12 exciting emerging jazz acts from across Europe, with daytime ‘Jazz Futures’ industry conference and after-hours jam sessions in DUBLIN this September 5-8th.

12th edition of the award-winning 12 Points Festival, returning home to Dublin this September, in partnership with Beck’s Be Kreativ and The Sugar Club.

This pan-European showcase jazz festival is singular in it’s approach, presenting 12 emerging acts from 12 different European countries; the cream of the crop of a new generation of jazz and experimental music, performing over 4 nights at The Sugar Club, with afterhours jam sessions and the daytime industry conference ‘Jazz Futures’.

“The freshest, hottest sounds in jazz and contemporary experimental music.” - The Irish Times

The 2018 festival edition is presented by Improvised Music Company (IMC) in association with Beck’s Be Kreativ and The Sugar Club.

Early Bird ‘12 Band’ Festival Pass, just €49 for all 4 nights!

Regular Festival Pass €59 | Individual Day Tickets €18/20

ON-SALE 6th July

Full Programme:

WEDNESDAY 5th September

- Julie Campiche Quartet (Geneva)

- Susanna Risberg Trio (Stockholm)

- nOx.3 & Linda Oláh (Paris)

Steering the an instrument not associated with jazz into new sonic terrain, Swiss harpist Julie Campiche and her quartet create a dynamic yet uncluttered ‘electro-acoustical’ experience, balancing structure with improvisation to create a wide range of exciting possibilities.

At just 26 years of age, Swedish musician Susanna Risberg is already well on her way to becoming one of Europe's leading guitarists, with shades of Scofield and echos of Metheny, but ultimately it’s all Risberg. Together with a tight rhythm section this trio moves effortlessly from rocky, groove oriented pieces to more straight-ahead contemporary jazz.

If Parisian band nOx.3 featuring Swedish vocalist Linda Olah are hard to categorize it is because their music is so diverse; Industrial minimalism meets traditional French chanteuse meets abstract noise meets Noir soundtrack, all, somehow in perfect equilibrium. When words don’t make sense, music does.

THURSDAY 6th September

- Mia Dyberg Trio (Copenhagen)

- Steiger (Gent)

- Kompost 3 (Vienna)

Danish alto saxophonist Mia Dyberg’s freewheeling trio are inspired, in large part, by the swing and poetry of William S. Burroughs - emphasizing playfulness, cut-up techniques, pulse-awareness and what she describes as “the silver smoke of dreams”.

Demonstrating the potency Belgium has when it comes to delivering interesting progressive jazz music, piano trio Steiger exemplify this spirit of exploration. With each musician working across jazz, pop, electronic, and experimental rock world they blur boundaries between the organic and the electronic.

Austrian quartet Kompost3 bring ultra-tight beats, with trash-funk grooves emerging from dense soundscapes punctuated by a healthy dollop of avant-garde which makes for a compelling blend of low-fi, fuzzed out, beat driven sonic goodness. Kompost3; a little funky. Sometimes a LOT funky.

FRIDAY 7th September

- Dowry (Dublin)

- Elliot Galvin Trio (London)

- Container Doxa (Ljubljana)

Our only soloist at 12 Points this year and it’s fitting that is an instrument so readily associated with Ireland, however, a violin in the hands of Ena Brennan aka ‘Dowry’ fuses multiple sound worlds, blending experimental folk, ambient improvisation, contemporary classical and Irish traditional music, to create a haunting live sonic experience.

This is no ordinary piano trio. Maverick pianist Elliot Galvin is quite possibly one of the UK’s most inventive instrumentalists, obliterating trends and banishing stereotypes. Starting with a blank canvas he redraws the format, augmented throughout by various toys, stylophones, cassette loops, electronics, melodicas, to create some brilliantly executed bright ideas.

Ljubljana’s Container Doxa are the first audio-visual ensemble to perform at 12 Points. From abstract sounds and visual shapes, Doxa infuse contemporary club music with the protocols of free improvisation and jazz futurism, recasting ideas from various music constellations; hip hop, techno, abstract minimalism they retain fragments of idioms usually found in jazz to create their own distinctive language.

SATURDAY 8th September

- Kjetil Mulelid Trio (Trondheim)

- The Rite of Trio (Porto)

- Dominic J Marshall Trio (Amsterdam)

Recently signed to Rune Grammofon, the Kjetil Mulelid Trio feature some of Norway's most exciting young jazz musicians. This is a classic acoustic piano trio with some seriously beguiling compositions, expertly balancing energetic, rhythmically complex and harmonically rich music with beautiful evocative melodies synonymous with Scandinavia.

From Porto, The Rite of Trio describe their music as ‘jazz jambacore’. We would agree if we knew what this was, but whatever they call it, we like it. Infinitely chaotic and complex, yet full of love and humour this one loud, fuzzy and skronky guitar trio from the Iberian peninsula.

Fusing jazz with hip-hop and electronica, Dutch act Dominic J Marshall Trio’s blend of hard hitting melodic jazz underpinned with slugged out hip hop grooves and daring dynamics, has strong echoes of both Glasper and Kamasi, but with a distinctly European twist. Marshall is a distillation of all that which is diverse, fresh, and kaleidoscopic in 21st century jazz.

"12 Points Festival offers a feast of cutting edge music... you won't get better bang for your buck all year." - The Irish Examiner