USA

Pianist and provocateur Connie Han has created an edgy blend of modern and traditional jazz with her incendiary Mack Avenue Records debut CRIME ZONE. At 23, this young lioness is on a fast-climbing trajectory to jazz stardom with rave reviews from The New York Times, Jazziz Magazine, Downbeat Magazine, and more. According to Downbeat Magazine, Han has “already absorbed the post-bop piano masters” with “all the technical mastery she’ll ever need.”

Kool & the Gang is an American jazz, R&B, soul, and funk group, originally formed in 1964 as the Jazziacs based in New Jersey. 

They went through several musical phases during the course of their recording career, starting out with a purist jazz sound, then becoming practitioners of R&B and funk, progressing to a smooth pop-funk ensemble, and in the post-millennium creating music with a modern, electro-pop sound. 

They have sold over 70 million albums worldwide.

Victor Wooten is an American bass player, composer, author, producer, and recipient of five Grammy Awards. At the Bratislava Jazz Days he would play with his brothers, the guitarist Regi and the drummer Roy. 

Marla Glen is an American singer. She is known for her unique voice, haunting lyrics, for her fierce commitment to social change and the cause of human unity. 

Theo Croker is an American trumpeter, composer, producer, and singer. He has been nominated for Grammy and Echo awards. The grandson of legendary trumpeter Doc Cheatham, he was a student of the equally famous Donald Byrd. Since 2007, he has released seven albums, with guest appearances by stars such as Jill Scott, Jamila Woods, and Wyclef Jean on his current album, 2022's "Love Quantum."

Three-time Grammy-nominated Afro-Caribbean music group Tiempo Libre is one of the hottest Latin bands today.  Equally at home in concert halls, jazz clubs, festival stages and dance venues, Tiempo Libre is celebrated for its sophisticated tropical music featuring an irresistible, exhilarating mix of jazz harmonies, contemporary sonorities and seductive Latin rhythms.  

Marcus Miller is an American jazz composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist, best known as a bass guitarist. He has worked with trumpeter Miles Davis, pianist Herbie Hancock, singer Luther Vandross, and saxophonist Davis Sanborn. He has won numerous Grammy Awards as a producer, a composer, and solo musician.

Joshua Redman is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. In 1991, he won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition. As a band leader he released 13 albums. Redman is coming to Bratislava with his Quartet and the brand new album Walking Shadows.

Les McCann is an American soul jazz pianist and vocalist whose biggest successes came as a crossover artist into R&B and soul. Javon Jackson played in the Jazz Messengers until Art Blakey's death.

Gregory Porter iis an American jazz vocalist, songwriter and actor. Porter won the 2014 Grammy for best jazz vocal album, Liquid Spirit. Since his 2010 debut on the Motéma label, Porter has been well received in the music press. The New York Times described Porter as "a jazz singer of thrilling presence, a booming baritone with a gift for earthy refinement and soaring uplift" in its review of Liquid Spirit.