«Ventspils Groove». What has been happening, what to expect next year and why attend

A word from the students. A sneak peek into «Ventspils Groove» annual summer festival

If I’m not mistaken, «Ventspils Groove» festival has been held every year for 16 years already (except for 2020, when the event was canceled due to coronavirus restrictions). After talking to friends, new acquaintances, and teachers, I realized that we all share the same thought — this year’s festival was the best on the emotional level but also workshop-wise. Since I have been to the festival only twice, I will also engage in some comparisons, but let’s first talk a bit about the event itself — what is «Ventspils Groove», what happens there, and why every jazz music student has to attend.

«Ventspils Groove» is a week-long event that could be called a sports camp for jazz music. There are workshops with specialty teachers every day, but there is also an option to choose a different teacher and classes to attend. For example, last year, I attended workshops with Sebastian Studnitzky on trumpet; however, this year, I have decided to try something new and attend a workshop by Niklas Lukassen on bass. And if we talk about the teachers — this year the lineup was simply outstanding — Toms Rudzinskis (LV) on saxophone, Arta Jēkabsone (LV/USA) — on voice, Leonardo Corradi (IT) on piano and Hammond, Marc Michel (FR) on drums, Dominykas Vyšniauskas (LT) on trumpet, Niklas Lukassen (DE) on bass, Liselotte Östblom (SE) on voice and Jaak Sooäär (EE) on guitar. Since every participant has their own experiences with the festival, I’m going to share only mine; I’ll do that while taking a walk down memory lane, remembering every day, every event, conversation, impression that I got from talking to friends, etc.

On the first day of «Ventspils Groove», we arrived at Ventspils, signed all the necessary paperwork, got settled in our dorm rooms, and then went to a jam session that was opened by special guests Kristaps Vanadziņš and Daumants Kalniņš, who the teachers from Ventspils also joined. The jam session was held on the terrace of the «Tex-Mex» restaurant. But of course, there was an introductory speech before the concert began. The hosts introduced the participants to the teachers, told us a little about the festival and this year’s events, and so on. Only then did the concert begin and we have seen every teacher on stage, which was impressive, to say the least.

Day two took off with workshops where every participant met the teachers in person. Since this year, I have decided to participate in a role of a bass player; I had classes with Niklas Lukassen. I have to admit that it’s way harder to learn so much information in a group setting; nevertheless, Niklass has done a wonderful job in understanding our levels and, throughout the week, gave us a lot of materials that we could use further in the future. His approach to teaching was fascinating; his teaching methods made it easy to understand what he talked about. Later on, I will go deeper into specific methods that helped me and that inspired me also in my trumpet studies.

After the first workshop session, the teachers gathered together and assigned students to certain combos. Due to the fact that this year we had only three bass players and three drummers, it was decided to divide students into three combos. My ensemble teacher was a pianist and Hammondist Leonardo Corradi. Even though each combo had a primary teacher, most of the teachers came to visit and give their advice and recommendations and helped choose the repertoire. All in all, our combo was visited by Vyšniauskas, Jēkabsone, Lukassen, Michel, and Sooäär. The rest of the day, we were left to our own devices; there was also some exhaustion because the program was quite extensive.

Day three had the same structure — workshops and combos; after that, the evening once again held a jam session that this time was opened with a concert of Ventspils Music Highschool graduates. The teachers also joined the jam session, and I had the chance to perform with Leonardo and Liselotte, which was unnerving but very satisfying because it’s always an exceptional experience to perform with musicians of such high caliber.

As you can already guess, day four once again held a similar structure; the difference was that that evening didn’t have a jam session; instead, there was a concert on the main stage of «Latvija» concert hall that hosted Atis Anderson’s trio with Atis himself on Hammond organ, Āris Ozols on guitar and Andris Buiķis on drums. They were joined by a legendary Latvian organist Aivars Kalējs. Atis played his Hammond organ during the concert, but Aivars a pipe organ. The show demonstrated the contrast between classical and jazz music. Some compositions were introduced by Aivars and continued by Atis. Some compositions were from Atis’s new album, and some were played for the first time, also some jazz standards.

Friday was the last day of workshops and combo classes, and here’s where I want to dedicate more time to telling you about what we were actually taught. The first thing that firmly took residence in my memory was how to listen to music. If you wish to transcribe the music, you have to listen to it several times, but Niklass also said he tries to listen to at least one new album daily. That is how he explores new music, ensembles, etc. Another thing we were taught was about the instrument’s function (in my case, it was bass guitar), soloing on bass, how to get better acquainted with the fretboard, how to use scales, and much more. Every day, while getting acquainted with the teachers, and especially Niklass, I discovered how sincere he was, patient and what a good soul he was. Even if I weren’t participating in a single workshop, being present at the festival would be inspiring to say the least. Every day after combo rehearsals, I spent time with friends, jammed with them for at least two hours before the jam sessions, and shared our experiences and impressions of different teachers. On Friday, there was another jam session, this time at «Windau Coffe», where all the teachers performed jazz standards that they hadn’t even had the chance to rehearse, but musicians of such level usually do great with the standards. We also prepared a small concert with our ensembles, and on Saturday, we got to perform what we had been working on.

On our last day, we had the chance to sleep in because the first event was the soundcheck that started at noon. After that, the participants’ concert began at 3 pm, and the vocalists and Liselotte were the first to take the stage. All in all, there were five vocalists with Liselotte on the piano. They have performed four gospel compositions. Then the combo where I played the bass guitar performed our three tunes, and then three other ensembles also took the stage. If I’m not mistaken, all in all, the concert lasted slightly over an hour. After the show, we had a short break, and then we attended a concert by Ventspils big band with Toms Rudzinskis as the leading artist. The big band performed Toms’s music. The performance was genuinely heartfelt, and even though the big band consisted mainly of high schoolers, the sound was amazing. The second part of the concert had the performance of Leonardo, Marc, and Niklass, and towards the end, the rest of the teachers joined. The final chords of the show were grand. After everything was over, I met with Niklas, and we shared several hugs and had a friendly chat about our impressions of the festival. I also had a conversation with Marc and Leonardo, we shared some beautiful moments and laughs together, and it was then that my eyes filled up with tears because, during this week, so many positive emotions were felt through the music that I didn’t want for it to end. I completely agree with the statement that this year’s festival was the best of them all. Last year there was a great festival, unique workshops, a bigger crowd of participants and listeners, and lots of beautiful performances from such ensembles as Ventspils Bigband and «Very Cool People», it was a blast. But this year’s emotional engagement has beaten all the records; it was indescribable.

I believe «Ventspils Groove» is an event that students of all levels and ages can attend. This year, but also last year, there were 12-15-year-old kids that got acquainted with jazz music for the first time, but also high schoolers up until 19 years old that wanted some inspiration and the chance to learn something new. I would recommend everyone to participate in the festival at least once, to feel this emotional uplifting and to spend a week on non-stop music that we all are trying to learn, it is always better to do that surrounded by like-minded people.