The 8th VIP Zagreb Jazz Festival

Famous names from the world of jazz - John Medeski, Mostly Other People Do The Killing and Gretchen Parlato, will be the headliners of this year’s 8th VIP Zagreb Jazz Festival, which will take place between 2nd and 4th of November at Zagreb’s VIP Club.

John Medeski, Mostly Other People Do The Killing and Gretchen Parlato – renowned names from the global jazz scene, will be headlining the 8th VIP Zagreb Jazz Festival, which will take place at Zagreb’s VIP Club between 2nd and 4th of November.

The concerts will take place in the evenings, starting at 8 p.m., and the festival will be opened by the versatile New York-based musician – pianist, keyboardist, organist, composer and producer, John Medeski. John is part of the Medeski Martin & Wood Trio, but he is the one who is most involved with presenting jazz to younger audiences, as he has a versatile style consisting of various genres of music, including gospel, jazz, soul, world music, blues, funk and even hip-hop. He has prepared a similar repertoire for this traditionally well attended Zagreb festival.

The headliners on the second evening of the festival will be members of the versatile quartet of young musicians named Mostly Other People Do The Killing. As the name suggests, these musicians know no borders of convention, and they dominate the stage with interesting interpretations and essences of many contemporary music genres. Their foundations lie in jazz, of course, but their repertoire varies from the seemingly classical jazz rhythms to parodies of legendary jazz greats, which propelled them to popularity on the global jazz scene.

In these parodies, they intertwine various contemporary music trends, skilfully combining bossanova with rock, boogaloo and smooth jazz, hard pop and reggae, swing and disco… An interesting fact is that they are coming to Zagreb at the height of their success, as a group and individually, having been selected as the best upcoming stars by the critics of DownBeat magazine.

The last evening of the festival is reserved for a lady – American musician, composer and poet, Gretchen Parlato, whose music can be described as simple, calming, intimate and, thus, very effective. International jazz critics and critics affiliated with the aforementioned DownBeat magazine have voted her as the best singer this year, which is the latest of many recognitions she has received for her music as well as for her poetry over the last few years from various critics and music associations.

She will perform part of her diverse repertoire for the Zagreb audience. Tickets for all three concerts can be purchased only at the VIP Club box-office on the days of the concerts. The box-office will be open one hour before the beginning of the concerts.