‘We inspired people with jazz’: Elbjazz hails record sales

A total of 20,000 day and two-day tickets were sold for Elbjazz 2019, in a record-breaking ninth edition for one of Germany’s largest jazz festivals.

On both days of the event, Friday 31 May (headlined by Jamie Cullum) and Saturday 1 June (headlined by Tower of Power), around 15,000 people attended, at both festival sites, at venues in Hamburg’s HafenCity and at the Blohm + Voss shipyard. More than 50 artists played, with other performers including London trio Kamaal Williams, Danish bluesmen the Savage Rose and electronic folk artist Sophie Hunger.

Other highlights included an appearance by Hamburg’s senator for culture and media, Carsten Brosda, a ‘history of jazz’ set by pianist Jason Moran at the Elbphilharmonie and a performance by the Michael Wollny trio at Blohm + Voss which “stunned the audience with its breathtaking improvisation”.

Elbjazz festival director Alexander Schulz attributes the festival’s success to the growing public appetite for jazz music, as documented in IQ’s recent jazz feature, with the festival “inspiring” its visitors with its diverse line-up.

“The artists who had appeared were enthusiastic about the unique festival atmosphere”

“We are very pleased with the entire course of the festival,” he comments. “Whether they performed at Blohm + Voss, at the Elbphilharmonie, at St Katharinen or on the MS Stubnitz, the artists who had appeared were equally enthusiastic about the unique festival atmosphere, the extraordinary venues and the audience. Everything went according to plan.

“The weather also played along and spoiled us with early summer temperatures. We are very happy about these two successful days, but especially about the fact that we once again inspired tens of thousands of visitors with jazz.”

Elbjazz 2020 takes place on 5 and 6 June. Ticket sales begin in November 2019, with the first 11,000 Elbjazz 2019 ticket buyers given priority.

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