Written by Jazz à Liège in Belgium´s charming city of Liège offers a great choice of jazz and beyond in wonderful concert venues.
Is what Ibrahim Maalouf is presenting in his new project, “The Trumpets Of Michel-Ange”, even jazz anymore? The French-Lebanese trumpeter’s band features five other trumpets, a saxophone, two guitars and a drum kit. Occasionally, a dancer joins in. And the party gets underway from the very first note: a cheerful wedding celebration unfolds on the stage of the venerable, packed Le Forum in Liège city centre. Right from the first track, the audience jumps to their feet and dances along. Arabic scales blend with Balkan brass, always with plenty of verve. In between, the bandleader treats himself to solos on his quarter-tone trumpet. But here, with plenty of energy and a recurring leitmotif, it’s primarily about infectious fun and a zest for life.
Ibrahim Maalouf | Photo (c) Olivier Lestoquoit
Kassa Overall is another musician who likes to push boundaries. With his trio featuring a bassist and keyboardist, the American jazz visionary, rapper and drummer delivers a cool, ever-fresh-sounding jazz-hip-hop set in Liège that brilliantly blends the two genres. Two further piano trios are also enchanting audiences at this year’s Jazz à Liège, revealing just how versatile the classic piano trio – comprising piano, bass and drums – can be. Belgian pianist Bram De Looze, together with German double bassist Felix Henkelhausen and US drummer Eric McPherson in the trio Vice Versa, demonstrates in long, sophisticated compositions how cool creativity, improvisation and elements of contemporary music can be packed into a timelessly exciting jazz language that drives forward with verve despite all the ideas and interjections. And another piano trio with the unusual band name Abyss Mesa – borrowed from a game – is equally captivating. Liège-born pianist Fabian Firioni, double bassist Nic Thys and drummer Dré Pallemaerts move between fantasies inspired by the music of Thelonious Monk and the pianist’s own detailed, ever-surprising compositions, enchanting the audience at every turn.
Kassa Overall | Photo (c) Olivier Lestoquoit
Two young French singers also put on a compelling performance in Liège. Anyone who heard Amy Gadiaga on Belgian soil a year and a half ago will notice a change. The singer and bassist still has swinging, cleverly arranged jazz standards in her repertoire. But her own neo-soul tracks are not to be heard here in Liège. A pity, as that mix was appealing. But even so, one should keep an eye on the future career of this London-based artist. This certainly applies to Célia Kameni as well – the second French artist to perform on the very same evening and in the same concert hall – who presents herself as even more versatile than Amy Gadiaga. Moving between ambient, folk, pop, poetry and improvised sound experiments on the one hand, and incredibly clever interpretations of jazz standards on the other, Célia Kameni captivates the audience with her powerful voice.
US vibraphonist Joel Ross, on the other hand, delivers a clinically cool set with his band. But would you really want to sit through a long live performance of virtuosic jazz with so little emotion on display? In that case, you might prefer to lend a fresh ear later in the evening to a duo featuring German pianist Michael Wollny and his French colleague, soprano saxophonist Émile Parisien. Because these two certainly deliver emotion. In congenial, at times complex exchanges that occasionally break out into wild abandon, only to find their way back to a unison line. Fear of abstract structures? Not a chance with these two fine musisicans.
Avishai Cohen Quintet | Photo (c) Olivier Lestoquoit
And then there’s the highly acclaimed concert in Liège by the Israeli bassist Avishai Cohen and his current quintet, featuring a line-up of young, exceptionally talented musicians. Those singable, dreamlike melodies of his jazz music, infused with a Middle Eastern flavour – yes, we’re already familiar with them. Even though many tracks from a forthcoming new album will be performed this evening. But whatever Avishai Cohen and his band play, they simply always enchant, because they make music with so much love and feeling. Can music be salvation for the soul? Perhaps not, but, as with Cohen, it can do the soul and the spirit a world of good.
Last modified: May 26, 2026
