Between Linz and Passau, near the village of Diersbach, the Austrian trombonist Paul Zauner organises the well-attended jazz festival INNtöne in July. On his farm in the beautiful rolling countryside amid fields, meadows and forests, the line-up each year is truly original.
This year’s 38th INNtöne convinced us that we must finally experience the atmosphere of this festival for ourselves. On Friday afternoon, several hundred eager visitors descended on the meadows above the farm. More than 30 concerts on four stages promised a three-day musical feast: the Open Air Bühne in the adjacent meadow, the Scheune, a large barn, the St. Pigs Pub, a former pigsty with two bars, and the Blue Horse Club, a former horse stable. Behind the organisers‘ welcome table, a covered dining room with an adjoining kitchen and bar occupied almost the entire courtyard of the farmhouse, where spectators were continuously refreshed during the busy day’s programme.
Michal Sýkora:
Paul Zauner introduced the Italian Duo Zanchini Mirabassi to the main Open Air stage in his own way. The excellent interplay between the virtuoso accordionist Simone Zanchini from Milan and the similarly experienced, not only sensitive but also passionate, clarinetist Gabriele Mirabassi from Perugia set the festival bar very high. The unusual combination of clarinet and accordion made their imaginative improvised jazz full of typical Italian melodies even more attractive. A beautiful example of European jazz and a great choice for an opening!
For those who are interested, I would like to remind you that a week later Simone Zanchini excelled at the South Bohemian Jazzfest in České Budějovice in Vasko Atanasovski’s band.
Michal Kratochvíl:
The duo of Simone Zanchini (accordion) and Gabriele Mirabassi (clarinet) proved to be a great choice to open the festival. Not boring, but they mixed very pleasantly various local Italian influences and even recalled jazz legend Charlie Haden in the impressive Our Spanish Lovesong. Simone used effects to add even more colour to the sound, and the final rocking track Un Tom para Jobim gave the impression that we were in the right place and that we were going to enjoy the festival.
Michal Sýkora:
Immediately following the concert on the outdoor stage, the barn launched the Jumping Jungle & Youth Jam Lab, a fun jazz orchestra of very young, enthusiastic musicians. They played a series of well-known jazz hits such as Cantaloupe Island, Mercy, Mercy, Mercy, Chameleon and Black Magic Woman with convincing fervor to the general delight of the large audience who had moved from the Open Air stage and were happy to absorb their youthful energy. Both singers Mena and Nora and especially the 12-year-old keyboardist Xaver amazed with their musical maturity and jazz sensibility.
Michal Sýkora:
The second performance on the main stage in the meadow brought the Brazilian Mônica Salmaso Trio to the stage. The charming singer Mônica Salmaso in a beautiful dress, Teco Cardoso on soprano saxophone, whistles and flutes and pianist Nelson Ayres presented us with Brazilian songs from different eras and styles in subtle jazz arrangements. Moreover, the charismatic Mônica, Brazil’s lyrical soul, enriched her heartfelt singing with various unusual percussion. A very pleasant expansion of musical horizons to include South American music.
Michal Kratochvíl:
As if the musicians wanted to tune us in to the Brazilian singer Mônica Salmaso and her trio with the previous number on the main stage. The singing, flute, piano, and poems set to music echoed movingly across the meadow as a thunderstorm swept by, which thankfully didn’t hit us in the end. The concerts were thus able to take place without complications. Mônica also played percussion, a large drum, and a snare drum, and her delivery was suitably urgent and the music almost dark in places. Another connection to the previous concert was made during the performance of Noite with lyrics by Gabriele Mirabassi in Italian. For Gracias a la vida, Mônica tracked down a verse in German, which moved the local audience. They finished beautifully on the stage near me (see video), bringing to a close this very nice performance, which I enjoyed much more than I originally expected.
Michal Sýkora:
As soon as the applause for Mônica Salmaso on the meadow was over, the Lenny Popkin Trio started their very calm cool jazz in the barn, so before the next main concert on the meadow we went to St. Pigs Pub, where the experienced Carlton Holmes Trio, consisting of Carlton Holmes – piano, Wolfram Derschmidt – bass and Dusan Novakov – drums, played with much more vigour. The raw ambience enhanced their compelling mainstream New York jazz.
Michal Sýkora:
Earthy be-bop awaited us back on the main Open Air stage. The American quartet Bobby Watson Post Motown Bop did not mess around, following the example of Art Blackey’s legendary Jazz Messengers. The ever great alto saxophone great Bobby Watson was expertly accompanied by Jordan Williams on piano, Curtis Lundy on bass and Victor Jones on drums. An apt addition to the festival program for an unforgettable era of bebop.
Michal Kratochvíl:
Bobby Watson started an American classic which, although it fit nicely into the course of the first evening and literally thrilled the local audience, did not impress me much. I admit that I was already slightly limping with fatigue during the concert. In the encore, Bobby got quite scattered and that woke me up as well, trying to gather my strength for the last performance of the first night.
Michal Sýkora:
The last Friday concert under the stars belonged to the Italian Emiliano D`Auria Quintet. Pianist Emiliano D`Auria with his bandmates Luca Aquino – trumpet, Manuel Trabucco – sax, Dario Miranda – bass and Ermanno Baron – drums presented exclusively his compositions from his latest album First Rain. Under Emiliano’s leadership, the energetic band was running like clockwork, trumpeter Luca Aguino and saxophonist Manuel Trabucco complemented each other perfectly, even overlapping. Beautiful modern Italian jazz before midnight.
Michal Kratochvíl:
Emiliano D`Auria Quintet presented beautiful modern jazz of European style, which was much closer to me just before midnight. A good performance was crowned by the balladic song Looking for Peace, which sent us off to the grove.
