67. Jazz festival Ljubljana

Pat Metheny
2025-07-01 21:00 - 2026-08-10 23:30 UTC | Križanke, Trg francoske revolucije 1, Ljubljana, 1000, Slovenia
Pat Metheny: Side-Eye III+ (US)
Wednesday, 1 July, 9 pm – Križanke Summer Theatre
Tickets (standing / seating – unassigned, limited availability): presale: 45, 36* EUR , on the day: 50, 40* EUR
*Visitors aged under 25, over 65 and pensioners
Festival pass: EUR 115 BUY TICKET HERE Pat Metheny, guitar; Chris Fishman, piano, keyboards; Jermaine Paul, bass; Joe Dyson, drums
His music transcends genres, as evidenced by the Grammy Awards he has won in ten different categories – from new age, pop and country to jazz, naturally, most of them in the last named category, which makes him the only artist ever to have achieved this. He has a total of twenty gold records and three gold albums, as well as an impressive songbook of jazz standards.
It goes without saying that working with a roster of artists as diverse as Ornette Coleman, John Zorn, Joni Mitchell, and David Bowie calls for tremendous musical versatility and the corresponding technical virtuosity. He cites Miles Davis, Wes Montgomery and The Beatles as having the biggest impact on his music.
Metheny has been a key player in fusion jazz for the past four decades, with a broad community of followers, also satisfying their preferences for experimentation. We have consistently followed his artistic development, hosting Metheny with different line-ups at the Jazz Festival Ljubljana three times, most recently nine years ago. The Pat Metheny Group, active since 1978 with various changes in personnel, has decisively shaped the development of the jazz fusion genre and allowed him to evolve his distinctive lyricism under the auspices of ECM Records.
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He composes contemporary classical and film music, dreamy solo ballads, and virtuoso pieces, creating a canon of new standards, while also keeping an eye out for young new talents with whom to share his vision. Thus, in 2016, which many in the US see as the advent of a new dark age, Metheny started the Side-Eye project. The name is slang for “raising an eyebrow,” being sceptical, distrustful, or disapproving, which is how the world has been looking at the US since 2016. Among the first to be invited to his home studio were two brilliant musicians, pianist James Francis and drummer Marcus Gilmore; their Side-Eye NYC (V1.IV) album instantly earned a Grammy nomination.
The latest core lineup of the Side-Eye III+ project consists of Chris Fishman, a drummer-turned-pianist from the Louis Cole (Knower) orbit and the rising drumming star Joe Dyson, who brings New Orleans–style vehemence to the trio and has inspired Metheny to write several new compositions specifically for this trio. At Ljubljana Jazz Festival the non-classical guitar–piano–drums trio will be joined by Californian musical up-and-comer on bass, Jermaine Paul. At the end of February, their latest album was released on Pat Metheny’s newly founded label, Uniquity Music Their, which from now on will house of Metheny’s entire catalogue from 1984 and onward.

Dee Dee Bridgewater
2025-07-02 19:00 - 2026-08-11 23:30 | Gallusova dvorana
We Exist! The Dee Dee Bridgewater Quartet (US)
Thursday, 2 July, 7 pm – Gallus Hall
Tickets (no assigned seating): presale: 38, 34* EUR , on the day: 42, 37* EUR
* Discounted admission prices for people younger than 25, older than 65 and
Festival pass: 115 EUR BUY TICKET HERE From an early age, she has felt an urge to express her inner voice through performance. The moment she first stepped onto the stage, she did so with total confidence, forging her own style – uncompromising and unrestrained. Over six decades, she has moved effortlessly across genres, performing at the Sanremo Festival, recording over 20 albums, and acting in theatre and film – all by following her heart, in her own words. She has received three Grammy Awards and a Tony Award for her role as the Good Witch in the Broadway musical The Wiz.
Throughout her career, she has been driven by personal integrity, professional autonomy, and boundless creativity, and has also given a voice to the voiceless as a UN Goodwill Ambassador. Twenty years ago, she founded her own record label, DDB Records, and became a producer. She holds honorary doctorates from prestigious music universities and was inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame. Her musical credentials read like a who’s who of jazz royalty: Sonny Rollins, Dizzy Gillespie, Horace Silver, Dexter Gordon, Max Roach, Ray Charles, B. B. King…
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Just as she once received advice from her role models Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, and Betty Carter, who taught her to be fearless and command the stage, she now passes on her experience and knowledge to younger generations. Through her Woodshed Network programme, Dee Dee has recently mentored young female jazz musicians, sharing her wisdom on surviving in the male-dominated music industry and standing up to discrimination and misogyny. Her protégées include Jazzmeia Horn and Lakecia Benjamin.
In this spirit, and as a direct response to the Gaza war, she formed the quartet We Exist!, bringing together young female musicians – pianist Carmen Staaf, bassist Rosa Brunello, as well as drummers Shirazette Tinnin and Evita Polidoro. The band’s repertoire, opposing patriarchy and social injustice, is like a journey through the history of songs of rebellion and long-unheeded warnings from the past. Dee Dee Bridgewater, now a musical icon herself, pays tribute to the timeless luminaries Roberta Flack, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, and Abbey Lincoln, reaching for the most haunting songs in the jazz canon, such as Tryin’ Times, Danger Zone, Strange Fruit, Mississippi Goddam, I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free – all the while inviting the audience to listen to the lyrics. Truly listen.

aja monet
2025-07-05 18:00 - 2026-08-14 23:30 | Linhartova dvorana, Prešernova cesta 10, Ljubljana, 1000, Slovenia
aja monet (US)
aja monet, lead vocals; Brian Hargrove, piano; Micah Collier, double bass; Zach Morrow, drums
aja monet is a multidisciplinary artist in the finest sense of the word – a poet, writer, spoken-word virtuosa, cultural worker, community organiser and activist based in Brooklyn. Her writings address the themes of injustice, persecution, resistance and systemic violence from East New York to Palestine (she has been deeply involved in discourse surrounding the occupation over the last ten years), but also belonging, motherhood and notions of community. At age 19, she was the youngest ever Nuyorican Poets Café Grand Slam champion.
Her debut album, when the poems do what they do, (recorded in collaboration with a roster of esteemed musicians, most notably Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah, and also Samora Pinderhughes, Lonnie Holley, Marcus Gilmore…) is a mind-altering spoken-word cry, centering around themes of Black resistance, love, and the inexhaustible quest for joy....More ... “These aren’t poems for poets, but poems for everyone.” Last year, it was nominated for a Grammy Best Spoken Word Poetry Album. Her upcoming book, Florida Water, explores migration, belonging, and healing amid climate change and systemic violence.

Saturday, 5 July at 18.00
Linhart Hall
Presale (until 1 July inclusively) EUR 24, 20*, regular prices EUR 28, 24*
Day pass with the concert in Linhart Hall (aja monet) presale (until 1 July inclusively) EUR 35, 28*, regular prices EUR 38, 32*
*visitors aged under 25, over 65 and pensioners
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when the poems do what they do by aja monet

Bilal (US)
2025-07-05 18:00 - 2026-08-14 23:30 | Linhartova dvorana, Prešernova cesta 10, Ljubljana, 1000, Slovenia
Bilal (US)
Saturday, 4 July, 6 pm – Linhart Hall
Tickets (no assigned seating): presale EUR 25, 21*, on the day: EUR 28, 24*
* Discounted admission prices for people younger than 25, older than 65 and
Festival pass: EUR 115 BUY TICKET HERE Bilal, vocals; Randy Runyon, guitar; Conley “Tone” Whitfield, bass; Joseph Grissett aka Joe Blaxx, drums
Although working across a variety of genres – from neo-soul to rock – Bilal says he is “a jazz musician first.” One only needs to experience one of his live performances to understand why: his shows are always partly improvised and never the same twice, something relatively uncommon among vocalists. Furthermore, the core of his musical expression, rests on a solid foundation. He studied jazz at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York, where – perhaps more importantly than the degree he never completed – he met Robert Glasper, a frequent collaborator, through whom Bilal became involved with artists such as Q-Tip and Mos Def.
A singer, songwriter, multi instrumentalist and producer considered one of the United States’ most distinctive musicians at the intersection of contemporary R&B, neo soul and jazz, Bilal is a key innovator in contemporary African American music. Acclaimed for his wide vocal range and improvisational skills, as well as his ability to blend and seamlessly transition between genres, he has garnered particular praise for his unique, unforgettable live performances.
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His debut album, 1st Born Second (2001), was released under the guidance of producers including Dr. Dre, James Poyser, and J Dilla. Any attempt to list all of his collaborators would be needless, but it remains important to note that during the pivotal late 1990s, Bilal was deeply immersed in New York’s vibrant rap and neo soul scene. His invaluable dedication earned him a place in the experimental collective The Soulquarians – a group of artists blending jazz, soul, and hip hop influences (alongside D’Angelo, Erykah Badu, Questlove, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, J Dilla, and Raphael Saadiq, among others). This truly unique, if not revolutionary, collective redefined American Black popular music and left an enduring legacy of musical innovation.
As a featured artist on Kendrick Lamar’s song These Walls (as well as several other tracks on the album To Pimp a Butterfly), Bilal shares a Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Performance, while his performance with The Roots is widely regarded as one of the most engaging in the entire Tiny Desk series. His most recent album, Adjust Brightness, came out last year. While all of this already sounds impressive, it offers only a brief glimpse into the remarkable credentials of this singular artist.
