Vienne, Théâtre Antique, circa 70 AD. Set against the steep slopes of Pipet Hill, there would have been a full house that evening with about 13,000 spectators applauding a Plautus comedy.
Close to 2,000 years later, here we are celebrating in the same place the 44th edition of Jazz à Vienne. Sitting on a hot stone seat where you could easily fry an egg, I am admiring the beautiful view over the stage. The Oriental Jazz Night is all set to begin.
Before the two oud maestri, Rabih Abou-Khalil and Dhafer Youssef, hit the stage, Pakistani vocalist Arooj Aftab is warming things up with her quartet. Since France is still a liberal-minded country, no one seems to bother about the vocalist drinking wine on stage or offering a round of beers to the first row. What is more shameful, however, is her rude language on stage, somehow inspired by the likes of Popa Chubby.
While nasty clouds were slowly but surely polluting the sky before a late-night storm, French resident Rabih Abou Khalil brought with him his long-standing companion, US percussionist Jarod Cagwin, together with Polish strings borrowed from the Atom String Quartet – namely, virtuosi Mateusz Smoczyński and Krzysztof Lenczowski. With his usual quirky sense of humour, the Lebanese oud poet entertained the crowd in between his original pieces which were carefully crafted for the gig.
While raindrops were falling, people kept to their seats to enjoy the last concert of the evening by Tunisian oudist, Dhafer Youssef. Unlike Rabih Abou-Khalil’s subtle sense of humour, Dhafer Youssef’s jokes would sit better in a Tunisian souk than on a concert stage. Having said that, his music was impeccable and just like his predecessor on stage, he assembled a top-notch cast around him – namely, Mario Rom on trumpet, Swaéli Mbappé on bass, Tao-Ehrlich on drums and last but not least, Daniel Garcia on piano. With this brand new quintet and a new album coming out this autumn, Dhafer Youssef pursues his almost 30-year career with his genuine approach both on the oud and in his unique voice.
The next day, 3 July, the two headliners performing in the Théâtre Antique were proud representatives of British soul at its best – namely, Manchester-born Lusaint, premiering in Vienne, and Michael Kiwanuka. Lusaint’s captivating voice keeps the spirit of Amy Winehouse alive. As she mentioned during her gig, moving to London proved to be a real challenge which she overcame through the love of music. With a repertoire of her own originals mixed with covers, she had the audience singing along on more than one occasion. Whatever she sings, she does it with total heart and soul and that’s what matters. Mentioning how excited she was to sing some songs for the very first time before the release of her second EP, she did not forget being in a jazz festival when she covered Nina Simone’s Feeling Good.
Next on stage (with double the audience of the night before), Michael Kiwanuka was back for the second time after his 2022 gig. As humble as before, the singer-songwriter always creates an intimacy with the audience even in front of a few thousand people.
Since last year and their focus on Switzerland, Jazz à Vienne is using its aura as a large festival to introduce the audience to jazz from different European countries. Thanks to a partnership with the Luxembourg cultural organisation, kultur lx, a carefully selected choice of Luxembourg groups was invited to perform on different stages – namely, in the garden of Cybèle and the adjacent small theatre turning into a club night concert ’round midnight. Young trumpeter Daniel Migliosi came with his crew based in Cologne where he resides, to perform what he likes best, post-bop. He takes us back to the Blue Note era of the 1960s. Teaming up with young Englishman Sean Payne on saxophone in the same way that Freddie Hubbard did with Jimmy Heath, the trumpeter started the gig with a Lovano cover, Fort Worth, which he described as an ideal start before jumping to one of his own pieces, from his second album released last year. Admitting he usually speaks too much, Migliosi composed a ballad named Take Your Time. We should indeed always take the time to listen, unlike some politicians who tend to act foolishly instead of listening to their advisers. On this first day of his summer tour, Migliosi also played 1964 Hancock’s One Finger Snap, a theme which, by the way, the pianist himself never played in Vienne despite being here at least 16 times.
The next day, the Cybèle stage was shared both by Arthur Possing’s incredible solo performance and by the Singülar trio. While performing mostly self-penned material from his first solo album, Possing, a former student of Eric Legnini, had a nice take on Sting’s Fields Of Gold, a theme played by the latter a few days before in Luxembourg during his 3.0 tour which he shares with Luxembourg drummer, Chris Maas. Unlike classically trained pianist Jean-Philippe Koch from Dock in Absolute, who gave a stunning club-night performance the night before, Arthur Possing is a genuine improviser who has the ability to play long pieces in a Jarrett sort of way. As the last band featuring Luxembourg that day, the Singülar trio came to existence after a residency in Dudelange, home of the Like A Jazz Machine festival. Displaying their singularity on the European jazz scene, Pascal Schumacher together with French drummer Edward Perraud and German multi-instrumentist Sebastian Studnitzky gave an outstanding performance which was more like a sonic voyage outside the boundaries of jazz.
Bringing jazz outside its usual boundaries seems to have been the organisers’ bet when choosing to dedicate the evening of 4 July to an alternative jazz night that ignited with Ishkero and their mentor, Donny McCaslin. Following Meshell Ndegeocello’s intimate set, it was time to beautifully end the evening with Kamasi Washington. I must admit that listening to his latest album left me a bit puzzled but once on stage, the music started to make sense and the interaction with the audience only made things better. There was a particularly touching moment when he explained the story behind the theme he was about to play. His four-year old daughter, who was dancing backstage, actually wrote a small tune that her proud father later developed into a full piece. With his wife joining him on stage to sing a tune, the gig was definitely a family affair.
Spending three days out of the full festival length of 16 is indeed not much but as one would say, “better than nothing”. With the hope of being back next year when Spain will be the country in focus, I am tempted to raise my thumb up, not down as it might have been in a “sword and sandals” Hollywood film. Finis bene, omnis bene.
Jazz à Vienne, 26 June-11 July 2025, Vienne, France
Editor’s note: among the pop, soul and world music that dominated the 2025 Jazz à Vienne bill, jazz was apparent in performances by such as Biréli Lagrène, Martin Taylor, Ulf Wakenius and Monty Alexander.
