"Is a popular, festive and enthusiastic festival ... in a country of high promises in many fields, including that of jazz." - Jazz Magazine

Kaunas Jazz is Lithuania's biggest and stylistically most diverse jazz festival. Its main ambition is to combine quality, diversity, and popular appeal. Since its outset with Lithuanian independence, Kaunas Jazz has attracted the biggest names in jazz as well as encouraging local artists, and focussing on the city community. This has been well directed through Jonas Jucas, himself a lifelong servant of Kaunas and music, with a network that has brought Kaunas Jazz throughout Lithuania and Europe.
As old as the new independent Lithuanian state, the first Kaunas Jazz struck its first chord in 1991. The idea then was to bring a fresh addition to the already existing jazz scene in Lithuania that covered free jazz and bee bop. It turned out to be a rather eclectic solution. After a somewhat modest beginning featuring mainly Lithuanian musicians and jazz artists from neighbouring countries (although it was already a full scale international festival with projects from eleven countries) Kaunas Jazz soon grew into an important culture event in Lithuania spreading well beyond the boundaries of a conventional jazz festival and retaining an exceptional sensibility for the needs of its audience.
Five years into their country's independence, the Lithuanian audience was hungry for a first hand experience of the big names whose records they were well familiar with. This is when Kaunas Jazz stepped in to perform the function of a cultural educator by introducing this audience to such high profile jazz artists as John Scofield, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Elvin Jones, Jan Garbarek, Charles Lloyd, Bobo Stenson, Nils Landgren, Courtney Pine, Marc Copland, John Abercrombie, Palle Mikkelborg, Nils Petter Molvaer, David Sanborn, Mike Stern, Django Bates, Trilok Gurtu, Bobby Previte, Greg Osby, and Chico Freeman among others.
In addition to its bid to programme well established mainstream jazz musicians Kaunas Jazz has also established itself as an initiator of local and international projects, co-operations, and master classes, thereby fostering the talent at home as well as creating performance possibilities for young Lithuanian artists. The producer of the festival, Jonas Jucas, who, himself has an impressive musical education, sees the edifying role as the most important aspect of the festival, whence numerous free concerts on open air stages, art galleries, churches and other public spaces featuring a wide range of music from jazz rock and pop to intellectually demanding meditative jazz. Some of the most original Kaunas Jazz projects involve yearly carillon jazz concerts held at the Courtyard of the War Museum, sacred jazz concerts in churches, and the Jewish Theme in Jazz at the city synagogue.
Born and bred in Kaunas, Jonas Jucas has made sure that Kaunas Jazz responds to the needs of the community and is there to be enjoyed by all of its members irrespective of their age or musical sophistication. Thus, Kaunas Jazz offers numerous shows on open air stages and clubs, including Kaunas Kazz Fashion Show, art exhibitions on jazz, projects aimed at families such as Children's Drawings the Pavement, Kaunas Jazz air balloon carrying a performing jazz musician, etc.
A member of the Europe Jazz Network, Kaunas Jazz is more than just a yearly event held in Spring. Recent years have seen regular concert cycles in Kaunas Jazz Autumn and Concerts of the Year just before Christmas, all of which take the festival beyond Kaunas. Its concerts are held in the capital city Vilnius.
Kaunas Jazz is an important event that seriously stirs and adds spice to Lithuanian jazz life. It introduces some of the main contemporary jazz names to the Lithuanian audience, features the latest jazz developments in the region and, without any doubt; every Spring throws a real jazz fiesta for the citizens of the city of Kaunas.