Jazz Middelheim is an annual summer jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 festival in Antwerp, Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

. The 2010 edition presented amongst othersToots Thielemans

Toots Thielemans

Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans , known as Toots Thielemans, is a Belgian jazz musician well known for his guitar and harmonica playing as well as his whistling. Thielemans is credited as one of the greatest harmonica players of the 20th century...

, Wayne Shorter

Wayne Shorter

Wayne Shorter is an American jazz saxophonist and composer.He is generally acknowledged to be jazz's greatest living composer, and many of his compositions have become standards...

 Quartet, McCoy Tyner Trio with Joe Lovano

Joe Lovano

Joseph Salvatore "Joe" Lovano is a post bop jazz saxophonist, alto clarinetist, flautist, and drummer. Since the late 1980s, Lovano has been one of the world's premiere tenor saxophone players, earning a Grammy award and several nods on Down Beat magazine's critics' and readers' polls...

, Cassandra Wilson

Cassandra Wilson

Cassandra Wilson is an American jazz musician, vocalist, songwriter, and producer from Jackson, Mississippi. Described by critic Gary Giddins as "a singer blessed with an unmistakable timbre and attack [who has] expanded the playing field" by incorporating country, blues and folk music into her...

, Archie Shepp

Archie Shepp

Archie Shepp is a prominent African-American jazz saxophonist. Shepp is best known for his passionately Afrocentric music of the late 1960s, which focused on highlighting the injustices faced by the African-Americans, as well as for his work with the New York Contemporary Five, Horace Parlan, and...

, Ahmad Jamal

Ahmad Jamal

Ahmad Jamal is an innovative and influential American jazz pianist, composer, and educator. According to Stanley Crouch, Jamal is second in importance in the development of jazz after 1945 only to Charlie Parker...

, World Saxophone Quartet + M'BOOM, Chucho Valdés

Chucho Valdés

Chucho Valdés is a Cuban pianist, bandleader, composer and arranger. In 1972 he founded the group Irakere, one of Cuba's best-known Latin jazz bands. Together with pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Valdés is revered as one of Cuba's greatest jazz pianists...

 & The Afro Cuban Messengers and Dave Holland

Dave Holland

Dave Holland is an English jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has lived in the United States for 40 years....

 & Pepe Habichuela

Pepe Habichuela

Pepe Habichuela is a Spanish flamenco guitarist, cited as one of the great flamenco masters and one of Spain's finest contemporary guitarists...

: Flamenco quittet feat. Josemi Carmona. Apart from the incredible performance by Toots Thielemans

Toots Thielemans

Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans , known as Toots Thielemans, is a Belgian jazz musician well known for his guitar and harmonica playing as well as his whistling. Thielemans is credited as one of the greatest harmonica players of the 20th century...

, some other Belgian artists gave outstanding concerts: Jef Neve with José James

José James

José James is an American vocalist best known for performing and blending modern jazz and hip-hop. James performs all over the world both as a leader and with other groups.-Biography:...

 (presenting their new Facing East CD), Jeroen Van Herzeele Quartet and Aka Moon

Aka Moon

Aka Moon is a Belgian avant-garde jazz band. Saxophonist Fabrizio Cassol, bassist Michel Hatzigeorgiou, and drummer Stéphane Galland are the founding members of the core trio...

+ Baba Sissoko reached

The first festival took place in 1969 as a jazz promenade in the Middelheim park. In 2011 Jazz Middelheim will celebrate it's 30th edition.