23 - 31 MAY 2025 //
USF VERFTET // BERGEN
NILS PETTER MOLVÆR // CESARIA EVORA // JAN GARBAREK // MIKE STERN // ART BLAKEY // RADKA TONEFF // ARVE HENRIKSEN // DEXTER GORDON // ARILD ANDERSEN // STAN GETZ // KARIN KROG // KHRUANGBIN // ATOMIC // JAMES BROWN // BUGGE WESSELTOFT // KENT // JAN ERIK VOLD // PAT METHENY // AL DI MEOLA // MARI BOINE // STÅLE STORLØKKEN // BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB // SALIF KEITA // ANE BRUN // ZAP MAMA // PAQUITO D'RIVERA // VAN MORRISON // JØKLEBA // DUNGEN // TINARIWEN // JAGA JAZZIST // DIANA KRALL // JOHN SCOFIELD // MATHIAS EICK // KURT ELLING // SONS OF KEMET // JOE ZAWINUL // BABA MAAL // MARI KVIEN BRUNVOLL // KAIZERS ORCHESTRA // FREDDIE WADLING // BETTY CARTER // JACO PASTORIUS // JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION // ODD BØRRETZEN // MEZZOFORTE // FARMERS MARKET// MADELEINE PEYROUX // DAVE BRUBECK // THE THING // FIRE!ORCHESTRA // CHEB KHALED // ARILD ANDERSEN // DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER // GOTAN PROJECT // DAVE HOLLAND // GIPSY KINGS // MASQUALERO // JAN EGGUM // JON EBERSON // STIAN CARSTENSEN // MARYLIN MAZUR // DR JOHN // WAYNE SHORTER // RUFUS WAINWRIGHT // SIDSEL ENDRESEN // CASSANDRA WILSON // ØYVIND RIMBEREID // JOHN ABERCROMBIE // CARLA BLEY // GEORGE CLINTON // CORNELIS VREESWIJK // BRECKER BROTHERS // MARIA SCHNEIDER // MICHEL PATRUCCIANI // JOHN MCLAUGHLIN // MEDESKI MARTIN WOOD // GIL EVANS // TERJE RYPDAL // ALLAN HOLDSWORTH // ELVIN JONES // DINA ÖGON // ARILD NYQUIST // SON MU // JACK DEJONETTE // DIANNE REEVES // ESBJÖRN SVENSSON TRIO // THE BAD PLUS // TIMBUKTU // SOFT RIDE // TERRI LYNE CARRINGTON // MARC RIBOT // HANNA PAULSBERG // SHOBALEADER ONE // !!! (CHK CHK CHK) // BILL FRISELL // OUMOU SANGERÉ // DONNY MCCASLIN // ROY HARGROVE // STEAMDOME // HEDVIG MOLLESTAD // LAURIE ANDERSON // ELIADES OCHOA // JOHN OLAV NILSEN & GJENGEN // SHARON JONES & THE DAP KINGS // CARMINHO // GAYE SU AKYOL // RONNIE SCOTT // DIG DEEPER // MORY KANTE // JOE HENDERSON // HERBIE HANCOCK // CORY HENRY // BONNIE PRINCE BILLY // DAG ARNESEN // JON HASSEL // JAN BANG // BOB HUND // MOTORPSYCHO // EMILIE NICOLAS // REGGIE WATTS // SUSANNE SUNDFØR // ELEPHANT9 // TUNGTVANN // SEUN KUTI // BUDOS BAND // FIEH // MOON HOOCH // REAL ONES // HANNE HUKKELBERG // BENDIK HOFSETH // PAAL NILSSEN-LOVE // JOSHUA REDMAN // MISS TATI // THUNDERCAT // KOBE // AMASON // YOUNG MOTHERS // SAM AMIDON // GUYEDU-BLAY AMBOLLEY // THOMAS DYBDAHL // JIMMY SCOTT // SILJA SOL // HIGHASAKITE // THE GRANDMOTHERS OF INVENTION // MELINGO // FJORDEN BABY! // HELGE LIEN // THEA HJELMELAND // NENEH CHERRY // BRYAN FERRY // ORIONS BELTE // RÖYKSOPP // MARIUS NESET // GURLS // THE BAND
The All-In-One Concept
All stagees under one roof. Since 1994, the festival has been housed in the venerable USF sardine factory at Nordnes, Bergen. After a short intermesso in the center of the city in 2012, USF Verftet was ready with a new main stage the following year, and Nattjazz moved home! Thus, we continued with the unique all-in-one concept which, since 1973, has made the festival a special experience for keen festival-goers. Already in the 90s, we used the Kjødehallen on the neighboring plot as a festival stage. After a long hiatus, Nattjazz was the first major organizer to use the upgraded industrial hall, which now has the name Hallen USF, in 2023.
RØKERIET (THE SMOKE HOUSE)
Normal capacity: 1250, mainly standing
Serving: yes
Røkeriet has Bergen's best sound and is a perfect stage for everything from jazz and classical to rock and pop.
Specially built for amplified sound, this is Nattjazz's main stage. Here, the better-known artists and the big productions get everything that is required in terms of technical finesse and acoustic solutions. Just as suitable for a quiet solo concert as for a full blast, Røkeriet is the place to be!
SARDINEN (THE SARDINE)
Capacity 400, standing/seated
Serving: yes
Sardinen is home to Bergen Jazzforum's club concerts throughout the year, and not without reason. You are entering a classic, intimate jazz concept: round tables, subdued lighting, world stars right in front of you. The perfect place for that good jazz feeling and a glass of red wine, why not. Hold on to your glass, though: there are hard-hitting drummers and fierce saxophonists blasting out here too!
STUDIO USF
Capacity: 140, seated
Serving: no
Art, innovation, improvisation and reflection! You're in the right place at Studio USF - a blackbox-like stage where those who are at the very forefront of the field get free rein. Almost all experienced jazzers say the same thing: here they have had some of their greatest musical experiences! The stage for those who really listen.
HALLEN USF
Capacity 1500, standing
Serving: yes
The old industrial hall is USF Verftet's newest addition to the musical scene and the city's new cultural hotspot. The place for big sound and big concerts. With only two years of operation, Hallen USF is a dream stage 'in the making', a stage that will surely become one of Bergen's most important venues in the years to come.
About Nattjazz
1973. 2025.
As is often the case, Nattjazz was created because of a need. A deficiency. Nattjazz was an answer. And a question. A dialogue.
The Bergen International Festival (Festspillene i Bergen) was Norway's most important cultural festival in the early 1970s, but they closed their doors early every evening. Too early. The aficionados behind Bergen's most important jazz club then and now - Bergen Jazzforum - had the answer: let's create a festival that starts late in the evening and lasts through the night - a room for an everlasting 'Around Midnight...'
Headlining the first festival: Dexter Gordon. The following year: Jan Garbarek.
It seems clear that the leading star in everything the festival does - jazz and live music at the highest level, available to everyone, mixing genres - was there from the beginning. Easy access. Low prices.
Since then, the times and the hours have changed. Nattjazz is now something else. And still the same.
Community and (e)quality first, profit last.
Interaction. Volunteering. Shared experiences.
The goal is to bring the best of the new and the best of the best to Bergen.
To USF Verftet at Nordnes. To everyone. The best sound. The best musical experience.
All the while making every effort to help the local, young talents get some well deserved attention.
We often succeed, but not always. This is the nature of live music in real time - and pixel free.
No artificial intelligence. Just art.
Or real attempts at it.
You had to be there.
Musical profile
The musical profile covers a wide range, from traditional jazz to what is referred to as world music. Modern jazz at the crossroads between jazz, rock, electronica and folk music may be a possible description. In the field of jazz, bebop, hard bop and funk are presented in particular, in addition to a strong focus on Norwegian and European free jazz. Not forgetting that all labeling and genre definitions contains inherent questions marks.
Music both for those who want to delve into familiar material and those who want to challenge their own prejudices or expand their musical horizons. We are still an answer and a question, a dialogue. Contrary to common understanding, a dialogue is not a binary, two-way thing. Dialogue means, more often than not, multi-voiced. We surf around in this polyphony and stroll home early the next day with morning birds chirping, dreaming of a saxophone bonanza with Garbarek, Møster and Joshua Redman playing together on top of the old industrial chimney that always shows the way to Norway's coolest jazz festival. Hope to see you there.