Created in a decade of musical effervescence as that of 1980, the International Jazz Plaza Festival has condensed in its 30 editions a growing movement of practitioners of a genre born in the southern United States, but that has become universal, especially in the 20th and 21st centuries.
No one questions today the contributions of Cubans to a rhythm that many consider more than music to enjoy, a lifestyle for those who love and grow it. And when valuing these indisputable Cuban connections with this area of loudness, the Jazz Plaza has been an emblem a lofty stage for figures such as Dizzy Gillespie, Tete Montoliu, Roy Hardgroove, Ronnie Scot, Arturo O’Farrill, Chucho Valdes, Emiliano Salvador, Bobby Carcasses and Ernán Lopez Nussa, among many others.
The event also gave shelter to young artists who later gained notoriety by their virtuosity, as it has happened with Cuban César López, Yasek Manzano, Roberto Fonseca and Harold Lopez Nussa.
Thirty editions have taken pulse to an artistic force that overflows the most unique places in Havana. Since the Plaza Cultural House -the place first staged the event, La Zorra y el Cuervo, the Jazz Café, and the Mella Theater and its Gardens; up to newly created spaces such as the Rumba Palace, Miramar Cafe, Cuban Art Factory, Avenida Hall and Cuba Pavilion, Jazz Plaza is shown as infinite choice of elevating the spirit of music lovers who are waiting for December to enjoy a festival that fills their expectations.
Hence, from December 17th to 21st the sounds of a continuous and rich blues that will connect viewers and creators will be felt in Havana.
For Victor Rodriguez, president of the organizing committee, this new release of the Festival will have a strong presence of local artists, among novice musicians and renowned figures, who will join colleagues from Colombia, Norway, Canada, United States, Cape Verde, Trinidad and Tobago; El Salvador, Switzerland, France and Chile.
The inauguration scheduled for December 17th, at Mella Theater, will be attractive. A luxury billboard seduces those who like the genre and will include the master Bobby Carcasses (National Music Award), his son, pianist Robertico Carcassés; American Andrea Brahfeld and Rolando Luna; and the Camerata Romeu and the Magic Sax Quartet.
As new feature, Jazz Plaza will become Cuba Pavilion epicenter for young musicians. A unique proposal that will bring together the plastic arts and melody will open activities in that Havana enclosure when, on December 18, Alberto Lescay and his son, the instrumentalist Albertico Lescay, to present their project ¨Somos.¨
And to extend this fraternity of the jazz exponents with other musical genres, the organizing committee has planned a big music dance event for this Sunday at La Tropical’s Rosado Saloon; concert that will include the iconic group Muñequitos de Matanzas and Cesar “Pupy” Pedroso and his orchestra Los que son son. The experience will be repeated a week later with the rumba players Yoruba Andabo and the band Elito Reve and his Charangón.
The International Colloquium, indispensable for scholars, specialists and musicologists, will arrive at its tenth anniversary establishing itself as a platform for research on this musical genre.
And to crown an essential festival in the Cuban cultural movement, the closing gala will present at Mella Theater a family of jazz musicians. The occasion promises to be unique, as there will be the pianists Ernán and Harold Lopez Nussa, and percussionists Ruy and Ruy Adrián López-Nussa, who will have Mayquel González as guest.
