Part 5 – The years 2011 to 2019/2022
The festival in its fifth decade
With 2011, the INTERNATIONAL DIXIELAND FESTIVAL Dresden entered the fifth decade of its history. By then, the festival had long established itself as one of the most important and oldest events in traditional jazz. For half a century it had drawn musicians and fans from all over the world to Dresden and transformed the city into a place where jazz was not only played, but lived.
Over those five decades, around 1,000 bands from 46 countries and six continents came to the Elbe. The festival was therefore not only a Dresden hallmark, but also an international showcase for old-time jazz, swing, blues, and gospel. The special atmosphere of those May days made the festival famous far beyond Germany.
Dresden celebrates the largest and oldest festival for traditional jazz
With the start of the new decade, the festival’s stature became even more apparent. Dresden was now regarded worldwide as one of the key destinations for traditional jazz. The mix of major concerts, jam sessions, open-air events, street music, and special venues gave the festival its unmistakable character.
In 2011, the “First Big Big Band Party” made a strong statement. Music by Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Glenn Miller thrilled audiences, and it soon became clear that in the new decade the festival aimed not only to preserve its tradition, but also to develop it with fresh impulses.
Premieres from the Red Sea to the main station
Among the notable guests was the Isra Dixie Band, which traveled from the Red Sea to the Elbe for its German and Dresden debut. With its blend of Dixieland and Jewish folk melodies, it added a distinctive accent to the program. Other premieres also showed how open the festival remained to new colors within traditional jazz.
In 2011, Dresden Central Station was also added as a new venue. This gave the festival a place where travelers, regulars, and spontaneous visitors alike were welcomed with music. It was precisely this combination of urban everyday life and festival atmosphere that was one of the special strengths of Dresden Dixieland.
Big Band Show, Uschi Brüning and new highlights
The second Dresden Big Band Show added further highlights with ensembles such as the New Town Swing Orchestra, the Dresden Big Band, and Andrey Hermlin with his Swing Dance Orchestra. Its authentic arrangements in the style of the 1930s thrilled the audience, as did the performances by Uschi Brüning and the Jazz-Optimisten Berlin.
Early in the decade, the festival demonstrated its ability to cleverly expand its musical range without losing its core. The audience enthusiastically embraced this blend of familiar names, new guests, and stylistic diversity.
Lisa Bentzen honored as the 10,000th participant
A special moment was the honoring of Danish singer Lisa Bentzen as the festival’s 10,000th participant. This number vividly underscored the scale that the history of the INTERNATIONAL DIXIELAND FESTIVAL Dresden had by then attained. At the same time, other anniversaries were also celebrated – from long-serving presenters to long-established Dresden bands and the children’s program “Dixieland ABC”.
Such anniversaries made clear that the festival lives not only from individual concerts, but from long-standing relationships, familiar faces, and a culture of returning that has been cultivated over decades. That is precisely where part of its emotional power lies.
Young bands and new energy
With bands such as The Dixie Ticklers from England, younger groups also came to Dresden, giving early jazz a contemporary, distinctive touch. Their performance showed that Dixieland is by no means merely a look back, but rather something that keeps inspiring new generations of musicians. The jam session bands from Saxony and Brandenburg also stood for this vibrant culture of emerging talent.
In doing so, a development that had already begun in previous years continued: the tradition remained alive because it opened itself up. The festival succeeded in bringing experience and youth, classics and fresh artistic signatures into dialogue with one another.
Farewell to Karlheinz Drechsel
Among the decade’s most moving moments was the farewell to Karlheinz Drechsel as host. After 46 years, he led “his” concerts for the last time, leaving a gap that only someone similarly closely connected to the festival could fill. With Ulf Drechsel, this special tradition of hosting continued within the family.
This farewell made clear how strongly the festival was shaped by personalities who, over many years, helped define the event’s face, voice, and spirit. It is precisely in such transitions that festival history becomes especially tangible.
“Dresden swings” and the return to the Kulturpalast
After the Kulturpalast closed in 2012 and underwent its controversial renovation, its reopening became an important signal for the festival. With the special concert “Dresden swings,” the Dixieland caravan returned to this historic venue. The audience experienced how tradition and the new concert hall could be brought together.
Artists such as Pascal von Wroblewsky, the Blue Wonder Jazzband, the Elb Meadow Ramblers, the Umbrella Jazzmen, the Dresden Big Band, and the Wilandeschor made this evening a musical exclamation point. It also made clear that the festival’s story can continue to be written in familiar places, even when those places have changed.
On the way to the major anniversary
In the years leading up to the 50th festival, the music editorial team remained true to its standards, inviting only outstanding bands to Dresden. Musicians such as Charly Antolini and Steve “Big Man” Clayton stood as prime examples of this level. At the same time, the popular jazz mile continued to expand, connecting the main railway station with Dresden Castle for the first time.
Special concerts such as “The Legend of Dixieland in Dresden” further heightened anticipation for the major anniversary. Familiar faces, new premieres, and a strong sense of history came together to create an atmosphere that made the 50th festival a special destination point within the entire series.
The 50th anniversary – planned for 2020
The 50th INTERNATIONAL DIXIELAND FESTIVAL was actually scheduled to take place in May 2020. The program was ready, expectations were high, and much pointed to an extraordinary anniversary. Renowned jazz musicians, audience favorites, and long-established bands from several countries were set to shape the days and nights of the 50th edition.
Then the coronavirus pandemic hit. The festival had to be canceled and later postponed again. What had been planned as an anniversary year became a painful rupture unlike anything the festival’s history had experienced up to that point.
Corona, creative interim formats, and perseverance
Instead of the major anniversary, the organizers developed smaller formats to still give audiences a taste of Dixieland. The DIXIELAND family barbecue in the Ostragehege, special cruises on the Elbe, and open-air jazz at the autumn festival on Altmarkt kept the connection between the festival and its audience alive.
These interim formats could not replace the canceled flagship event, but they impressively demonstrated how agile and inventive the festival remained even in difficult times. It was precisely during this phase that the close bond between organizers, musicians, and audience became evident.
But now: May 2022
After a two-year interruption caused by the pandemic, the 50th International Dixieland Festival was finally able to take place in May 2022. For many Dresden residents and visitors, the festival felt like a release. The fact that around 95 percent of the tickets purchased back in 2020 remained valid and were actually used was an impressive show of trust from the audience.
More than 400,000 visitors made the belated anniversary festival one of the finest in the festival’s history. In concert halls, pubs, and the city’s public squares, it became clear how deeply this event is rooted in Dresden. Thus Part 5 ended not with a rupture, but with a great emotional sigh of relief — and with proof that the Dixieland caravan keeps moving on.