‘I saw Herbie Hancock play with D’Angelo, and my head exploded!’: Festival keeps jazz’s golden age alive | jazz

FOr one weekend in July every year, the massive warehouse complex in the coastal city of Rotterdam becomes home to the biggest names in jazz. Under the banner of the North Sea Jazz Festival, this windowless space has hosted performances from the likes of Miles Davis, free jazz pioneer Ornette Coleman, singer Etta James, saxophonist Wayne Shorter and even Prince.

“We’ve had all the major figures in jazz playing over the last five decades,” says Sander Grande, senior program director. “It’s where all musicians want to spend their time, and it’s where audiences come to see true, beautiful art.”

Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, the indoor festival has seen its fair share of concerts and late-night impromptu performances. “When the festival started, there were no other jazz festivals in the Netherlands,” says festival director Erin Peters. “We have now grown to have over 1,000 artists playing to 90,000 attendees.”

Founded in 1976 by jazz enthusiast and publishing magnate Paul Ackett, the festival was initially held at a concert venue in The Hague, with performances largely from the world of European and American jazz from 4pm to 4am. Highlights included three-hour performances from Ray Charles and Count Basie as well as Dutch composer Misha Mengelberg.

Even warring jazz factions competed across their lineups. Grande, who first joined the festival team as an intern in 1993, recalls that decade being marked by a battle for the soul of what constituted jazz itself. “There were Marsalis people who grew up in the New Orleans tradition complaining that jazz was becoming too popular,” he says. “Then you had acid jazz with Gil Peterson and Galliano, or rappers like Guru playing jazz all in the same lineup at North Sea. That’s basically the beauty of what we do: bringing together all the spectrums of black music that have been influenced by jazz and seeing what new combinations might arise.”

One place at the festival where these new musical groups are given space to improvise and explore is the nearby Bird Club, which opens after the festival’s headliners finish each night. Over the years, the late trumpeter Roy Hargrove became famous for appearing into the wee hours of the night to play with artists such as Erykah Badu and D’Angelo, who played some of their first international performances at the festival in the late 1990s, while in 2011, Prince took over the venue from midnight onwards for three consecutive nights, inviting everyone from Seal to Carlos Santana to play until dawn.

“Having a jam session is an integral part of a jazz festival, and of what this music actually is, which includes presenting material on the spot,” says Grammy Award-winning pianist and North Sea star Robert Glasper. “At one o’clock in the morning, after your shows are over, you know the cool kids will be there at The Bird, cutting it up and waiting for the legends to arrive. It’s part of what makes North Sea the best music festival in the world.”

Glasper played at the festival about 15 times, as a bandleader and as a side player with artists including Hargrove. In 2026, he will adhere to the North Sea spirit of improvised performances with three shows with different line-ups, including one featuring jazz and hip-hop musicians Christian McBride on bass and drummer Questlove, playing brand new material.

He believes the appeal of the weekend is as much in catching other acts as it is in getting on stage yourself. “I had a lot of firsts at the festival, like going to see Herbie Hancock play with D’Angelo and his band, as well as having my head blown off because [trumpeter] “Nicholas Payton Quintet,” he says. Even in the hotel lobby, you’ll run into your heroes on their way to breakfast, which is a lot to take in when you’re a young gamer. I remember seeing [pianist] Mulgrew Miller was sitting waiting for a car to pick him up, and he was speechless!

Veteran pianist Kenny Barron’s experiences performing at the festival in the late 1970s and early 1980s were also shaped by chance encounters in a hotel lobby. “I remember seeing everyone from James Brown to… [Cape Verdean singer] “Cesaria Evora is passing through,” he says. “A year after the show, I was waiting to head to the airport and drummer Grady Tate and singer Marlena Shaw came up and asked if I wanted to play the rest of their European tour with them since their pianist had just dropped out. I changed my flight — those are the things that can happen there.”

Preparing for her first performance at the festival this year, American saxophonist Alden Hellmuth is hoping to have some amazing encounters of her own. “I grew up studying videos of masters like Joe Henderson and Kenny Garrett playing on the North Sea stage, and I don’t know if I’ve gotten it right yet, and I’m joining that lineage now,” she says. “It feels like a place where everyone is at the top of their game. I’m looking forward to running to catch up.” [saxophonist] Charles Lloyd, who is playing at the same time as us, is a must-see, because he is a pioneer.”

Given that jazz has never been the most profitable or most youth-biased genre in the music industry, The festival increasingly brought in big-name R&B, Soul and Afrobeats acts alongside jazz stars such as Chick Corea and John Zorn. “It’s not something that pleases everyone, but about 80% of our attendees come back every year, which means we always need to attract the next generation,” Sander says. “This year we have Burna Boy but we also have [fusion guitarist] Pat Metheny and [avant garde pianist] Chris Davis: It’s about striking a balance and always paying tribute to music from black traditions.

Although other festivals with the word “jazz” in their name have embraced pop music’s influence wholeheartedly — including the Montreux Festival and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, which featured headliners including Zara Larsson and Lorde this year — organizers at the North Sea are ultimately keen to maintain their roots in jazz, where they first started.

“We have to reflect the changing times, but I think we’re currently living in a golden age of jazz,” Sander says. “You have the jazz scene in the UK and people like Kendrick Lamar using Robert Glasper on his records. Audiences will always be looking for this music, and no matter what we do, it will live on and be enjoyed for a very long time to come.”

The North Sea Jazz Festival takes place in Ahoy Rotterdam, Netherlands. Until July 12.