Cæcilie Norby, photo. www.caecilienorby.com
The 17th edition of the Jazz at the Old Town Square International Open Air Festival, Warsaw's biggest summer treat for jazz music lovers is underway. One of the longest - 2 months - jazz festivals in Europe. Jazz at the Old Town presents jazz stars from Europe, the United States and Poland every Saturday in July and August at 19:00 at the Old Town Market Square in Warsaw.
The event is extremely popular with both Polish and foreign public - each edition of the festival is attended by approximately 40 thousand people. It is here that artists such as Dr. Lonnie Smith, Scott Hamilton and Avishai Cohen have performed live in Poland for the first time. Other star performers so far included Richard Galliano, Archie Shepp, Marilyn Mazur, Tomasz Stańko, Michał Urbaniak and Leszek Możdżer.
The festival was inaugurated on the 2nd of July with a performance by the ECM label artists from Norway - Tord Gustavsen Ensemble, led by one of the most innovative and creative jazz pianists in Europe. The next week was followed with a performance by Naxos Quintet, a Polish-Greek ensemble playing a mixture of modern jazz, Western classical music and ethnic music from the Mediterranean and North African areas. On the 16th of July Tingvall Trio, one of the leading young European jazz ensembles from Sweden, inspired by classical music as well as music from Cuba and Swedish folk songs made their Warsaw debut.
Jazz connoisseurs certainly enjoyed the concert by the icons of Polish jazz-rock, Laboratorium Ensemble on the 23rd of July. The group founded in 1970 published nine recordings and toured the world performing at the most prestigious jazz festivals such as Jazz Jamboree, Zurich Jazz Festival, Berliner Jazz Tage, San Sebastian Jazz Festival, Jazz Yatra in Bombay and Calcutta Jazz Festival.
In 1990 the group broke up due to high individual artistic activity of members of the ensemble, however it the rejoined together in 2007.
On the 30th of July Steinar Aadnekvam Quartet performed in Poland for the first time. Aadnekvam, young guitar virtuoso, finalist of the prestigious Norsk Jazzintro has been acclaimed by critics to guitar masters such as Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin and Pat Metheny. His debut album "Simple Things" (2010) was hailed by critics. Aadnekvam travelled to India and Brazil in search for musical inspiration. The artist toured Norway, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Spain and Brazil.
The first to perform in August is the 27-year-old Austrian percussionist, master of hang drum, Manu Delago. His solo piece "Mono Desire" boasts over 3 million views on Youtube. He performed in Great Britain, France, Russia, Spain, Austria, Holland, Belgium, North and South Americas and Asia. Presently he's working on a new project in Iceland. In Warsaw Manu Delago performs with the Wokheads ensemble.
On the 13th of August Gary Guthman, the American trumpet-master presents his new project to the Warsaw audience. Not only did he perform with over 200 orchestras as a soloist but also with the great music stars such as Tony Bennett, Aretha Franklin, Tom Jones, Bee Gees, Paul Anka and Burt Bacharach. He tours the world as a performer, producer and author of three projects - "A Tribute To Henry James", "The Trumpet Greats" and "Swing, Swing, Swing". In Warsaw he performs with Polish musicians Filip Wojciechowski (piano), Paweł Pańta (double bass) and Cezary Konrad (percussion).
Daughter of opera singer and film music composer, Danish vocal star Caecilie Norby is a versatile performer, feeling at home in opera, jazz, rock and fusion. The artist received numerous awards including the prestigious Ben Webster Prize (1986) and Best Recording Album in Japan (1996). She was also nominated 10 times for the Danish Grammy Prize. On the 20th of August, she presents the Polish premiere of her project "Arabesque", featuring jazz arrangements of classical works of Debussy, Satie and Ravel with her lyrics.
Omar Puente Sextet is the last ensemble to perform in Warsaw this summer during the Jazz at the Old Town SquareFestival. Omar Puente, the Cuban violin virtuoso, composer, arranger and pedagogue lives in England and performs jazz with the elements of classical and Cuban music. He was the first violinist for the Nacional Symphony Orquestra of Cuba. Later he travelled the world as a member of the Cuban Boys ensemble and performed at the Hard Rock Café in Manila and Montreux Jazz festival. As a member of the ensemble he also collaborated with artists such as MC Hammer, Whitney Houston and Tony Bennett. On the 27th of August, Omar Puente performs for the first time in Poland.
The 17th edition of the Jazz at the Old Town Square International Open Air Festival kicks off on the 2nd of July and runs till the 27th of August 2011. The entrance is free of charge and the festival takes place at the Old Town Market Square in Warsaw.
Source: www.jazznastarowce.pl, www.caecilienorby.com, www.omarpuente.com