One of the most awaited events for jazz music lovers is back in Milan: JazzMi is a widespread review that brings the protagonists of international jazz to the big stages of Milan and to the suburbs. Emerging artists and big names in jazz will alternate in a very rich calendar consisting of over 200 events, spread across 60 city spaces.
From Castello Sforzesco to Giambellino, from Piazza Duomo to Ortica and Chiaravalle, from Porta Nuova and City Life to Corvetto and San Siro JazzMi brings jazz music to all neighborhoods with emerging young people alongside the names of great artists along with over 80 free events .
JazzMi 2021: locations and events
From the two main poles Triennale Milano Teatro and the Blue Note Milano , JazzMi will involve the whole city, from Casa degli Artisti to Volvo Studio Milan , from Made in Corvetto to Loggia dei Mercanti and Villa Necchi Campiglio, from Nuovo Armenia to Dergano to PuntoZero Teatro to Bisceglie and again at Olinda – Former Paolo Pini Psychiatric Hospital , at Off Campus San Siro in Piazza Selinunte, at Casa Jannacci and at the Chiaravalle Pavilion ,passing through micrò in Chiesa Rossa and beyond. A vast map of events covering the whole city.
Triennale Milano Teatro confirms itself as the beating heart of JazzMi also for its sixth edition and will host the guitar innovator Paolo Angeli on stage with a project dedicated to Radiohead; the duo Dj Gruff & Gavino Murgia, Roberto Gatto with his interpretation of the progressive repertoire, Theon Cross, leader of the British band Sons of Kemet. A tribute to three avant-garde jazz icons such as Ornette Coleman, Dewey Redman and Julius Hemphill with Broken Shadows (Tim Berne, Chris Speed, Reid Anderson, Dave King).
Fabrizio Bosso Quartet will be on stage to present the latest and intimate project. The Franco-Israeli pianist Yaron Herman returns and the duo Vincent Peirani & Èmile Parisien arrive from France, offering the magic of tango. For the first time at JazzMi comes Roberto Fonseca with his trio, the young American vibraphonist Joel Ross and the London talent Moses Boyd. The young and eclectic Theo Croker will precede the British writer Jonathan Coe accompanied by the Artchipel Orchestra, while Marcin Wasilewski will play with his line-up with Joe Lovano.
Also in the Triennale it will be possible to attend Stefano di Battista’s concerts with a personal tribute to Ennio Morricone, Ada Montellanico with We Tuba with guest Michel Godard, Paolo Botti and Dario Napoli. The National Jazz Young Talents Orchestra directed by Paolo Damiani and the “Giornale di ponte” project which brings together Antonello Salis, Gavino Murgia, Paolo Angeli & Hamid Drake will also be the protagonists of JAZZMI .
The Blue Note Milano opens its doors to stars Richard Bona and Alfredo Rodriguez, the British singer and member of Incognito Tony Momrelle and the extravagant Camille Bertault. Special appointment with Vinicio Capossela, who will celebrate 30 years since his album “ All’una thirty-five ” and with the star of the jazz guitar Peter Bernstein accompanied by Jesse Davies, Doug Weiss and Roberto Gatto. Space also for the Italian comedian Germano Lanzoni, the eighteen year old super star Joey Alexander and the trumpeter friend of the pop stars Keyon Harrold.
JAZZMI as a tradition will also be present in large city theaters. At the Milan Conservatory will be performing with Paolo Fresu Tuk Around and genius of hip hop Grandmaster Flash. The Dal Verme Theater will host Alex Britti’s “ Special Project ” together with the trumpeter Flavio Boltro and then the tribute to Lucio Dalla with the Sulfur Dioxide project by Mario Tronco (conductor of the Piazza Vittorio Orchestra) and Peppe Servillo (Avion Travel).
Live music returns to clubs such as Santeria Toscana 31 with the cellist Redi Hasa and to Alcatraz Milan where JAZZMI inaugurates its sixth edition with the concert of one of the most interesting voices of the blues, jazz and R’nB scene in New York: Josè James. For the first time the Teatro Filodrammatici di Milano will open its doors at JazzMi, to welcome three evenings dedicated to the new JAZZMI FUTURE format: a festival within the festival to bet on the future with Giuseppe Vitale, Studio Murena, Simone Alessandrini Storytellers, Costanza Alegiani, Bo ! led, Federico Calcagno, Ferdinando Romano, Sophia Tomelleri, Francesco Zampini and the winners of Jam The Future 2021.
JazzMi Free: free events around Milan
Even more than in the past, the JAZZMI FREE exhibition invites the public to explore dozens of city districts with special projects and with focuses dedicated to the many districts . With the collaboration with associations and citizens who every day transform the city into a polycentric metropolis, the many free-entry projects allow everyone, everywhere, to experience more than ten days of great music.
JazzMi also this year goes beyond the city limits with many events of young bands and big names in jazz with free admission in the Municipalities of San Donato Milanese, Trezzano sul Naviglio, Carugate and Buccinasco for the JAZZMI AROUND project, with the support of and the Foundation of Comunità Milano Onlus. During the two weekends of the festival it will be possible to cross over twenty city districts and many parks with AbbracciaMi, the special project on the circle line of Milan led by the Mefisto Brass Band, a jazz band on a bicycle. JAZZMI presents a rich program of young jazz-bands and great masters in cultural spaces and symbolic places such as Casa degli Artisti, Loggia dei Mercanti – thanks to the ANPI Provincial Committee in Milan – Villa Necchi Campiglio – in collaboration with ilFAI – Bocconi University.
The Volvo Studio Milano already hosted the Break in jazz review of the Civic Courses of Jazz in June and on 30 September it will see the last evening of JAM THE FUTURE on stage. Music for a new planet , the competition between young jazz bands who compose music dedicated to the world of tomorrow and which sees three jazz bands as finalists competing for a place on the JazzMi 2021 program.
On the occasion of the festival, the Volvo Studio Milano will feature a focus dedicated to Paolo Fresu and his Tŭk Music . It starts with the exhibition of the album covers of the label, characterized by the clean lines of the greatest Italian photographers and illustrators. It continues with a talk with the artist and a special concert by the band selected by the Sardinian trumpeter, Sade Mangiaracina Trio.
On the second weekend of the festival it closes with The Last Coat of Pink and the Gabriella Di Capua Quartet. For the sixth year the festival arrives in one of the symbolic buildings of the city, Palazzo Pirelli, with three concerts thanks to the collaboration with the Lombardy Region Council. Opened a few months ago, JAZZMI will find a home at the ADI Design Museum with many events, including an exhibition and a long night of concerts.
In Piazza Gae Aulenti and at the Babitonga Cafè at the Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Foundation, six jazz bands will perform thanks to the fruitful collaboration with RED Libreria Bistrot. JazzMi also returns to the extraordinary spaces of some symbolic hotels of the city, the Sheraton Diana Majestic, the TheWestin Palace and the Sheraton Milan San Siro. Another traditional JazzMi event are our focuses dedicated to the neighborhoods outside the center.
It starts on Friday 22 October at the PuntoZero Teatro at the Cesare Beccaria Penal Institute for minors with the extraordinary participation of Maestro Enrico Intra accompanied by Margherita Carbonell. It continues on Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 October between Affori and Bovisasca at the former Paolo Pini Psychiatric Hospital, in Dergano al Nuovo Armenia, in San Siro with a special project dedicated to Piazza Selinunte with Jazz Hop Workshop + Showcase at the Off Campus San Siro and on the Navigli in the IBVA Gardens.
The second weekend JazzMi will move between Ortica and Forlanini at CasciNet – Cascina Sant’Ambrogio, in Chiesa Rossa al micrò and between Corvetto and Chiaravalle . In this sixth edition, the presentations and meetings with the artists who this year will find a home inside the Sempione Park within the walls of Cascina Nascosta where, in addition to meeting Gavino Murgia, Fabrizio Bosso, Roberto Fonseca and Stefano Di Battista, the public you will be able to follow Claudio Sessa’s stories on very recent record publications that have made the world of jazz exalt: John Coltrane – A Love Supreme Live in Seattle and Lee Morgan – The Complete Live at The Lighthouse .
Space also for books with the presentation of Jazz Frames by Severino Salvemini, Arrigo Polillo by Luca Cerchiari and Roberto Polillo and The history of jazz by Luigi Onori, Riccardo Brazzale and Maurizio Franco. The Anteo Palazzo del Cinema will host JAZZMI MOVIES in this sixth edition with three special previews. In addition to the docufilm Ten Tŭk 2010 – 2020, dedicated to the celebrations for the first 10 years of life of Tŭk Music, the label of Paolo Fresu that wants to enhance the most interesting newborn jazz stars, the ancient cinema building in Milan will host two important screenings dedicated to the Queen of jazz Billie Holiday: the documentary Billie by James Erskine and the national premiere of Lee Daniels’ The US Vs Billie Holiday .
JazzMi 2021: how to participate
JazzMi events are divided into 5 categories , each of which has different characteristics for location, prices and type of event.
- Artist: Great artists on the main stages of the city.
- Free: free concerts, events and exhibitions in unconventional places for music (museums, arcades, courtyards, etc.)
- Around: musical itineraries to discover the outskirts of the city
- Stories & Movies: meetings, films and documentaries dedicated to the great stories of jazz
- Night & Day: Events produced by the festival’s partner cultural spaces that produce jazz music throughout the year
All events are subject to compulsory reservations , including free ones. Accreditation is also possible at the door upon arrival at the event, leaving your name and telephone or email contact. The Green Pass is mandatory for all the events of the exhibition. In case of cancellation for reasons due to Covid, paid concert tickets will be refunded.
