News

R.J. DeLuke is an indefatigable jazz fan and arbiter elegantiarum who aspires to ultimate hipness; also an upstate NY freelance writer for various media. Below you can read a story published on January 14, 2010. Source: www.allaboutjazz.com

In the land of the tango, Argentina—specifically the stylish city of Buenos Aires—there is a movement afoot to bring great jazz to the land, expand the audience for the music, and increase public exposure for the growing number of outstanding jazz musicians in that South American country.

That movement is the driving force behind the Buenos Aires International Jazz Festival, whose second edition took place in December 2009. Artistic director Adrian Iaies plans to make it an annual event, a tradition. The Buenos Aires Jazz.09 Festival Internacional he put together was bigger and maybe bolder than that of the inaugural year of 2008. It showcased a number of superb South American groups and musicians, as well as artists from Spain, France and the United States. Styles of music ranged from heavily American-influenced—swing to bebop—to music with touches of tango, to free-from avant-garde. Listeners were as apt to hear the music of Monk,Mingus or Herbie Hancock as original music, though there was plenty of the latter.

The second edition of Buenos Aires Jazz closed with a remarkable performance by the French Orchestre National de Jazz before a full house at the Teatro Coliseo, with a standing ovation at the end (photo). We enjoyed six days of sheer music pleasure, with great international concerts (plus master classes by Fred Hersch, Carme Canela, Angelo Debarre & Ludovic Beier, to name just a few), clinics conducted by outstanding instrumentalists (Ben Monder, Nasheet Waits, Matt Penman), a film season featuring films never before released in Argentina (“The Jazz Baroness,” which screened last Tuesday, for instance), the season of talks “Musicians by Musicians,” magnificent concerts within the sections “Gatherings,” “Commissions,” “Jazz at the Zoo” and “Open Air” on the roof terrace of the CC Recoleta, as well as the jam sessions every night, gathering musicians just for the pleasure of playing, to the delight of an eager and attentive audience at La Trastienda.

Today the Orchestre National de Jazz de Francia presents “Broadway in Satin / Billie Holiday Revisited,” a tribute to the remarkable work of the singer on the 50th anniversary of her death. Their show will be the best way to close this successful second edition of Buenos Aires Jazz, from 9pm at Teatro Coliseo. The Orchestre National de Jazz was born in 1986, on the initiative of the French Ministry of Culture, and has ever since kept a distinctive dynamics of “creative lab”, with ten directors in alternation and several other special shows, all of which reflect original strategies and a constant attempt at combining styles and exploring new musical paths.

The last day of Buenos Aires Jazz.09, a bank holiday in Argentina, features three concerts within the section “Open Air”, on the beautiful stage of the roof terrace of Centro Cultural Recoleta. The first one is that of trumpeter Mariano Loiacono (photo) and his Quintet at 6pm, followed by the trio made up of Europe-based Argentine musicians Javier Girotto, Quique Sinesi and Martín Bruhn at 7pm. Closing the night on this stage will be the performance by the vocal sextet Cabernet, at 8pm. On this occasion, this emblematic ensemble of the local scene will be delivering a special repertoire featuring a wide selection of standards.

The closing of the season “Film & Jazz” features the screening of “The Jazz Baroness” (United Kingdom, 2009), a documentary by Hannah Rothschild on the baroness Nica von Koenigswarter and her life as a patron and emotional support of the brilliant and volatile Thelonious Monk, as well as of Charlie Parker (who died in her apartment, while watching TV) and other jazzmen. The film, never released in Argentina, screens today at 5pm at the “microcine” of the Centro Cultural Recoleta. Admission is free.

Today, the last day of the Festival, will see the closing of the season of talks “Musicians by Musicians”, directed by Fernando Tarrés and born as a result of a project of generation of contents exclusively for the Internet. The last meeting will be centred around “Argentine music as seen from within and without”, featuring Quique Sinesi (photo) and Javier Girotto, as well as Tarrés himself, and will take place from 5pm at the Espacio Living of Centro Cultural Recoleta.

In early 2009 Fernando Tarrés, director of the label BAU Records, launched a project of generation of contents exclusively for the Internet, with the only aim of enabling free access to concerts, interviews, studio recordings and private sessions. As a part of that idea, the season “Musicians by Musicians” features a series of conversations recorded privately and transparently reflects an unrepeatable moment. With the aim of spreading this project and making it available to the general public, Buenos Aires Jazz.09 invited Tarrés to hold 4 sessions of “Musicians by musicians”. The season continues today, Monday, at 5pm at the Espacio Living of Centro Cultural Recoleta, with the meeting of “Saxofonistas” (Saxophonists), featuring Gorka Benítez (photo) and Rodrigo Domínguez.

Acclaimed American guitarist Ben Monder, who made his debut in Buenos Aires on the occasion of one of the “gatherings” of the Festival alongside Spaniards David Xirgu and Gorka Bénitez and Argentinians Hernán Jacinto and Ezequiel Dutil, is conducting a guitar clinic on Monday at 2pm. Tickets for this clinic are on sale at www.festivales.gob.ar or in person from 11am at Casa de la Cultura (Av. de Mayo 575) or Teatro 25 de Mayo (Av. Triunvirato 4444).

Today the section “Gatherings” features a twofold programme of renowned Argentine and international musicians sharing stage, techniques and influences, giving birth to a unique, unrepeatable event. Chilean artists Roberto and Félix Lecaros (photo) will be meeting Manuel Ochoa and Ramiro Penovi at 10pm at Café Vinilo in Palermo. And, at 10.30pm, Colombian Nicolás Ospina’s trio will be doing the same with other Chileans: Andrés Perez and Cristian Gallardo. Tickets for both concerts are on sale at www.festivales.gob.ar or in person today from 11am to 7pm at Casa de la Cultura (Av. de Mayo 575) and Teatro 25 de Mayo (Av. Triunvirato 4444).

D’3, featuring Jorge Pardo on saxs and flute, Francis Posé on double bass and José Vázquez “Roper” on drums, is making its debut in Buenos Aires tonight, Monday 7 at 9pm at Teatro 25 de Mayo, in Villa Urquiza. Tickets begin at 10 Argentine pesos and are available for purchase online at www.festivales.gob.ar. This constitutes an excellent opportunity to enjoy the singular fusion of jazz and flamenco offered by these three talented Spaniards.