Bill Evans, Julie Campiche and Chelsea Carmichael help Burghausen International Jazz Week bounce back

There's no getting around jazz in Burghausen. During the International Jazz Week Burghausen many posters and large banners with the names of the artists who will be performing during the six-day festival in the beautiful town on the German-Austrian border cannot be overlooked. But all year round, jazz in Burghausen follows you wherever you go, in the truest sense of the word. For in the old ducal town with the world's longest castle, there is the Street Of Fame in the promenade of the old town. The bronze relief slabs embedded in the pavement with the names of the numerous jazz legends and jazz greats who have performed in Burghausen during the 50 years of the Jazz Week exude a touch of Hollywood.

The line-up of the current 51st festival after a two-year break from Corona is not quite as sonorous. Especially since the stars Al Di Meola, Till Brönner, Richard Bona and John Helliwell, who were supposed to take part in the unconvincing Mandoki Soulmates project by Hungarian drummer and music producer Leslie Mandoki, all didn't show up - and no one explained the reason to the audience!

Germany's popular soul singer Joy Denalane was in Burghausen and in the large Wackerhalle, although not with a full band as planned, but only as a duo with keyboardist Roberto Di Gioia due to a short-term corona illness of her drummer. In the end, a stroke of luck, because the two on stage had to modify the programme and improvise quite a bit - from which the performance drew its tension. While US saxophonist Bill Evans and his The Spy Killers! with German drummer Wolfgang Haffner were convincing with their crisp fusion jazz, some of the other acts, such as the Dutch troupe Jungle By Night with their self-proclaimed analogue dance music, remained pale and seemed rather out of place in the large, seated Wackerhalle in front of a predominantly older audience.

Unfortunately, two young artists in Burghausen, who were looking for edges and corners in their art one after the other in the beautiful Stadtsaal, did not succeed in attracting younger people to jazz as well. With her modern, dub-soaked, vital spiritual jazz and long tunes, the British saxophonist Chelsea Carmichael (above) reminded us in some moments of her popular US colleague Kamasi Washington, even if she does not come across as flamboyant, accompanied by electric guitar, electric bass and drums and already follows a different, but excitingly stimulating line. And the Swiss harpist Julie Campiche (below) places her instrument, which is not often heard in a jazz context, in an electronic environment. She conjured unusual sounds from the harp, which blended perfectly with the sounds of her band, sometimes dreamlike, sometimes gripping, to create beguiling soundscapes between ambient and modern jazz.

Also in the Stadtsaal was an afternoon with the motto Next In Jazz. Besides the Swiss quintet Ikarus and the Austrian shooting stars of recent years, Shake Stew, the young Munich singer and pianist Alma Naidu presented herself with her quartet. Great voice, lots of expression, but jazz is certainly not what she sings and plays. Will her poppy songs be enough to be celebrated as the Next Big German Jazz Thing, as some are already doing?  

On the other hand, those who liked classic jazz were always in good hands at the end of all six festival evenings in the beautiful ambience of the Jazzkeller in the Mautnerschloss, where an excellent quartet led by German saxophone colossus Johannes Enders entertained the audience at a late hour with flawless, superbly played straight ahead jazz. Moments when Burghausen 2022 was one of the most fun.