Attending a Modern Standards Supergroup concert means seeing five world jazz stars on the stage of the Rīgas Ritmi Festival. There will probably never be such an opportunity to be so close to these legends! Billy Cobham is one of the greatest drummers of all time. Trumpeter Randy Brecker, along with the Brecker Brothers, revolutionized jazz and is the founder of the band Blood, Sweat & Tears. Bill Evans is one of the best jazz saxophonists who has played with Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock and Mick Jagger. Niels Lan Doky is an award-winning piano genius, but Linley Marthe is considered one of the most virtuoso and original bass players of the moment.

The line-up of Modern Standards Supergroup is as ingenious as their program. Grandmasters turn topical pophits into virtuoso jazz gems. This is an opportunity to learn how The Weeknd, Billie Eilish, Anderson .Paak, Dua Lipa, Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, The Black Eyed Peas or Shakira hits sound like modern jazz standards!

The international global music band Ayom from Portugal is called a musical brigade of seafarers that crosses the Atlantic Ocean from Brazil to Angola and Cape Verde, but with a strong Mediterranean identity. The name refers to the Lord of Music in Afro-Brazilian mythology. In it Ayom taught people to play music and sing. Ayom includes vocalist and percussionist Jabu Morales, accordionist Alberto Becucci, guitarist Ricardo Quinteria, bassist Francesco Valente, and percussionists Timoteo Grignani and Walter Martins.

American singer-songwriter Clark Beckham is a 30-year-old super-talent who has been represented by the management company of legendary producer Quincy Jones for five years. With his wide-ranging voice and strong stage charisma, Clark Beckham became one of the jury and viewer favorites of the popular TV show American Idol in 2015, and there he was noticed by Quincy Jones. 

The Latvian jazz-funk band Very Cool People will offer a new program together with singer Paula Saija at the Rīgas Ritmi Festival 2022. The main driving force of the band is guitarist Elvijs Grafcovs, who has the ability to gather around him many talented musicians, including great singers. The concert at this year's festival will be special in that it will feature a completely new concert program with the young and talented singer Paula Saija, who is the laureate of the international jazz artists' competition Riga Jazz Stage 2022.

The main concerts of the festival will take place in the Riga Cathedral Garden. Modern Standards Supergroup and Very Cool People with Paula Saija will perform on June 30, and Ayom and Clark Beckham on July 1. Start of double concerts – at 8 pm. Ticket sales have already started on the internet service aula.lv.

On June 30 and July 1, visitors to the festival will also be welcomed at the Noass Art Center on the AB Dam, where Jersika Stage will operate. The event will start at 6 pm, when both vinyl DJ sets and director Emil Alps' documentary Man of the Renaissance about the master of ancient instruments Kaspars Putriņš will be offered. At 8 pm Ieva Saliete will perform the Steve Reich's composition Electric Counterpoint on the harpsichord and the program Codex Faenza on the clavicymbal. At 10 pm American drummer Domo Branch, winner of the competition Riga Jazz Stage 2022, will perform with his trio.

Also on July 1, guests will be welcomed with vinyl DJ sets and documentaries from 6 pm, but at 8 pm Atis Anderson's Organ Trio will invite you to listen to the great sounds of the Hammond organ. At 9 pm electrode jazz party in neo-fusion style will be provided by the band Lupa, but at 10 pm a Xantoné Blacq, an expressive British jazz, funk and soul music singer and multi-instrumentalist, will close the event with his quartet.

The official jam sessions of the festival together with AG Trio will take place in the Riga Jazz Lounge at the hotel Radisson Blu Latvija. Before them, concerts of the Rīgas Ritmi Festival program are also planned – on June 30, Italian guitarist Daniele Mammarella will perform together with his Latvian colleague Reinis Jaunais, and on July 1, Italian singer Valentina Fin, laureate of the competition Riga Jazz Stage 2022, will perform as well. The concerts will start at 8 pm and admission will be free. On June 29, the opening event of the festival will take place there as well. Domo Branch together with AG Trio will start at 8 pm.

The Rīgas Ritmi Festival has always drawn attention to the education of young musicians, therefore this time the stars of the festival will give public master classes in the 1st studio of Latvian Radio. On June 30, singer Clark Beckham and drummer Billy Cobham with colleagues will meet with jazz music students and other interested people, and on July 1, Clark Beckham and members of the band Ayom will do the same. The start of the master classes will be at 11 am and at 1 pm accordingly and it will be possible to visit them free of charge by applying in advance by e-mail info@rigasritmi.lv.

The program of the festival will be continued in the autumn sessions of Art of Riga Jazz in the 1st studio of Latvian Radio. It is already known that the American pianist Christian Sands with his trio will perform in Riga on October 27, and on November 11 – the Spanish singer and trombonist Rita Payés. More information about the festival is available on the website rigasritmi.lv.

The festival is organized by the Contemporary Music Center Foundation, supported by Riga City Council, State Culture Capital Foundation, Investment and Development Agency of Latvia, Tele 2, Latvijas gāze, Audi Latvija, Turkish Airlines, Embassy of the United States of America, Embassy of the Italian Republic and other lovers of quality music.