Pori Jazz

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Pori Jazz is a large international jazz festival, held annually in the small coastal city of Pori, Finland. It is one of the oldest and best known jazz festivals in Europe, having been arranged every year since 1966. The first Pori Jazz festival lasted one weekend and drew about 1500 people; nowadays more than 250,000 people attend the festival that lasts nine days.

Numerous world-famous musicians (including for example Art Blakey, Miles Davis, Chick Corea, Alicia Keys, Erykah Badu and others) have performed at the festival through the years, as well as lesser-known groups from Finland and elsewhere. Musical genres covered at Pori Jazz include varieties of jazz, blues, soul, funk, Afro-Cuban, world music, and occasionally even some forms of pop music.

The main arena of the festival is located in a small nature park named Kirjurinluoto, near the centre of Pori. The festival includes many other venues as well, among them the Jazz street with many free concerts.

See also: list of jazz festivals

[edit] External links

• Pori Jazz - official site