Burg Jazz

Nanstein Castle in Landstuhl will be the stage for the traditional international Burg Jazz music festival today and Saturday.

High quality musicians will again fascinate the audience with “keep on swinging — big band jazz, rock, blues, Dixieland and soul music,” said Willi Ningelgen from the Unnerhaus Culture Club, who will sponsor the17th anniversary jazz festival inside the atmospheric courtyard of Nanstein Castle.

Organizers expect visitors from throughout the KMC, Germany and Europe. Car parking is in easy walking distance to the castle, and food and beverages will be served at the castle.

The festival is going to kick-off at 7 p.m. today with the first evening top act presenting one of Europe’s top blues bands, Funky B & The Kings of Shuffle from Germany performing a fascinating acoustic blues session with one of Europe’s best Hammond B-3 organ players, Markus Lauer. He accompanied Phil Guy and Big Joe Turner at their European tours.

“Their funky blues themes combine phrases of jazz, funk, soul and rock with fascinating emotions and grooving sound. The audience will be thrilled by their musical talent,” Ningelgen said.

They will be followed by the big top act of Friday evening, The Swinging Fireballs from Bremen, Germany. Their theme is “Come and Fly with us.” The show will continue with the finest Las Vegas Casino flair and Kansas City Swing music, adding Mambo and Brazil fever to it and the hot-dance elements from the 1920s and 1930s. They bring back the real prime time of great American traditional jazz music.

The first day will come to a close with a performance by the local stars Smitty, Molly and Corinna in the Castle Battery Tower around midnight.

On Saturday, the festival will continue at 6 p.m. with the New Orleans Preachers from France. Their inspiring marching sound leads the audience directly into the streets of New Orleans where the music of the brass-bands walking along the streets has been part of the sound of the Mississippi-metropolis since the beginning of the Jazz-history.

They will be followed by the Jazz Band Call Orchestra from Krakau, Poland, known for 50 years of excellent jazz music. They are a permanent guest at the world’s largest Jazz-Festival in Sacramento and they are as famous as pop stars in their homeland Poland. They feature Stanlez Breckenbridge, the great singer with a wonderful voice like Frank Sinatra and play jazz standards from Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, George Gershwin, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie to Count Basie.

The festival end will be open along with the New Orleans Preachers.

Tickets will be available at the entrance to Nanstein Castle. Cost is €24 per day; the two-day festival ticket is €43. Children under 12 years are admitted for free.

The culture club is a non-profit organization and proceeds are only being used for cultural events.