First Jazz ECHO off to a Promising Start

It was really time to have the music industry celebrate a genre that, even though total percentage of sales is still declining, nowadays is harder to describe than ever before.

Today, artists like Norah Jones, Melody Gardot, or Jamie Cullum are defined as jazz artists by the record companies. That's probably because sales of the "real" jazz artists are so minimal that you might think they're only there for the prestige. But still, the Echo Jazz, which was staged last night in Bochum before a sold-out audience, is highly important and was off to a very good start.

It also showed that Jazz made in Germany is a strong force which should deserve more acclaim nationally, and worldwide. Winners include Vijay Iyer, Curtis Stigers, Michael Wollny, the Tingvall Trio, Roy Hargrove, Céline Rudolph, Branford Marsalis, Theo Bleckmann, and German legend Paul Kuhn who received his lifetime achievement award from James Last as a surprise feat.

Among the performers last night were Dee Dee Bridgewater, Nils Landgren, and Götz Alsmann.