The story
Jazzfestival Saalfelden in Saalfelden
Jazzfestival Saalfelden began in May 1978 as a three-day open-air gathering on a meadow outside the Alpine town of Saalfelden am Steinernen Meer, with Cecil Taylor and Irene Schweizer on the first bill. Grown since 1979 under organizer Gerhard Eder, it now runs every August as one of Europe's leading festivals for free jazz and improvised music, staged against a dramatic mountain backdrop.
What is now one of Central Europe's most respected jazz festivals began modestly as "Drei Tage Jazz" -- Three Days of Jazz -- first staged on a meadow known as the Ranch on the outskirts of Saalfelden from 19 to 21 May 1978, with a lineup that already signaled serious ambition: Cecil Taylor, Irene Schweizer, Leroy Jenkins, Clifford Thornton, and the Vienna Art Orchestra all performed that inaugural weekend.