Sharon Clark Quartet mainstream jazz, vocal. USA,

Sharon Clark is the owner of an insightful contralto, and a singer who has won the hearts of millions of listeners. Sharon's voice is volant and versatile, with a wide range and pleasant warm timbre, a real rich "black" vocal with leisurely phrases and a minimum of excesses.

The singer from Washington is a born master of improvisation, able to create masterpieces even from simple pop hits, which are minimized in her repertoire: Sharon Clark successfully works with jazz standards, gorgeous compositions of Jobim, Gershwin, Billie Holiday, The Beatles and many others. Get the best that blues, jazz, soul, funk and gospel music can give you from the "native" jazz singer - eminent Sharon Clark!

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Vasil Hadžimanov Band contemporary, balkan jazz. Serbia

Vasil Hadžimanov Band is a collective formed in late 90-s in Belgrade, Serbia. The mastermind behind it is Vasil Hadžimanov - a Berklee scholar and a piano & keyboard player who fuses various aspects of Balkan folk music and jazz fusion, with heavy emphasis on percussion and keyboard tapestries.

Often cited as a Balkan-focused variant of Joe Zawinul’s music - such a tag is not untrue, but it’s doing injustice the band’s variety of styles and it’s unique chemistry, which is developing it’s own identification on the world’s jazz fusion map.

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Oleg Kireyev Quartet mainstream jazz, saxophone. Russia,

Oleg Kireyev is the first Russian musician, who combined ethnic jazz motifs with amazing Bashkir folk instruments and incredible throat singing. Oleg is one of the few jazz musicians on the modern Russian scene who is brilliantly versed in the variety of jazz styles, genres and directions. He is equally excellent in the jazz mainstream, in fusion and world music.
"Incredibly good", "Stylish and top-notch" are all phrases music critics have written about his voice on saxophone. He has performed at the London Jazz Festival and the Montreux Jazz Festival, to name a few. Legendary musician Bud Shank says: "Oleg's playing is a marvelous combination of styles, incorporating a whole lot of players. I hear echoes of the 1920’s and John Coltrane combined with unstructured jazz."
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Dennis Lambert Trio jazz mainstream, piano. USA

Dennis Lambert started playing in the age of five years. In his music career that has been lasting more than 20 years he traveled the world, cooperated with the most eminent musicians and he was a tutor in the different continents. Critics often describe him as an oasis in the sea of outstanding and very talented pianists. His specific approach and courage when meeting with the new expressions are fresh and extremely fine.
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Jasmina Makota Quartet mainstream jazz, vocal. Croatia/USA

Meet the youth and the originality of jazz - Yasmina Makota ! Yasmina will give you an amazing symbiosis of traditional jazz, R&B and Bosnian sevdah - be prepared for pleasant musical surprises!
Raised in Chicago, Jasmina was constantly involved in music. Jasmina expresses herself through many genres, including soul, jazz, R&B, and pop. After yearning for creative inspiration and opportunities for growth, Jasmina relocated to New York City in 2016.
In addition to pursuing acting, Jasmina has been working on material for her debut album of original music with various musicians in the NYC area.

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Branko Sterpin Quartet jazz. trumpet, Croatia

Branko Sterpin is one of the top Croatia jazz trumpet players (HGU award 2018) both at home and on the international scene. He began his career while studying at Austrian Graz College Of Music, and since then has worked regularly on the Balkan and European jazz scene. Branko Sterpin has recorded many critically acclaimed CDs under his own name.

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Buzzers Quintet jazz, fusion. Croatia

Marko Prepelic is a trumpet player and composer from Varazdin which has been dealing with the music from the earliest childhood. His education was crowned at the prestigious music academy in Graz and in 2016.
He founded the quintet Buzzers and by means of it he promotes author's compositions. Fusion, groove and jazz are just a part of styles that these performers skilly and approachable present to the audience and in their perfomance there is enough of Jazz standards and covers of eminent international music legends.

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Joel Remmel Trio contemporary jazz, mainstream. Estonija

Joel Remmel is one of the brightest stars of the younger generation on the Estonian jazz scene. Productive collaborations with many jazz musicians from Estonia and abroad have resulted in numerous recordings and live performances. Joel believes in beauty!

It is one of the keywords describing his work as a musician and composer. Not the fading glimpses of glamour but beauty through different forms that can have a deep and dignifying effect on a person. Joel’s main goal is to share this through his works in the musical field and in life in general.

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Program of the festival

About the festival

After the huge success of the previous two editions, the III International Pula Jazz Festival will be held again between August 13, and August 15 at the very heart of Croatian city of Pula, at waterfront of turquoise Adriatic.

Three unforgettable romantic nights, filled with the most glorious jazz sounds, both original creations and jazz on the highest level and cross-border incursions in other musical genres are waiting for the privileged connoisseurs of high music. Fine wines and Istrian cuisine, superior live vibrations, captivating creative flow, genuine communication, surprises, humor, incredible atmosphere of a poetically beautiful town – are all at your disposal, our dear friends!

Three days in a row the stars of the most vital music on Earth are going to share the stage on a summer terrace of House of Croatian Defenders (Dom Hrvatskih Branitelja)! Join the refinement, harmony and culture of jazz at the summer jazz festival in Pula!

Location

Jazz festivals have been held in Europe for more than 60 years, the desire of our organization is to develop jazz festival in Pula, enrich the cultural life of Istria and offer city visitors a really interesting musical program. Due to its architectural features Pula seems to be designed to host musical events.

The House of Croatian Defenders was selected as a venue of the first jazz festival where surrounded by ancient pines a cozy space with a summer stage and a terrace was organized. The House of Croatian Defenders is conveniently located in the center of Pula, paid parking is on the street, a bus stop is located nearby.