In her new solo programme, vocalist Sanem Kalfa extends the fragile intimacy of her performance with cello, ukelele and electronics. In I Am Here the singer uses live loops to build various layers. But even without these effects, her powerful voice is enthralling in its own right. Kalfa’s songs are about strong women. The lyrics are sometimes based on Turkish poetry. Sanem Kalfa is originally from Trabzon, on the Black Sea coast. With guitarist/violist George Dimitriu and reedist Joachim Badenhorst she has a programme with Black Sea Songs, but we’re saving that for another time.

Tuba player and bandleader Carl Ludwig Hübsch from Cologne has assembled a special trio for the ZJFT, featuring Gerry Hemingway on drums. This American percussionist is best known for his work with Ray Anderson and Mark Helias (BassDrumBone) and Anthony Braxton. The programme, with contemporary compositions and free improvisations, also features pieces by Misha Mengelberg. It will be an exciting activity to keep up with these instrumentalists in their musical narrative. Highly recommended for advanced listeners.

Groningen vocalist and bandleader Helene Richter’s work was also featured in Sauwerd at the 2019 ZJFT, when she performed with the band HALA. She now brings us a chamber music version of her idiosyncratic hop-step-and-jump songs. In Farbenfroh the emphasis is on the compositions. The Kurt Weil influence is never far away. In this drumless quartet, Helene Richter manages to enthral the audience without the rock rhythms.

The Portuguese bassist Gonçalo Almeida lives in Rotterdam. He is active in Dutch bands like Spinifex and Lama Trio and previously performed at the ZJFT with the trio Almeida/VanDuynhoven/Klein. Gonçalo Almeida continued to be involved in the lively Lisbon music scene, and this is where his string trio The Selva hails from. With his fellow countrymen Ricardo Jacinto and Nuno Morão on cello and drums, the bassist creates a distinctive group sound in which strong melodies go hand in hand with red-blooded improvisations.

Klatwerk3, Boelo Klat’s trio, celebrates its 15th anniversary in 2022. Their sixth (double) CD Space Age Suite has just been released, featuring original compositions taking the cosmos as its theme. The material on the new album was inspired by films about space (2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Trek, Interstellar). Bassist Jan Ruerd Oosterhaven has by now found his place in pianist Boelo Klat and drummer Ancel Klooster’s long term project. A press quote: ‘melodic, transparent, tight and powerful.’ This Groningen piano trio is game for anything. Space is the place!

It’s been a while since the inventive drummer Edward Perraud performed at the ZJFT (with Das Kapital, 2012 and Synaesthetic Trip, 2013). In his native France he is very successful with the band Supersonic, which once enthusiastically started by performing Sun Ra material. Together with vocalist and performer Elise Caron this extraverted French percussionist offers a programme in a kind of vaudeville atmosphere, featuring rowdy chansons and spoken word. The drummer pulls out all stops to empower what’s on the musical menu. That’s right up his alley, since Perraud is quicksilver in his responses.

This trio from Brussels took off with a flying start. At the band’s conception in 2016, the rhythm section was already well-tuned after a spell with Fela Kuti guitarist Oghene Kologbo. When baritone saxophonist Viktor Perdieus joined them, they went through the roof. They like to describe their music as ‘afro-punk rock-’n’-roll power’. Think of the noisy freejazz of the Scandinavian trio The Thing and you know what we’re talking about. Krassum can boast of a lively final party with West-African rhythms and grooving punk jazz.