Havana floods with jazz every year, as a gift for lovers thrilled by the imposing seduction of a trumpet chord, or because the piano appears to them as the “impossible love” between classicism and contemporariness; or because beyond all reasoning, the genre of the great ones entails feeling, vibrates, that “something” unknown some say we Cubans have.
JoJazz, the contest for young jazz players, is already 15 years old, a celebration to meditate on its own existence and get a slight idea of other ways to remain vigorous, cheerful, iconoclast.
Sponsored by Instituto Cubano de la Música and its Centro Nacional de Música Popular, the event will take place on November 22-25 with multiple activities such as concerts, jam sessions, workshops, interpreter and composing contests. But the greatest expectation of the contest is always the moment when lecturers and jazz players share the stage with the novel interpreters of the genre.
In the beginning, the Festival was a necessary space for medium and higher level art students to show their indisputable talent both for writing music and for playing it. At present, JoJazz has become one of the most outstanding events for the young Cuban musicians, a moment for good improvisation, the one that comes from the soul.
Each year, the morning sessions are dedicated to workshops on matters related with jazz and its styles, conducted by the prestigious jurors of the contests. The afternoons are dedicated to the competitions, while in the evenings, concerts and discharges take place in the most dissimilar corners of the capital and even the most unexpected listeners become enraptured with these notes.
Personalities of music in countries like Canada, Italy, Colombia, Trinidad Tobago and the United States, among others, travel every year to JoJazz, interested in exchanging music and theoretical knowledge, both as contestants and guests.
The interpretation contest includes three categories: under 16-20 years, as soloist; above 21-30 years as soloist, and bands without limit of members, aged 16-30 years, including the leader. In composition, musicians between 16 and 30 years of age may participate with two works of three minutes maximum length each.
Naming some of the young musicians awarded at JoJazz throughout these years would be unfair, because surely some names would be forgotten. But the contribution of this contest to the reserve of Cuban jazz players is exceptional if we consider Harold López Nussa, un Yasek Manzano, un Alejandro Falcón, Michel Herrera, Ernesto Camilo Vega, Maykel González, Rolando Luna, Rember Duarte, Gastón Joya, Jorge Luís Pacheco and many, many others who crowd this Island of music that has everlasting examples in the great Chucho Valdés, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, César López, Orlando Cubajazz… .
Once again JoJazz will be the main course in November. During a whole weekend the event will leave breathless those who will be running from one theater to the other in order not to lose these boys’ performances. From the discharges in the gardens of Mella Theater to the concert hall of the National Museum of Fine Arts on the other end of the city, jazz fans will enjoy their passion fully. A luxury opportunity to watch out for.
