Gărâna Jazz Festival – July 11, 2026
Saturday at the festival in Gărână had it all – from the intimate atmosphere in the church at Brebu Nou to a lively open-air disco.
Mindthegap Trio & FLOW.Strings Quartet (Ștefan Ormenișan – keyboards, Alex Cioată – bass guitar, Tamás Iszlai – drums, string quartet) put on a brilliant performance at the church in Brebu Nou. The rock energy, backed by precisely arranged strings, really hits the spot. Perhaps the sound in that venue was a little ‘overdone’, but that didn’t put the audience off in the slightest – the packed church rewarded them with a rousing standing ovation.
VanDerCris (Horea Crișovan – guitar, Dănuț Blaga – bass guitar, Lucian Nagy – wind instruments, Florin Cvașa – drums, Marcelle Poaty – piano) are practically fixtures at Gărână, having performed there more often than any other act in the festival’s history. This time, I think I saw them for the third time, and I’d say this time I enjoyed them most. Right from the start, I was pleased that they’d understood the church’s acoustics and, at least initially, dialled back the volume a bit. Gradually, however, they ramped it up, until by the end it was a bit on the edge, but I enjoyed it.
On Saturday evening on the main stage in Poiana Lupului, the Joanna Duda Trio (Joanna Duda – piano, Michał Bryndal – drums, Jort Terwijn – double bass) kicked off their set, which initially struggled with a sound system that was far too aggressive, as if the sound engineers had wanted to transport the sound from the church straight out into the open countryside. Once things had settled down, however, the performance really got going. The piano trio, subtly ‘spiced up’ with electronics, was a success, particularly when they played tracks from their new album, Fumitsuke.
Mammal Hands (Jordan Smart – saxophone, Nick Smart – piano, Rob Turner – drums) were one of the highlights of the day for me (and probably of the whole festival too). When I missed them in Prague back in March due to illness, fate made up for it here. They played tracks from their new album Circadia as well as some older pieces, and it was fascinating to watch their hypnotic motifs echoing through the Romanian hills. Enjoy the video…
The Oz Noy Trio (Oz Noy – guitar, Dennis Chambers – drums, Brian Charette – organ) confirmed that their music is a sure-fire hit. Although I’d already heard a similar setlist recently at Jazz Dock and Michal S. did in the gig in Brno, with this new line-up, it was once again a pleasure. This ‘jazz that doesn’t sound like jazz’ is simply a delight, whatever the line-up.
The closing act, Why Kai (Kai von der Lippe – keyboards, Elias Tafjord – drums), kicked things off with a proper wild set. The combination of keyboards, electronics and drums, played at full volume, worked like a magnet. In no time at all, a dance party broke out in front of the stage, which felt more like a raucous disco than a jazz festival. It was the perfect way to round off a long day, but we only managed to stick it out for about half an hour.
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