at the ‘Theater am Goetheplatz’ on Thursday, 14 April will set the jazzahead! festival 2022 in motion. This year’s partner country is Canada. The main event, the jazz trade fair including […]

Die Planung steht, der Vorverkauf hat begonnen: Mit dem großen Eröffnungskonzert von Erin Costelo im Theater am Goetheplatz startet am Donnerstag, 14. April das Festival der jazzahead!, das in diesem Jahr Kanada als Partnerland hat. Die Kern-Veranstaltung, die Messe samt CLUBNIGHT und Galakonzert, findet dann von Donnerstag, 28. April bis Sonntag, 1. Mai statt. Die […]

Registration now open for jazzahead! 2022 The run-up to jazzahead! 2022 has started: trade participants can register as of now for the 16th edition of the world’s largest international gathering for the jazz sector at MESSE BREMEN. For participants who register before Monday 18 October 2021, early bird discounts are available. The application round has […]

Exhibitors expressed their satisfaction, trade participants their enthusiasm, artists said how rewarding they had found it: there has been consistently positive feedback and much praise from all sides for jazzahead! digital 2021, which took place online for the first time under the motto „Close together from afar“. In total, 902 participants from 50 nations and […]

Dear colleagues, Band rehearsals, sound checks and the sounds of trumpets and pianos in the ÖVB Arena in Bremen: The 15th jazzahead! has started. From Thursday to Sunday, April 29 to May 2, 2021, the jazz trade fair from Bremen will bring together the international jazz industry – digitally for the first time. While twelve […]

 Two of the leading international organisations in jazz, the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz and jazzahead!, the world’s largest jazz trade fair, are jointly announcing a new co-operation in honor of UNESCO International Jazz Day 2021. jazzahead! this year takes place under the motto „Close Together From Afar“ and will run from Thursday 29 April […]

Inspiring conversations, targeted one-on-one meetings, valuable opportunities to network: Can they still happen at a digital trade fair? Yes, they can! In cooperation with a specialist partner, Enterprise Europe Network (EEN), jazzahead!, the world’s largest international jazz trade fair, is organising online matchmaking sessions over three days from Wednesday 10 March until Friday 12 March […]

And we’re on: jazzahead!, the world’s largest international jazz trade fair, was obliged to take a break in 2020 because of the Corona pandemic, but preparations for the 15th edition are now gathering pace. Under the slogan „Close together from afar“, the organisers are in the process of putting together the main elements of the […]

Under the motto „Close together from afar“, the organisers announce that they intend to implement large parts of the 15th jazz trade fair virtually. The dates will be Thursday 29 April to Sunday, 2 May 2021. These changes primarily affect the trade fair and the programme for industry participants. „Our goal is to facilitate and […]

 jazzahead! 2020 and the cultural festival which accompany it were due to be held in April, and would have marked a double anniversary. Both events, however, fell victim to the coronavirus pandemic, and the postponement was a huge disappointment to all those who had been looking forward to attending. Now the organisers have news to […]

Hans Peter Schneider, Managing Director of M3B GmbH, the parent company of MESSE BREMEN, explains why it has unfortunately proved necessary to make this decision: „jazzahead! exists in order to promote international meetings and the exchange of ideas, but this is unfortunately not possible during the coronavirus pandemic, and that includes the end of April. […]

Eberhard Weber’s sound is unmistakable, he has made a unique and revolutionary contribution to the evolution of the bass in jazz, and just a few months ago he turned 80. This living legend has been unable to play since suffering a stroke thirteen years ago, but he says with typical directness: „I still listen to […]