Hot August nights in Ibiza town will reverberate to the rhythms of Jazz at the end of the month when the annual Jazzfest takes place. As in previous years, two venues will be used, the Vara de Rey, where the free concerts will take place, and the Santa Lucia battlements high above Sa Penya, where there will be a €15 entry fee.
The free concerts will showcase local and new Jazz talent, starting on
Tuesday 23rd, 21.30, Vara de Rey – Eivissa Jazz Big Band and Nuevos Caminos
Wednesday 24th, 21.30, Vara de Rey – Swing & Dreams and Muriel Grossmann Group
After this the festival moves up to Santa Lucia
Thursday 25th, 22.00, Santa Lucia – Quartetto Minimo, Oh Trio and Giulia Valle Group
Friday 26th, 22.00, Santa Lucia – Eivissa Jazz Experience 2011 and Trilok Gurtu Band
Saturday 27th, 22.00, Santa Lucia – Carl Winther Trio and David Murray Cuban Ensemble.
All the artists playing in the festival and in particular the two main acts clearly illustrate that Jazz is a truly international style of music with influences from all over the world, not just its black American roots.
Trilok Gurtu, for example is an Indian percussionist who has worked with some of that country's finest traditional musicians but has aslo collaborated with some of the greats of Jazz - John McLaughlin, Joe Zawinul, Jan Garbarek, Don Cherry, Bill Evans, Pharoah Sanders, Dave Holland to name just a few.
Multi-award winning Californian tenor sax man David Murray has 130 albums to his credit and despite early influences from the free Jazz movement he has developed a more mainstream style a la
Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster. He's currently touring with his latest creation, the Cuban Ensemble, an octet with strings performing classic Nat King Cole numbers such as Tres Palabras in our
video above.
