Ó 12 Points 2008

12 Points! May be a precocious child of only two, but already the festival of new European jazz has endeared itself to music devotees in Dublin, joining the dots to Europe’s other creative hubs, and carving out a niche as an indispensable showcase for exciting talent from across the union.

This year, we’ve left no European stone unturned in identifying the twelve bands that will light up The Project Arts Centre from Wednesday 5th to Saturday 8th March. 2008’s points of departure are Estonia, Lithuania, Austria, Germany, Finland, Denmark, Norway, UK, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Italy and Ireland.

The inaugural 12 Points! Identified some genuine contenders for musical greatness, and we’re confident that the class of 2008 has similar gems in store. It could be pianists Mathew Bourne, Urs Bollhalder or Giovanni Guidi who lead groups from Leeds, Lucerne and Rome respectively, Copenhagen’s noisy organ trio Ibrahim Electric, Oslo’s finest post-Coltrane evangelists The Core, Luxembourger and virtuoso vibist Pascal Schumacher, Viennese string quartet with a difference R.S.Q.V., this years strong Baltic contingent with The Saga Quartet from Vilnius and singer Kadri Voorand from Tallinn, or the very persuasive compositional focus of Dublin’s Togetherness, Helsinki’s Oddarrang or Cologne's Shreefpunk.

Together, they’re powerful evidence that jazz is Europe’s shared musical language, a conduit for creative dialogue that transcends borders and a celebration of regional accents while individually, they embrace all the wilful diversity that keeps jazz young.

In March 2008, the future of European jazz is in Dublin. Come and join us.