This year, the BMW Welt Jazz Award is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Under a yearly changing theme, six free Sunday matinees will take place at BMW Welt’s double-coned structure between February and April 2018. Afterwards, the expert jury will nominate two ensembles to perform at the finale concert on June 9, 2018. The audience will also have a chance to vote for their very own favorite. For the kick-off, two ensembles will compete in February: The German ensemble LBT on February 18, and the Finish Jukka Eskola Soul Trio on February 25. This year’s theme will be “Jazz moves”.
Together with bassist Maximilian Hirning and drummer Sebastian Wolfgruber, pianist Leo Betzl regularly performs as the rhythmic group known as LBT. They started their trio three years ago, while studying at the University of Music and Theatre Munich. Since then LBT has produced music that surprises its audiences with drama and excitement alike. The trio likes to experiment and as such has won various awards including Steinway’s young talent award, Kurt Maas Jazz Award and Hansjörg Henzler Jazz Award. With their new program featuring a combination of techno and jazz, the trio is asking for a dance at the BMW Welt on February 18.
Over the past ten years, trumpeter Jukka Eskola demonstrated his versatility by joining renowned ensembles playing various kinds of music including dancefloor with Five Corners Quintet, expressionist jazz with the big band of Mikko Innanen and entertaining parodies of jazz with Jimi Tenor. Together with organist Mikko Helevä and drummer Teppo Mäkynen, the Jukka Eskola Soul Trio returns to the essence of jazz. Following its own rules and using a humorous approach, the trio will perform moving soul jazz as heard by Blue Note and Prestige in the 1960s and 70s, on February 25 at BMW Welt’s double-coned structure.