The Festival, that had already announced names such as Diana Krall, Calexico, Roberto Fonseca, Steffen Morrison and the recollection of Paco de Lucía with Niño Josele and Antonio Serrano, will be held from June 28 to July 22.
The Víctor Villegas auditorium has been the place chosen to present the 26th edition of the San Javier International Jazz Festival, which will be held from June 28 to July 22, with a total of 17 concerts in 13 nights, three of them in open spaces, in San Javier, Santiago de la Ribera and La Manga del Mar Menor. The poster of the Festival, the work of Casaú Estudio, anticipates the prominent presence of string instruments such as the guitar, in this case, and the piano, in an edition that will be dedicated to the memory of recently deceased artists such as Joao Donato, Leny Andadre, Carol Sloane, Dean Brown, David Crosby, Ahmal Jamal and Tony Bennet.
The 26 Jazz San Javier has an important presence of Cuban talent such as pianist Roberto Fonseca, Roberto Carlos Valdés “Cuchurucho” and Cimafunk, known as “the “Cuban James Brown”. Highly anticipated presences stand out, such as Gregory Porter, considered “the best jazz vocalist” of the moment, or the charismatic Diana Krall. There will be concerts that will leave their mark such as that of the Tex Mex band, Calexico and great jazz stars in magical combinations such as that of the brilliant guitarist Lee Ritenour together with the 7-time Grammy-winning pianist, Dave Grusin, the Brazilian singer and pianist, Ivan Lins and the harmonica by Grégoire Maret.
Another stellar combination will be two great virtuosos like guitarist Russell Malone and pianist Cyrus Chestnut. Also at the piano will be Bill Charlap, a bop and hard bop soloist, in an edition in which there will be no shortage of the best soul with Steffen Morrison. As usual, Jazz San Javier will also serve as a showcase for the best of the increasingly rich Spanish jazz scene, with the trumpeter Joan Mar Sauqué, the guitarist Niño Josele and the harmonica player Antonio Serrano, in a tribute to Paco de Lucía, produced by the Festival, to which is added the original proposal by José Luis Jaén from Almería and his fusion of jazz and copla. The swing of Adrian Cunningham, the vocalist Carole Alston and the show with New Orleans touches of the Steam Brass Band, will take the Festival to the streets with three free concerts.
The Minister of Tourism, Culture, Youth and Sports, Carmen Conesa, attended the presentation of the Festival, which is part of the regional brand Festivales Región de Murcia, together with the mayor of San Javier, José Miguel Luengo and the director of the Festival and Councilor for Culture, David Martínez, who was in charge of explaining the news in the programming and announcing the upcoming presentation of a documentary about the Festival. The documentary that will be released in May, in an event in which this edition's Prize will also be announced, is titled “San Javier, 25 years of passion and rhythm”, which celebrates its first quarter of a century. The film is the work of the production company Sinopsis Vugucela, directed by Jaime de Castro Fernández and directed and scripted by Pepe Pardo. For counselor Carmen Conesa, the San Javier Jazz Festival “is a benchmark for its cultural impact, and also tourism, in addition to its national and international projection” and she recalled its inclusion in the Festivales Región de Murcia brand. The mayor, José Miguel Luengo, highlighted the level of the announced artists and the fact that “one more year the Festival takes to the streets with three free concerts that will meet the public in La Manga del Mar Menor, Santiago de la Ribera and San Javier”. Luengo thanked “the enthusiasm and passion” of the group of municipal officials, who organize the Festival, which he recalled “is entirely municipal management with a municipal budget in which we have the help of the regional government and the sponsoring companies,” to those who appreciated their collaboration.
Almansa Park Auditorium Programme
Although the Festival will open on June 28 with the first of the three free concerts, which will take place in the Plaza de España, in San Javier, with Adrian Cunningham and His Old School, the concerts programmed in the Parque Almansa auditorium will begin on June 29 with a double program that will be opened by the singer and guitarist, Anna Luna and closed by the Cuban pianist and composer, Roberto Fonseca. Anna Luna, who performed at Jazz San Javier in 2019, returns with her latest album “Argentina kisses the Mediterranean”, in which she combines jazz with tango and Argentine popular songs, accompanied by an excellent sextet of musicians of which she is a part the pianist Jaume Vilaseca. The Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca, champion of the fusion of Cuban son and jazz, will present his latest album “La Gran Diversion”, in which the former member of the legendary Buena Vista Social Club proposes a return to the golden era of Cuban music.
Friday nightJuly 5 will once again host a double program with two different proposals: on the one hand, the memory of Bebo Valdés, with his grandson, the brilliant Cuban pianist, Roberto Carlos Valdés “Cucurucho”, who will play alongside one of the best double bassists in Spanish jazz, Javier Colina who knew Bebo Valdés well, with whom he worked on numerous occasions, such as on the famous “Lágrimas negras” which he recorded with Diego El Cigala. They will be accompanied by the singer Alana Sinkëy and the percussionist Moisés Porro. The night will end with a soul rhythm with the vocalist born in Suriname and living in Amsterdam, Steffen Morrison who returns to Jazz San Javier with his new album “Legacy”, in which soul shares rhythms with rock, blues, gospel and pop.
Gregory Porter, one of the most desired presences in this edition, will perform, on Saturday July 6, for the first time on the stage of the Parque Almansa auditorium. Considered the best male jazz vocalist of our time, Gregory Porter combines with his baritone voice jazz, soul and gospel. Greogory Porter will review the greatest hits of his successful career accompanied by a quintet of excellent musicians.
On Thursday July 11 a dream concert arrives for lovers of jazz and good music with some of the best contemporary musicians. The wonderful group formed by two of the best and most influential musicians of their generation, the guitarist Lee Ritenour and the pianist and composer, author of memorable soundtracks such as “The Graduate”, Dave Grusin, present their new joint album “Brazil”, along with two special guests such as the acclaimed Brazilian musician, Ivan Lins, singer, pianist and composer and Grégoire Maret , harmonica virtuoso.
On Friday July 12 one of the Festival's bombs will arrive, the “frontier” band, Calexico, protagonist of an electrifying live performance for the public who will be able to enjoy a unique sound, the one born on the border of the United States and Mexico. The band founded in 1996 by singer and guitarist Joey Burns and drummer John Convertino will review their hits, many of them recovered from their unforgettable album “Feast of Wire”, of which last year they published a special edition to celebrate its 20th anniversary.< /p>
On Saturday July 13 there will be a double program with a first concert by the Catalan trumpeter and composer Joan Mar Sauqué, a clear exponent of new jazz in Spain, who visits Jazz San Javier for the first time, accompanied by his Quintet and the jazz pianist and vocalist from Oklahoma, Champian Fulton. The second concert will be offered by a luxury combination made up of two jazz greats: the guitarist Russell Malone and the pianist and composer, Cyrus Chestnut, who will offer one of the most anticipated concerts for jazz lovers. They will be accompanied by a powerful rhythm section with double bassist Darryl Hall and drummer Willie Jones III, and the North American singer of Cameroonian descent, Ekep Nkwele.
Another of the bomb concerts of this edition of Jazz San Javier will arrive on FridayJuly 19 with the Cuban singer and composer, Cimafunk, Erik Alejandro Rodríguez, who has been nicknamed “the Cuban James Brown.” Together with his band “La Tribu”, Cimafunk, he merges funk with blues, hip hop and Cuban music in a unique style with which he is revolutionizing funk music and Latin music; not in vain, BillBoard magazine already selected him in 2019, among the 10 Latin artists to follow.
On Saturday July 20 there will be a double program with a full Spanish presence. José Luis Jaén performs for the first time at Jazz San Javier where he will let his heartbreaking voice sound with his own style in which his flamenco, copla and bolero musical roots go hand in hand with his taste for the Jazz. Among the magnificent musicians who will accompany him at Jazz San Javier is the Valencian pianist Alex Conde, a specialist in the original fusion of jazz and copla. The second concert is titled “San Javier a Paco de Lucía”, a production by Jazz San Javier in memory of the great guitarist on the tenth anniversary of his demise. It features guitarist Niño Josele and harmonica player Antonio Serrano, two great musicians who worked as members of his group for many years, who together will review some of Paco de Lucía's great songs.
The luxury closing of this edition will be, on July 22, Diana Krall, another of the most desired and awaited presences at the San Javier International Jazz Festival, which she is visiting for the first time. and where she will offer a concert in which the Canadian pianist and vocalist, with a warm and sensual voice, will review the fundamental albums of her extensive discography. Diana Krall, who is already part of the Olympus of jazz artists, will address classic songs, with references such as Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra, her own compositions, bossa nova and versions of pop songs.
Winter Theater Programme
The Winter Theater, located a few meters from the auditorium in Parque Almansa, offers a more intimate and secluded space for the concert that will be offered on July 3 by the jazz pianist, Bill Charlap, specialist in the great standards of the genre. He will perform with his Trio with which he has recorded his latest work “Streets of Dreams”, with Blue Note Records, in which he performs classic titles from the American songbook and other compositions by musicians such as Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellington and Dave Brubeck, among others. In addition, Charlap has played with jazz greats such as Tonny Bennett, who is especially remembered in this edition of Jazz San Javier, and with whom he recorded the famous album, “The Silver Lining: the songs of Jerome Kern”.
Free concerts
As usual, Jazz San Javier will bring three free concerts to open spaces in San Javier, La Manga del Mar Menor and Santiago de la Ribera.
On June 28, the opening of the Festival, it goes to the Plaza de España in San Javier with Adrian Cunningham, a renowned wind instrumentalist and reference in Swing and traditional New Orleans music, along with his band “Old School”.
Puerto Tomás Maestre, in La Manga del Mar Menor, will be the perfect setting, next to the sea, to listen to the American jazz, gospel and blues singer Carole Alston whose voice, as the The Financial Times said, it is “as sweet and dark as cane honey.” She will perform on Sunday July 14 accompanied by a musical quartet
.On Wednesday July 17 the Murcian group Steam Brass Band will make the entire public dance on the Barnuevo esplanade, in Santiago de la Ribera, with their casual style and cheerful with which they adapt current hits to the New Orleans sound based on wind and percussion.
Schedule
All concerts with a double program will begin at 9:30 p.m. and those with a single concert at 10:00 p.m.
Entries
Tickets and passes will go on sale at the beginning of May. The price of the subscription will be 129 euros including all concerts except Diana Krall's. Tickets will have discounts for seniors, students and disabled people.
Diana Krall, one of the most prominent figures on the current world jazz scene, is one of the names confirmed in the programming preview released today by the director of the San Javier International Jazz Festival, David Martínez. At an event at the San Javier Museum, in which the poster for the 26th edition of the Festival was also unveiled, which is the work of Casaú Estudio from Murcia, the Festival director announced other confirmed artists such as the band tex- mex from Tucson, Arizona, Calexico, one of the most powerful names that reserves the line-up for this edition of the Festival, which will be held from June 28 to July 22 in the Parque Almansa auditorium. The Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca, champion of the fusion and renewal of Cuban music; The soul vocalist, Steffen Morrison and the quintet of the Catalan trumpeter and composer Joan Mar Sauqué with the jazz pianist and vocalist, Champian Fulton, as a guest artist, also appear in the preview of a program that will include their own productions such as “San Javier a Paco de Lucía”, with the flamenco guitarist Niño Josele along with the harmonica player, Antonio Serrano.
The presentation took place at the San Javier Museum in an event that was opened by the mayor of San Javier José Miguel Luengo and was attended by the General Director of Competitiveness and Tourism Quality, Patricio Sánchez, who showed the support of the regional government for the Festival. , which he recalled, is part of the regional brand Festivales Región de Murcia. The mayor, José Miguel Luengo guaranteed “another half century for the Festival” that celebrates its 26th edition and stressed that “The Jazz Festival is the San Javier brand.” Luengo highlighted the municipal nature of the Festival and thanked the team of officials involved in its management for their work. The director of the Festival, David Martínez added that the 26th edition of the Festival will have an important presence of piano and guitar and that it will be dedicated to the memory of recently deceased artists such as Joao Donato, Leny Andrade, Carol Sloane, Dean Brown, David Crosby , Ahmal Jamal and Tony Bennett. The rest of the program, which will include three free outdoor concerts, is scheduled to be announced in April. Also participating in the presentation was Nacho Rodríguez de Santiago, from Casaú Estudio, who presented the mayor of San Javier with the award for Best Poster, which received the poster of the last edition, at the Anuaria 2023 National Graphic Design Awards. The 26th edition presented today repeats the formula of illustration, topography and color, based on a real photograph of a musician.
Regarding the advance of the program released today, the presence of the singer, pianist and composer, Diana Krall, one of the great figures of jazz of all time, will visit Jazz San Javier for the first time, in a highly anticipated concert in in which the Canadian vocalist with a warm and sensual voice will review the fundamental albums of her discography. Winner of 3 Grammy Awards, among other recognitions, her career, in which she has sold more than 15 million records, is based on versions of classic songs, particular tributes to Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra, her own compositions, her taste for bossa nova, or even traditional pop, to which he has always contributed his elegant and intimate way of performing that characterizes his unique style as a singer and pianist.
Another first visit to Jazz in San Javier is that of the “border” band Calexico whose live shows have great drawing power throughout the world. Its geographical location, on the border between the United States and Mexico, marks the sound of the band founded in 1996 by the singer and guitarist, Joey Burns and the drummer, John Convertino, two colleagues who came from other groups and who achieve a unique sound. full of influences from various cultures and origins, which include southern rock, Tex-Mex, mariachi, jazz, blues, rock and Latin American sounds that characterize “El Mirador” (2022), the last album published by this group that gives a unique experience in each of its live shows.
The prestigious Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca arrives at Jazz San Javier after the publication in 2023 of “La gran diversion”, his latest work with which he proposes a return to the golden age of Cuban music. Champion of the fusion of Cuban son, both with jazz and with other musical genres, Roberto Fonseca, proposes on this occasion a festive tribute, full of mambo, rumba and bolero to the wild nights of Havana and the Cabane Cubaine cabaret in Paris , the most famous of the 1930s. The beginnings of his career with the prestigious Cuban group Buena Vista Social Club, with which he performed more than 400 concerts around the world, have marked his solo career of almost 25 years, in the one who has worked alongside the son maestro Ibrahim Ferrer or Omara Portuondo, among others.
Another of the confirmed presences for the next edition of Jazz San Javier is that of the acclaimed soul vocalist, born in Suriname and based in Amsterdam, Steffen Morrison, whose unique style is characterized by the fusion of classic soul with rock & roll and a direct with as much energy as emotion. Considered a romantic of the genre, he has James Brown, Otis Redding and Marvin Gaye as influences. He released his first album “Movin'On” in 2018, which was followed by “Soul Revolution”, a more personal album in which he reveals his Surinamese roots and the most recent, “Legacy”, with eleven songs that lift the spirit and desire. of dancing in which he interprets genres such as soul, rock, blues, gospel and pop in a more personal way.
The brilliant guitarist Paco de Lucía will also be present in a tribute, produced by the Festival, “San Javier to Paco de Lucía”, which will bring together the flamenco guitarist Niño Josele with the prestigious jazz harmonica player, Antonio Serrano, in a unique project around to the figure of the guitar virtuoso when 10 years have passed since his death. Both have played with Paco de Lucía. In the case of Niño Josele during his beginnings when he toured with him and Enrique Morente. Despite being part of a dynasty of traditional flamenco musicians, Niño Josele is known for his ability to fuse flamenco with traditional jazz. Fusion and effectiveness in different genres also characterize the jazz harmonica player, Antonio Serrano, who has also worked successfully in flamenco, pop and classical. Antonio Serrano participated in the album “Entre 20 Aguas: To the music of Paco de Lucía”, for which he received a Latin Grammy.
