Before MeToo, a cycle that for 20 years has consecrated women to jazz

One of the most recognized cycles of the local jazz scene turns 20, The ladies of jazzin La Dama de Bollini, a bulwark of countless artists who have passed through this space that has welcomed both singers with a career and those who were starting their artistic path.

So, nothing better than celebrating this anniversary by singing. Guadalupe Raventos, Ludmila Fernandez, Fernanda Lanza and Luciana Di Risio form Sister In Jazz, a group of vocalists who produced this show which will include Laura Hatton, Jennifer Griffith, Denise Izaguirre and Carla Perrucci for the four Saturdays of September.

Raventos, Fernández, Lanza and Griffith met Clarione in The Lady of the Bollini. They agreed that little by little the local scene is recovering its usual pace after the closure caused by the pandemic. There is no shortage of proposals, nor are there new faces.

Sense of loneliness and projects

“The exit from the pandemic has left us with a feeling of loneliness that led us to form this group of singers to be able to develop a complete range of styles and voices, ”Lanza said. The group debuted in November last year at the Bar de Fondo Cultural and then participated in the festival for the centenary of the birth of Charles Mingus.

Together with the Sisters In Jazz proposal, the singers have their own projects.

“I’m in the mastering phase of my next album Something unusualdedicated to the music of Sergio Mihanovich (1937-2012), with Dante Picca on piano, Diego Lutteral on drums and Ezequiel Dutil on double bass ”, commented Raventos, who does not yet have a release date.

Lanza continues to present his work One, an album with standards, some Brazilian and pop music with swing arrangements. “My next project is an album with compositions in a more traditional line,” added the singer.

Fernández, in addition to continuing to present the material of his latest work, Flower in the swingalbum recorded with guitarist Rodrigo Agudelo, has two proposals for his live performances, on the one hand, a repertoire of Cole Porter and its historical classics and, on the other hand, the recreation of the music performed by the singer Carmen McRae.

The particularities of the cycle

The cycle includes every Saturday in September a guest singer and a guest. The hostesses are the Sisters In Jazz who, at the end of each set, invite the rest of the group to close the evening.

“The idea is to interact with each other, both with the sisters and with the guests,” said Fernández, who together with Raventos participated in the first cycle of Las Damas del Jazz, in 2002.

For his part, Lanza said: “No two shows are alike, every Saturday will have its own dynamic. There are different vocal crossings that try to give a particular atmosphere to each night ”.

“The idea is to share the stage. Each of us brings her music and this enriches the Sisters’ proposal ”, added Raventos.

By your side, Jennifer Griffith, born in New Yorkis a relatively new face for the Buenos Aires jazz scene, where he has resided since 2019.

“When I was 20 I saw a film about Buenos Aires that made me want to get to know the city and today I can say that I am happy with it ”, underlined this pianist and composer, researcher and essayist of Mingus’ work, who shows a particular entrepreneurial profile.

In fact, last April he organized a festival for the centenary of the birth of Charles Mingus, at the 25 de Mayo Theater.

Griffith or Jenn G (as her stage name) is an environmental activist; in 2001 you presented a pocket work about Bill Clinton, Dream President, at the 2004 VOX theater in New York.

“Now I am organizing for the first days of November together with the double bass player Pablo Motta, the Day of the Double Bass, which I hope has the same strength as the previous festival dedicated to Mingus”, said this singer who met Sister In Jazz at that festival. .

For her appearance at La Dama de Bollini, Jenn G will present a repertoire of hard bop, with compositions by Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis and Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers.

The Las Damas del Jazz series began in July 2002 and, in addition to Fernández, Raventos and Hatton, included Delfina Oliver, Grace Cosceri, Deborah Dixon, Marisol Otero, Barbie Martínez, Romina Fuchs, Rosario Ortega, Gabriela Beltramino, Vanesa Harbek, María Butini, Macarena Robledo and Sonia Kovalivker, among others.

Programming

Saturday 4: At 8:30 pm Denise Izaguirre and at 10:30 pm Luciana Di Rissio.

Saturday 11: At 8:30 pm, Fernanda Lanza and at 10:30 pm, Laura Hatton.

Saturday 18: At 8:30 pm, Ludmila Fernández and at 10:30 pm, Carla Perrucci.

Saturday 25: At 8:30 pm, Jennifer Griffith and at 8:30 pm, Guadalupe Raventos.

Information

Las Damas del Jazz performs every Saturday in September, starting at 8:30 pm, at La Dama de Bollini, Pasaje Bollini 2281. Tickets $ 1,300 per show, with a subscription of 2,000 for the two shows on the same night.

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