Spread out over eight days and multiple locations, The Present Is Present will take place between 12 and 19 May 2017. This festival presents diverse highlights of Amsterdam’s creative music scene, and will also include this year’s Doek festival. In recent years a wide range of musicians, groups, venues and series have sprung up and thrived, bringing the city to life. The Present Is Present reflects and celebrates this exciting development and proclaims to the world that the adventurous music scene in Amsterdam is alive and kicking!

Beginning with two evenings in the Bimhuis, with three bands per evening (plus a guerilla impro jam on Saturday), the festival will continue in such venues as Occii, De Ruimte and Zaal 100. The explosive and already legendary dance party 2nd Stop Is Jupiter will take place late on Friday night. The sounds of music mix with the sounds of the street during the Amsterdam Bicycle tour. There is also room for dynamic spaces like Splendor and De Tanker and for the series Pintotonics, Instant Music Day and SUP Impro.

No other music scene in Amsterdam has such a powerful tradition as that of improvised music. Thanks to the likes of Misha Mengelberg and Han Bennink, the so-called New Dutch Swing enjoyed considerable international influence and won renown for its humour, inventiveness and refusal to toe the line. The Present Is Present proudly upholds this tradition and shows that improvised music is bubbling, brewing and exploding right now, right here in 2017. A new generation of local and international musicians is breathing fresh life into the music. Drawing on diverse influences, they’re not just redefining and reinventing the music, but also its context - where it’s played, with whom and why!

Friday 12 May
Bimhuis/Doek Festival – 20:30
Set 1 Native Speaker: Natalio Sued tenor sax, Matt Adomeit double bass, Tristan Renfrow drums
Set 2 George Hadow solo percussion
Set 3 Uldis Vitols Sextet: Adrien Losco tenor sax, Alistair Payne trumpet, Camille Verhaak clarinet, Linus Kleinlosen alto sax, Uldis Vitols double bass, Tancrède Derijard-Kummer drums

De Ruimte: 2nd Stop is Jupiter – 23:00 – 03:00
Opening party – dancing to live jazz, Turkish and cumbia music
Set 1 John Dikeman tenor sax, Oscar Jan Hoogland piano, Uldis Vitols bass, Onno Govaert drums
Set 2 Band 1 plus Eva Hoogland vocals, Vincente Pino guitar, Fabio Galeazzi drums
Set 3 Band 1 plus Ivo Sprey vocals, Vincente Pino guitar, Miguel Petruccelli bass,
Fabio Galeazzi drums

Saturday 13 May
Bimhuis/Doek Festival - 20:30
Set 1 Felicity Provan 5tet: Felicity Provan cornet, Han Buhrs voice, Harald Austbø cello/voice, Ada Rave tenor sax, Michael Vatcher drums
Set 2 Nico Chientaroli solo piano
Set 3 Native Aliens: Renato Ferreira tenor and baritone sax, Yedo Gibson soprano sax, Laura Polence voice, George Dimitriu viola/guitar, Jan Willem van der Ham bassoon/alto sax, Miguel Petruccelli bass guitar en guitar, Saartje van Camp cello, Onno Govaert drums/pandeiro

Impro Jam guerrilla action in the bar – roll the dice to see who plays!

Sunday 14 May
Amsterdam Bicycle Tour - 14:00 – 18:00
Impro and more on the streets of Amsterdam curated by Kaja Draksler, Oscar Jan Hoogland, Volle Band.

Splendor/Doek Festival - 20:30
Set 1 AVA: Giuseppe Doronzo baritone sax, Esat Ekincioglu bass, Simon Leleux percussion
Set 2 Sanem Kalfa voice/electronics, George Dumitriu guitar/electronics
Set 3 Miriam den Boer Salmón violin, Salvoandrea Lucifora trombone, Joost Buis trombone, Marta Warelis piano

Impro Jam guerrilla action in the bar – roll the dice to see who plays!

Monday 15 May
Huis de Pinto: Pintotonics – 20:00
Set 1 Maya Felixbrodt viola
Set 2 Han Buhrs voice, Salvoandrea Lucifora trombone, Wolter Wierbos trombone

Tuesday 16 May
Zaal 100 – 21:00
Jazzcafé - Xavier Pamplona Ensemble: Alistair Payne trumpet, Michael Moore alto sax/clarinet, Ziv Taubenfeld bass clarinet, Giuseppe Doronzo baritone sax, Marta Warelis piano, Raoul van der Weide double bass/percussion, George Hadow drums

MD301
Set 1 Oene van Geel violin, Miri Lee dance
Set 2 el Otro: Arvind Ganga guitar and objects, Manuela Tessi dance

Wednesday 17 May
Zaal 100 - Instant Music Day – 20:30
Set 1 Felicity Provan cornet, Joost Buis trombone, Miriam den Boer Salmón violin, Raoul van der Weide double bass
Set 2 Miri Lee dance, Michael Moore alto sax/clarinet, Wilbert de Joode double bass
Set 3 John Dikeman sax, Kaja Draksler piano

Thursday 18 May
Broedplaats Surinameplein - SUPImpro - 20:00
Set 1 Kristján Martinsson piano, Yedo Gibson reeds, Wilbert de Joode double bass
Set 2 Ada Rave tenor sax, Eric Boeren cornet, Michael Vatcher drums

OCCII – 22:30
Set 1 WARELIS / AUSTBØ / DIKEMAN / MOSER
John Dikeman sax, Harald Austbø cello, Marta Warelis electric piano, Philipp Moser drums
Set 2 TERRIE & ANDY (The Ex guitars)
Terrie Hessels guitar, Andy Moor guitar
Set 3 NAZARY
Miguel Petruccelli en Jasper Stadhouders bass guitar, Onno Govaert en Tristan Renfrow drums

Friday 19 May
Tanker – 20:00
The Music of Hermeto Pascoal
Natalio Sued reeds, Yedo Gibson reeds, Ziv Taubenfeld bass clarinet, Kristján Martinsson accordion, Niels Brouwer guitars, Renato Ferreira double bass, Michael Vatcher drums.

De Ruimte: 22:30
Festival all night closing party with the Zebra Street Band and other festival artists in many and varied combinations.