The European Jazz Conference is held in a different country each year. This year – a special one, its 10th birthday – it took place in Ghent, one of the most beautiful cities in Belgium. It’s a creation of the Europe Jazz Network, an organisation of jazz promoters and organisations, itself over 20 years old.
Ghent is a splendid location and its rich medieval history makes it a perfect background for hosting the EJC. The conferences and various showcases were held at the Music Centre De Bijloke, a beautifully conserved historical building located on the outskirts of the city centre. For people familiar with the Ghent Jazz Festival, held in the park of the Bijkoke Centre, it felt a bit strange to be back in the same place, just without the usual crowds that gather there every summer.
The 2024 edition attracted more than 400 participants from all over Europe and beyond. (Why beyond? It included three members of the Canadian jazz scene.) The theme was “Tomorrow Comes Today”, taken from British pop band Gorillaz’s tune Tomorrow Comes Today. The song’s opening includes a Latin verse from a Gregorian chant, “Cum vix iustus sit securus,” meaning “When even the righteous may hardly be safe.” (Dies irae, 1215). From that the organisers leapt to the idea that today’s young sense no hope. So the conference heard from the young and encouraged greater inclusion of young people in jazz promotion and performance as well as airing their concerns about buzzword topics such as climate change and AI.
Interspersed between the various conferences, the showcases highlighted some of the best names in Belgian jazz, such as pianist Eve Beuvens, whose brand-new project Lysis was featured on Friday. With Lynn Cassiers on vocals and Lennart Heyndels on double-bass, Eve Beuvens assembled a brand-new trio built around the poetry of Robert Frost and Edna Millay.
While we still have to wait until next year to get to hear Eve’s new album on Igloo Records, pianist Wajdi Riahi presented his sophomore Essia album, released last year. Throughout the history of jazz, there have been many excellent examples of how a great teacher can shape a great student without simply creating a clone. Eric Legnini is a good example. Just as Igor Géhénot before Wajdi Riahi or, more recently, Luxembourg piano player Arthur Possing, they’re all his protégés.
After founding his trio in Brussels in 2020, Wajdi was immediately praised for his debut album by the press. Since then his career has been sky-rocketing. No wonder that apart from his own trio, the talented pianist is part of Stéphane Galland’s Rhythm Hunters project that was showcased the same day. The Aka Moon drummer chose the same path as the famous Belgian trio, exploring African trance-like movements alongside Indian and Balkan rhythms. Two showcases not being enough for him, Wajdi ended the evening in Bar Lume with the Aleph quintet, one of the fringe concerts taking place in five clubs around the city. After a long tour in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, the Belgian collective showed that there is no boundary between European jazz and North African music. After their first album released by Igloo Records in 2023, I cannot wait for their upcoming live release later this year.
Before closing the last afternoon with the uncompromising music of the Orchestra Nazionale Della Luna which, as the name doesn’t say, is a quartet comprising Manu Hermia on reeds, Kari Ikonen on keys and, last but not least, bassist Sébastien Boisseau and drummer Teun Verbruggen, we heard Aki, a young jazz collective led by drummer Anke Verslype, which enchanted the crowd with their unusual instrumentation, notably involving euphonium and harp.
With a discography of seven albums already, the trio De Beren Gieren displayed their invention at the Ha Concerts, a vibrant concert hall in the heart of the city, shortly before guitarist Julien Tassin and his quartet took the stage. The band was originally planned as a collaboration with trumpet player Ron Miles, who sadly passed away, so Tassin invited Jason Palmer to be part of his album Great Expectations. For the last gig of the weekend though, Jason Palmer was replaced by the Kansas City native, Hermon Mehari. Alongside two veterans from the Belgian jazz scene, namely Dré Pallemaerts on drums and Nicolas Thys on bass, Julien Tassin played his originals, clearly influenced by Bill Frisell or Jakob Bro.
Having enjoyed what could possibly be the last days of the Belgian summer (as Joe Dassin used to sing, the Indian summer is a season that only exists in North America), I headed home with nice memories from this memorable weekend that offered an eclectic mix of music and networking.
The 10th European Jazz Conference, Ghent, Belgium, 12-15 September 2024
