Big names in the world of jazz, as well as several renowned musicians from around the world, will make their way to Seoul this spring.

Three-time Grammy winner and jazz bassist Charlie Haden, jazz piano legend Eddie Palmieri and famous Irish singer-songwriter Damien Rice will perform at the Seoul Jazz Festival 2014 to be held at Olympic Park in Seoul on May 17 and 18.

Haden, Palmieri and Rice are leading acts in the first lineup of musicians for the upcoming high jinks, which was announced by the event’s management company Private Curve last Thursday.

Revolutionary jazz bassist Haden, whose musical career spans more than 50 years and diverse genres including free jazz, Portuguese fado and vintage country, has been hailed by Time magazine as “one of the most restless, gifted, and intrepid players in all of jazz.”

Credited with attempting to break out of traditional jazz music, Haden won three Latin Grammy awards and was chosen as the world’s “best acoustic bassist” for 14 consecutive years by Downbeat, a music magazine dedicated to the field of jazz. He will lead his modernist jazz ensemble, Charlie Haden Quartet West, in the Seoul festival.

Latin jazz legend and pianist Palmieri, who has been called America’s “most consistently innovative artist in Afro-Cuban music for the past 30 years,” will join Haden.

Palmieri’s debut album “The Sun of Latin Music” brought the artist the top Grammy Award for Latin music in 1975. He went on to claim eight more Grammy awards with subsequent albums over the next decades. The Eddie Palmieri Latin Jazz Band will provide a rare opportunity to hear his signature Latin sounds and rhythms live in Seoul.

Singer-songwriter Damien Rice will return to Korea for the second time this year to entice Seoul audiences once again with his mellow tunes and sentimental voice.

Rice debuted with the hit single “The Blower’s Daughter” in 2001, bringing fresh, Irish-infused folk rock to the international music scene. His first album, “O,” sold more than 100,000 copies in the U.K. alone and earned Rice a number of awards.

Other international artists on the bill include acclaimed tenor saxophone player Joshua Redman and his quartet; budding Scottish singer-songwriter Paolo Nutini; Erlend Oye, a member of the popular folk duo Kings of Convenience; and young Norwegian artist Sondre Lerche.
Pop pianist and singer-songwriter Yoon Han and the Yun Seokcheol Trio will be the top local jazz act in the festival.

The second lineup of artists will be unveiled in the near future, said Private Curve.

This year will mark the eighth anniversary of the Seoul Jazz Festival, which has featured a diverse pool of internationally renowned jazz artists.

Last year, it attracted more than 30,000 spectators and was one of Korea’s most successful music festivals of the year. The 2013 lineup featured acclaimed artists including Damien Rice, MIKA, Ramsey Lewis, Kings of Convenience, Philip Bailey and the Parov Stelar Band.

The “Super Early Bird” tickets for this year’s Seoul Jazz Festival will go on sale at noon on Feb. 13 on Interpark.

For more information, call (02) 563-0595 or visit the Seoul Jazz Festival 2014 official website at www.seouljazz.co.kr, or the festival’s social media platforms on Facebook and Twitter (@privatecurve).

By Sohn Ji-young (jiyoung.sohn@heraldcorp.com)