28.02.2012                      05.Adar. 5772

Tel Aviv Jazz Festival:

The difference between successful and excellent

Performances by foreign guests were enjoyable at the three-day Tel Aviv Jazz Festival, but they lacked the added value of true excellence and surprise.

The Tel Aviv Jazz Festival 2012 that ended on Friday showed the difference between a successful festival and an excellent one. The former type has many − or at least quite a few − high-quality, interesting performances, and this festival definitely accomplished that. However, in contrast to past years, it seemed that this year’s three-day event lacked the “added value” of truly excellent and surprising performances by foreign guests, the ones whose music makes you feel uplifted or which gives you a positive vibe simply from the encounter with a top-notch artist. Such was the case with Kahil El’Zabar and Mario Pavone in 2008; Lee Konitz and Gutbucket in 2010; and Dee Alexander and Jaleel Shaw last year.
This year I didn’t really enjoy that kind of experience ‏(I attended about one-third of all the festival performances‏), and particularly not at the concerts by foreign jazz artists. It’s possible that a different selection of performers would have yielded the hoped-for added value, but such is the nature of a festival: It’s impossible to do everything….