“The festival shows that jazz is still very much alive in the younger generation,” he said clarion the singer and director of the Buenos Aires International Jazz Festival, Julia Moscardini, which will take place in the city from November 23 to 26 with more than 30 concerts and a spirit dominated by artistic diversity.
Indeed, this new edition of the festival will resume its international character with the participation of the North American alto saxophone Antonio Hart, the pianists Nik Bärtsch, from Switzerland, and Simona Premazzi from Italy; the double bass player Giulia Valle, for Spain; the Austrian clarinetist Moritz Weiss, the quintet of the Chilean trumpeter Sebastián Jordán, who will open the festival on Wednesday at 8 pm, at La Usina del Arte, and the Colombian singer Gina Savino.
On the local side, the pianist and composer Juan “Pollo” Raffo will perform, the quartet led by bassist Marcelo Torres, the quintet led by double bass player Juan Bayón, the Big Band led by Manuel de Falla, the sextet led by saxophonist Juan Presas, the quartet led by Guillermo Perata and Ramiro Penovi and the singers Eleonora Eubel, Verónica Sala, Guadalupe Raventos and Julieta Kitman, among others.
Thursday 24, from 18 to 21, the party will move to the streets of San Telmo with its renovated historic center to celebrate the Night of the Antique Dealers in music, in which the Bourbon Lovers and the Fanfare of the Hot Shooters will perform, among others .
The exhibition will have several venues such as La Usina del Arte, the San Martín Cultural Center, the Parque Centenario Amphitheater, the 25 de Mayo Cultural Center, the jazz clubs Thelonious, Bebop, Virasoro, Prez, Jazz Voyeur and La Scala de San Telmo. .
All concerts will have free admission upon reservation on www.buenosaires.gob.ar/festivaldejazz.
One day to another
Singer Moscardini received a phone call in September last year. It was the pianist and composer Adrián Iaies who announced his resignation from the direction of the Buenos Aires Jazz Festival, which he had been directing since 2008, and that he had suggested his name to replace him.
“Before I told him no. After several talks I ended up accepting and seeing what it was all about, but from the inside. Last year, which was my first festival, I experienced it as a test; it was made with local artists and this allowed me to get to know the structure. I have found that there is a large production team that has plenty of room.
Both in last year, but above all in this one, I rely heavily on Ailén Bressan, who is the general producer, and on Ianina Trigo, the artistic producer. They are two precious people with whom I work hand in hand,” said the artist, one of the most interesting voices on the jazz scene.
-This edition has the classic tone of Buenos Aires jazz festivals with international figures. How was that experience?
Yes exactly. This year the festival includes international artists and this prompted me to investigate different jazz scenes from other countries. I know some artists that I like, but I had to research new musicians and what are the chances of them performing in Buenos Aires.
In all of this aspects such as my function and the possibility of bringing valuable artists to enrich the festival are at stake. It’s not just a matter of taste, my artistic criteria are at stake.
And he continued: “Somehow it nourishes me to have an overview of the number of proposals from talented and young musicians and to know what is happening in world jazz and which I had no idea about. For me it is very positive”, added Moscardini.
-How did you come to Nik Bärtsch?
Do research. Search by country. I was approaching embassies and cultural institutions due to the restrictions that exist on budget and exchange. My job was to make contact and see what they proposed. On the one hand there were those who told us to propose you, on the other those who had artists in the pipeline.
We work with Austria, Switzerland, USA, Spain, Italy, Germany, Chile and always find a great arrangement. In the case of Bärtsch, we have proposed it; He is an artist in full swing and has a very particular contemporary language.
“Another was the case of the double bass player Giulia Valle who comes from Spain and of whom the Argentine double bass player, based in Barcelona, Horacio Fumero, spoke to me very well. In her case, despite being born in Italy, she completed her career in Spain and was chosen by the embassy, among several proposals we sent her, to participate in the festival ”, explained the director.
-Aren’t there crossings between foreign and national artists?
-Actually there are three crosses which are the concerts; Except for the Chilean trumpeter Sebastián Jordán who arrives with his group and the klezmer music trio, led by the Austrian clarinetist Moritz Weiss, foreign musicians come alone and will play here with local musicians.
For example, double bass player Valle will play with Ernesto Jodos on piano and Sergio Verdinelli on drums and Italian pianist Simona Premazzi, who will close the festival on Sunday, will be accompanied by Jerónimo Carmona on double bass and Carto Brandán on drums.
Alto saxophonist Antonio Hart comes to work with the Falla Big Band following an educational project that we presented from the festival and which was chosen by the US Embassy.
-And how were the national proposals chosen?
-It has to do with the announcement that, although it was specific to some segments, such as new records, this year it has been extended to a general level. The jury included Romina Fuchs, Cirilo Fernández and Pablo Ledesma and each artist sent information material. We had more than 500 proposals.
There was an embarrassment of choice and in the end all the national concerts came out of the ban. There are new musicians, different proposals and important artists with a career like the bassist Marcelo Torres or the singers Eleonora Eubel and Guadalupe Raventos who have sent their material and have been selected.
-How is jazz here, cinema?
-There are two days, Friday and Sunday, at the San Martín Cultural Center where the episodes will be filmed by the Association of Jazz Musicians with the support of the patronage of the city government. They are interviews and studio sessions of groups from the jazz scene, such as the quintets of Ernesto Jodos and Yamile Burich, for example, and they are unpublished.
This fifteenth edition also pays tribute to two important artists of the local scene such as the double bass player Alfredo Remus (1938-2022) and the cornet player Enrique Norris, who passed away on 24 September.
“There are two well-deserved tributes, one to Alfredo Remus, a very important double bass player not only for jazz but also for Argentine music, and the other a tribute to cornetist Enrique Norris, a brilliant musician with excellent proposals.” Moscardini added.
A classical repertoire that sounds fresh
-In the middle of all the festival organization you found the time to release your second album, “Mood Indigo”.
-I arrived in 2021 with the plan to record my second album. Iaies called me in September to tell me that I had proposed to direct the festival and that I ended up accepting and postponing the recording until December. I really wanted to record and I didn’t want to put it on hold, it’s an album with a repertoire of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, very compromised because of what we’ve been through. I’ve always been close to this repertoire, Ellington is like the Bible of Jazz and with Strayhorn I studied his compositions in depth during the pandemic.
-The album conveys a feeling of freedom and freshness, do you agree?
-I was looking for greater spaces of freedom. I went with themes without much arrangement. In other words, known themes, without much paper, which allowed me to go to the studio with freedom and passion. Also, I have tremendous faith in the musicians I play with. Jodos, Carmona, Brandán and Sebastián Loiácono are excellent musicians. I know their language and they always, always contribute. There was a lot of freedom in the recording and they played what they felt at the time. That was the idea.
-How do you feel about cultural management?
-It’s difficult because it’s a big commitment. I feel I have to articulate a public proposal and demonstrate that the space has been in good hands because the task is not only artistic, but also administrative.
Programming tips
wednesday 23 -Sebastián Jordán Quinteto (Chile), at 8.00 pm, in the Auditorium of La Usina del Arte
Thursday 24 – Tribute to Alfredo Remus, at 7.00 pm, in the Chamber Hall of La Usina del Arte.
-Antonio Hart (United States) and the Manuel de Falla Big Band, at 8:00 pm, at the Art Auditorium.
-Jazz in the street at “La Noche de los Anticuarios” with Bourbon Sweethearts, Hot Shooters Marching Band and Swing Club Baila, among others, from 6 to 9 pm, in Defensa, between Independencia and San Juan, San Telmo.
Friday 25 -Giulia Valle Trío (Spain), at 8.30 pm, in the Auditorium of La Usina del Arte.
-Juan Pollo Raffo and Grupo, at 9.30 pm, at the Scala of San Telmo.
-Juan Presas Sextet, at 10.30pm in Prez.
Saturday 26 -Gina Savino (Colombia), free voice workshop: improvisation, 11 am, at the Auditorium of La Usina del Arte.
-Nik Bärtsch (Switzerland) (piano only), at 7.30 pm, in the Chamber Hall of La Usina del Arte.
-Verónica Sala Quintet, at 20, in Bebop.
-Slowfox (Germany), at 8.30 pm, at the Auditorium of La Usina del Arte.
-Juan Bayón Quintet, at 9.30 pm, at La Scala de San Telmo.
sunday 27 -Moritz Weiss Klezmer Trio (Austria), at 7 pm, in the Chamber Hall of La Usina del Arte.
-Simona Premazzi Trio (Italy), at 7.30 pm, at the Auditorium of La Usina del Arte.
– Tribute to Enrique Norris, at 8.30 pm, in the Auditorium of La Usina del Arte.
-Juana Sallies Sextet, 10:30pm at Thelonious.
Headquarter*
-L’Usina del Arte, Caffarena 1.
-The Staircase of San Telmo, José Giuffra Passage 371.
-Bebop, Uriarte 1658.
-Thelonious, Nicaragua 5549.
-Prez, Tomás Manuel de Anchorena 1347.
*Full program and ticket reservations at www.buenosaires.gob.ar/festivaldejazz.
POS
Source: Clarin
