An interactive music performance for children ages 6 to 9. We play and tell stories about jazz music in a playful way, and the audience is invited to sing along.

Hey Jazz!

Umeå Folkets Hus

Listening session with the album Teodros Makonnen With His Organ, originally released on cassette and reissued by Muzikawi, played in full on Umeå Jazz Kissa's sound system, accompanied by an Ethiopian coffee ceremony hosted by Mahlet Keleme (The Supercat from Addis). Album available for sale on site.

Teodros Makonnen With His Organ – Listening Session & Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony

Musician and record collector Mats Gustafsson talks with Gustav Skoogh from Umeå Jazz Kissa about the book Now Jazz Now (together with Byron Coley and Thurston Moore) and plays a selection of vinyl records from the book. The conversation is held in Swedish.

Now Jazz Now: Mats Gustafsson – A Conversation and a Shared Listening Session

We are very pleased to present Viktoria Tolstoy at Umeå Jazz Festival. She has touched audiences' hearts with her lyrical, soft precision. The intimate, close tone and that sensitivity without ever becoming sentimental. Since her debut in the 1990s she has built a strong international career, especially in Europe and through her collaboration with the German label ACT, where she has released many albums over the years, and she has worked with musicians such as Nils Landgren, Esbjörn Svensson and Herbie Hancock. Her latest album, Who We Are, has received a very fine response around the world. Coming to Umeå, she brings a group of Swedish star musicians.

Viktoria Tolstoy

The faculty of the music aesthetics program at Midgård School, who appear every year in the Umeå Jazz Festival lineup.

Midgårdslärarna

Australian trio from Sydney led by former WWE wrestler Taylor Davis. An unpredictable live show blending electronica, hip-hop, breakbeat and jazz improvisation.

Brekky Boy

Bill Frisell trio at Umeå Jazzfestival, with Luke Bergman on bass and Tim Angulo on drums.

Bill Frisell

Jan Levander leads a 12-piece band in the style of medium-sized jazz groups: a dream band of his favorite musicians playing music written in advance, ranging from big-band-like gestures through free jazz to serial music, twelve-tone technique, and touches of folk music and Baroque.

Jan Levander Festival Orchestra

IMPRA's inclusive jam that closes the jazz festival, in collaboration with Folkuniversitetet. The jam is led by IMPRA's Arvid Lindström.

Closing Jam

Novas Krog

Samuel Hanes is a guitarist and composer from Umeå who has begun to establish himself on the Swedish jazz scene. He is currently active with his debut album "What Is..?", recorded in Stockholm in the fall of 2024 and released in February 2026 in connection with a release concert at Umeå Jazzstudio. The album consists of original compositions, and the music moves seamlessly between Nordic soundscapes and modern interpretations of the traditional jazz language.

Samuel Hanes Quintet

Trio Ramberget and Matti Bye explore states, time and reflections in sound and space. The collaboration builds on the album Mirror Variations (2024) and the music for Simón Mesa Soto's feature film "Un Poeta".

Ramberget with Matti Bye

Music born from Abdullah Ibrahim's South Africa and the ant from Missenträsk, performed by this Skellefteå group formed for Sara Lidman's 100th birthday celebration at SARA kulturhus. The repertoire comes mainly from Abdullah Ibrahim, but also includes pieces by Carl-Axel Dominique/Solar Plexus, Mongezi Feza, Charlie Haden and Jonas Knutsson.

Lejonmyren

Hawa Kassé Mady Diabaté, with a magnificent voice and a powerful expressiveness that leaves no one unmoved, is an iconic figure on the Malian music scene. She is the daughter of Kasse Mady Diabaté, a griot and a key figure in Malian music who was nicknamed "Mali's golden voice." Hawa's latest album, Toumaro, is a moving tribute to her father's legacy and a beautiful way of connecting with him spiritually through music. The music and lyrics in this concert are his and celebrate the beauty and depth of Malian music. For the first time in the history of the Jazz Festival, audiences are treated to traditional music from Mali of the highest class!

Hawa Kassé Mady Diabaté

Before the concert with the Jan Levander Festival Orchestra, we will crown the first recipient of JAZZVERK! JAZZVERK is a newly established composers' award of 100,000 kronor that honors and stimulates the creativity of the many brilliant composers in Swedish jazz. The recipient will be commissioned to write a new work for a self-selected ensemble of 8–10 musicians, which will premiere at the Umeå Jazz Festival the following year.

JAZZVERK Award Ceremony

Bach Jazz turns pieces by J. S. Bach into cohesive tunes for piano, double bass, and drums. The debut album has become a broad favorite, and the concerts are praised for their blend of timeless compositions, evocative swing, and warm humanity.

Bach Jazz

Äpplet

A sextet that shapes self-written lyrics and melodies into a sphere of warm nostalgia. This year's winner of Blue House Jazz.

PRICK

This year's secret guest is a singer-songwriter at the piano. With great sensitivity and presence, she conveys songs from her own repertoire, somewhere between jazz and pop. Perhaps we will also hear a chorale. Magnetic, intimate and contemplative.

A Secret Guest

Traditional, swinging jazz with standards from the Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Dizzy Gillespie repertoires. Concert followed by two dance sets at Äpplet.

Stockholm Swing All Stars

A cheerful group of young musicians passionate about music and jazz. A concert filled with wonderful live music and good vibes.

Framnäs folkhögskolas jazzlinje

DJ Martin Hallin (aka DJ Fantastic, Skääh, DJ Gato Blanco) presents vinyl selections featuring Bop, Modal, and Fusion from Riverside, ECM, Impulse!, Swedish Metronome/Megafon/Caprice, Blue Note rarities, and occasional Ska and Dub. Between performances, complimentary food and drinks.

Martin Hallin – Back at Freja's

Norrlands Opera Symphony Orchestra with conductor Johan Siberg, soloist Per "Texas" Johansson and singer Emmalisa Hallander

A Tribute to Lars Gullin

A musical meeting between saxophonist Mats Gustafsson and accordionist Kimmo Pohjonen, two Nordic artists from different musical backgrounds (folk music and punk) united by passion for improvisation, contemporary music, and taking artistic risks.

Mats Gustafsson & Kimmo Pohjonen

A new vinyl and record series from Caprice Music, curated by Mats Gustafsson, that highlights previously unpublished or hard-to-access archive recordings from the Swedish creative music scene 1965–1977. The focus is on free jazz, experimental improvisation music, and world music.

Open 4: Karin Krog

When pure hip-hop meets a live band, it's not about veneer – it's about nerve, swing, and timing. The band Lofi Voodoo lays down a massive, pulsating rhythmic foundation with the tracks behind them, opening up the arrangements for extended solos, dynamic turns, and pure improvisation.

LOFI VOODOO FT Armed & Robbery och UTB

Mattias Landæus piano trio with Johnny Åman on bass and Cornelia Nilsson on drums, exploring the parameters of music through tight interplay.

Landaeus Trio

A listening bar with a sound system to write home about, our favorite DJs with packed record bags, and our own wine bar with carefully curated wines.

Umeå Jazz Kissa

Superb quartet specially assembled for Umeå Jazz Festival. We are treated to both original compositions and classic jazz numbers.

Klas Toresson Quartet

A nine-headed collective from the Netherlands dreaming of a world beyond limiting genres. Consisting of three wind instruments, a violin, and an expanded rhythm section. Narrative melodies, driving bass lines, and punchy rhythms meld together into a colorful and swinging whole.

PARRA.DICE

Mats Öberg (keyboards) and Morgan Ågren (drums) celebrate 45 years as playing partners, joined by Henrik Linder (bass) from Dirty Loops. A fusion performance featuring rhythmic explosions, heavy beats, and virtuosic musicianship.

Mats & Morgan & Henrik

Staffan Öberg Nonet celebrates jazz legends Miles Davis and John Coltrane - who both would have turned 100 this year. The two of them created so much fantastic music, together and individually. The tribute consists of the group performing a selection of compositions by these two giants as well as Staffan's and the group's own favorite compositions - all arranged for the Nonet.

Staffan Öberg Nonet

Classical North Indian concert featuring sarod and tabla

Sougata Roy Chowdhury & Suranjana Ghosh

Pauli Lyytinen plays tenor, soprano and alto saxophone with live effects, mellotron and percussion, weaving in subtle field recordings of cranes, swans and other elements of the Finnish summer landscape.

Lehto/Korpi

Three groups of future jazz musicians of various ages

Kulturskolan Jazz Groups

The Finnish group Elifantree was formed in 2007, when the three musicians Anni Elif, Pauli Lyytinen, and Olavi Louhivuori put their wise and curious heads together, inspired by a shared vision and guided by a curious attraction to free improvisation.

Elifantree

Concert with students from Midgård School's music and arts program

Umeå Jazzfestival

Oct 24, 2026

Hey Jazz!

Oct 24, 2026

Teodros Makonnen With His Organ – Listening Session & Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony

Umeå Jazzfestival