A Look Back at the 2026 Vitoria-Gasteiz Jazz Festival

The city of Vitoria (Gasteiz in Basque) has been home to one of Spain’s most prestigious jazz festivals since 1977. Renowned for its eclectic programming, the festival celebrated its 49th edition from 13 to 18 July. As I was only able to attend the closing day, this review focuses on the festival’s grand finale, which featured an all-American line-up.

Spread across two venues of radically different size and atmosphere, the final evening began in the smaller auditorium, which unfortunately lacked effective air conditioning, where Chicago-born saxophonist Isaiah Collier took the stage. The programme then moved to the Polideportivo Mendizorrotza for a double bill featuring The Bad Plus and Snarky Puppy.

With 2026 marking both the centenary of Miles Davis’s birth and that of John Coltrane, it was the latter who was honoured on 18 July. Having celebrated last year in Los Angeles the 60th anniversary of the recording of the legendary A Love Supreme, Isaiah Collier emerged as one of the most legitimate heirs to Coltrane’s legacy, sharing not only his musical intensity but also his profound spiritual quest. He opened his set with My Favorite Things, the standard immortalised by Coltrane on the 1961 album of the same name, before launching into the A Love Supreme suite. While the quartet—featuring the outstanding pianist David Whitfield—displayed remarkable cohesion, Collier naturally dominated proceedings through extended improvisations on soprano and tenor saxophone, allowing himself scarcely a moment’s respite. It was only towards the end of the concert that he addressed the audience, enthusiastically introducing Olé, a composition inspired by Spain and released, also in 1961, on the album of the same name—a year that proved exceptionally fruitful for Coltrane. Having punctuated the performance with brief interjections on an assortment of percussion instruments placed beside him, Collier finally picked up a pair of castanets, playfully underlining the Iberian flavour of the closing piece.

A little later, The Bad Plus opened the proceedings at the Polideportivo Mendizorrotza with an emotionally charged performance. Speaking in surprisingly fluent Spanish, double bassist and co-founder Reid Anderson announced that this would be the band’s final concert on Spanish soil before its planned dissolution at the end of the year. Aptly titled the Farewell Tour, it will bring to a close twenty-seven years of activity for a group that has continually reinvented itself following the successive departures of Ethan Iverson and Orrin Evans. The programme, consisting mainly of original compositions by Anderson and drummer Dave King, also included a rendition of a piece by Ornette Coleman. As ever, Ben Monder’s ethereal guitar intertwined beautifully with Chris Speed’s tenor saxophone and clarinet, producing several moments of striking lyricism.

It was then the turn of Snarky Puppy founder and bassist Michael League, who addressed the audience in near-perfect Spanish. Having lived for almost a decade in a small Catalan village, he has made Spain the group’s European base. Just two days earlier, Snarky Puppy had performed at the Gent Jazz Festival, as proudly demonstrated by the T-shirt worn by one of the band’s musicians. After paying heartfelt tribute to The Bad Plus, whom League regards as a major influence on an entire generation of musicians, he explained that the evening would be devoted entirely to Somni (“dream” in Catalan), the collective’s latest album. Snarky Puppy’s greatest strength remains its remarkable ability to reinvent itself while preserving an instantly recognisable musical identity—one capable of appealing far beyond the traditional jazz audience. Although every member made a significant contribution, violinist Zach Brock frequently emerged as the concert’s central figure, dazzling with equally brilliant arco and pizzicato playing.

No self-respecting jazz festival would be complete without its traditional jam session. In Vitoria, for four consecutive nights, Italian pianist Francesca Tandoi welcomed festival-goers shortly ’Round Midnight in a nearby hotel, soon joined by fellow musicians eager to keep the celebrations going. Until the small wee hours of the morning, jazz continued to resonate through a city which, like so many others in Spain, never sleeps. And while many will no doubt hope to return next year to celebrate the festival’s 50th anniversary in style, jazz lovers will already be heading just a few days later to another major summer gathering only a hundred kilometres away: the San Sebastián Jazz Festival.

Vitoria Jazz Festival — 13–18 July 2026 — Programme of the 49th Edition | Vitoria-Gasteiz Jazz Festival

Pascal Dorban

Text : Pascal Dorban / Photographs :Adrián Ruiz Hierro :© Couleurs Jazz, 2026. Any reproduction, even partial, is prohibited without prior authorisation.