The 2019 Guangzhou Jazz Festival will run from Nov 22 to Dec 1, featuring five sections for different schools of music and musicians, as well as creative music concerts, workshops, lectures and other interactions in various places across the city, according to a press conference held on Sept 12. 

The Damien European Trio gives a performance at the press conference on Sept 12. [Photo/xinhuanet.com]

Since starting in 2014, the annual festival has become one of China's most influential jazz music events, helping spur the development of Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong province, into a city whose jazz scene is thriving, equaling Beijing and Shanghai, where jazz is also flourishing. 

Performers at this year's festival include a number of big names in the genre, including revered saxophonist Branford Marsalis, who has won three Grammy awards and been nominated 16 times, the acclaimed experimental Hong Kong group Mon-Men-T, the Xinghai Modern Music Orchestra, French accordionist Erwan Mellec, and the Rembrandt Frerichs Trio. 

Branford Marsalis Quartet is among the headliners of the 2019 Guangzhou Jazz Festival. [Photo/xinhuanet.com]

"The organizing committee of the Guangzhou Jazz Festival boasts the best performing stage in China and a strong executive team. Many musicians have said that the festival is the most high-end and comfortable one that they've ever participated in," said Huang Yong, executive vice-chairman of the Chinese Musicians Association for Jazz.

Falling on Nov 23, the Jazz Open Day will be highlighted by a five-hour jazz marathon performed by 20 excellent jazz musicians from five bands inside Xinghai Concert Hall. 

In addition, a series of classes and activities themed around jazz have been held across the city in August and will last until November, with performances by excellent jazz musicians.