“Jazz Across Borders”, or JAB will become the first professional stage in Russian history for meeting of the world and Russian jazz community representatives, and will provide to the Russian and foreign musicians a unique opportunity to perform before the leading world producers.

“Creation of an extensive jazz forum in Russia is a quite anticipated step. Our country is rich with the talented jazz musicians and due to JAB, they will get a chance to make themselves known and to present their work to the largest international market players. Now it is possible to say for sure that the time for jazz and its development in all the areas of culture and education in Russia has come” – Igor Butman, the founder and the artistic director of JAB remarked.

Igor Butman

The JAB programme will be divided into 4 parts: the JAB Conference – a business constituent that will include the panel discussions, round tables, master classes and meetings of the industry representatives. The JAB Showcases – the showcases of Russian and foreign jazz performers, the Jazz Club night– evening and night musical programme in different jazz clubs of St. Petersburg, and, at last, the JAB Gala – the gala concert with the participation of the legendary jazzmen – Kurt Elling, Igor Butman and the Moscow Jazz Orchestra, that will take place on the stage of the Main Hall of the State Academic Chapel of St. Petersburg. The conference is to be organized annually, and from 2018, its programme will include the exhibitive part.

The first JAB conference will gather in St. Petersburg the elite of world jazz community. Among the confirmed business programme participants – one of the best singers of the world Kurt Elling, the pianist and musical director of the International Jazz Day John Beasley; Bruce Rosenblum (the founder and producer of the Winter Jazz Festival, New York); Simon Cooke (the managing director of the club Ronnie Scott’s Club, London), Jae Jin In (creator and producer of the Jarasum Jazz Festival, South Korea), Carlo Pagnotta (creator and producer of the Umbria Jazz Festival), Lee Mergner (chief editor of the Jazz Times magazine), Larry Simpson (vice-president of the Berklee College of Music), Jana Herzen (founder and president of Motema company), and many others.

An important peculiarity of the first JAB conference will be free entrance for all the Forum events excepting for the JAB Club night and the JAB Gala. Those who want to get to the JAB events should register on the website: https://reg.culturalforum.ru/register/jazz/