Piran/Portorož Jazz Festival invites you to one of the most diverse summer festivals in Europe, that you shouldn't miss. The most renowned musicians from the world of jazz, blues, rock and tango will be performing at the Avditorij Portorož. Those who prefer more Latino rhythms, salsa and funk will get their money's worth at the Tartini Theater in Piran.
BOSSA DE NOVO (SI)
The band Bossa de Novo is celebrating their 20th anniversary and they are coming back to perform on the Slovenian coast. The only Slovenian band that deals with Brazilian musical expressions recently released their fifth album titled Twist. It includes arrangements of compositions by the most brilliant Brazilian composers (Tom Jobim, Ary Barroso, Vinícius de Moraes, Paulinho da Viola), some adaptations of Slovenian songs and some original songs, i.e. the title song Twist (music: Mitja Vrhovnik Smrekar; lyrics: Milan Kleč). After the recent concert with Brazilian mandolin player, Hamilton de Holando, the Bossa de Novo will perform for the first time in Portorož.
Very soon it will be the twentieth anniversary of my favourite band. Why do people in the northern hemisphere, where there is winter at Christmas time, play music originating from the place where people wear bathing suits for New Year’s parties, drink caipirinhas and cooled coconut water and throw themselves in the long, warm waves of the Southern Atlantic? I don’t really know. The band is called Bossa de Novo.
Bossa nova developed in the late 1950s in Rio de Janeiro, when composer Antonio Carlos Jobim and poet Vinícius de Moraes met guitar player João Gilberto. If anyone, it is João Gilberto, praise the Lord, who deserves the credit for bossa nova being known worldwide and that, after just a few years, it stopped being exclusively Brazilian music and a local phenomenon: it became one of the universal musical styles of the world. In 1958, when João was 27, he recorded a 45-rpm record titled Chega de saudade (Tom Jobim/Vinícius de Moraes) to which he added his own song Bim bom (João Gilberto) on the B-side. This is the first recording of bossa nova as we know it today. Today it feels like after this record everything simply happened on its own: : Desafinado, Samba de uma nota só, Garota de panema, Meditação, Brigas nunca mais, Corcovado are songs that João Gilberto sang with his first wife Astrud at the famous concert in Carnegie Hall, where he was invited by the saxophone player Stan Getz. After this concert, bossa nova conquered the United States and Europe followed soon after. In France it became especially popular and its rhythmical pattern and unique harmonies were soon noticed by some very creative musicians such as Henri Salvador, Georges Moustaki, Claude Nougaro.
The band Bossa de Novo started with two guitars (Igor Leonardi and Aljoša Kosor), accordion (Drago Ivanuša) and voice. Our first performance was in June 2002 in front of Sax Pub in Ljubljana. It rained for exactly two hours, as long as the concert lasted. Than Nino de Gleria on double bass joined us a few times, then Leonardi and Nino left us and Marko Gregorič (double bass ), Blaž Celarec (percussion) and Sergej Randjelović Runjoe (drums) joined us. We played a few concerts with this line-up and always invited guests to join us on stage. To this , on different occasions, we’ve been joined by saxophone players Jure Pukl, Cene Resnik, Boštjan Gombač, Primož Fleischman and Igor Lumpert, violinist Jelena Ždrale, quitar player Jani Moder, trumpet players Tibor Kerekes and David Jarh, drummer Ratko Divjak, vibraphone player Howard Curtis, singers Mateja Starič, Jackie Marshall, Nika Perunović, Nagisa Moritoki, Janja Majzelj, Eva Hren, Ana Vipotnik, Marta Kosturska and Mateja Koležnik I don’t remember which year it was, but after one of the June concerts at Sax Pub, Mitja Vrhovnik Smrekar, composer and inventor, joined our band as the first member of the percussion section and brought to our band the exactly right amount of rhythm, so that it sounds almost as good as silence.
IVAN 'MELÓN' LEWIS (CUBA)
GRAMMY 2021 FOR THE BEST LATIN JAZZ/JAZZ ALBUM “VOYAGER”
Born in Pinar del Rio in 1974, Iván “Melón” Lewis is a Cuban pianist, composer and producer living in Spain since 1998. He received classical music training and graduated from the prestigious National School of Art (ENA) in Havana. His professional career begins at the age of 20, touring Latin-America, Europe, the U.S. and Canada as part of the well-known Cuban salsa singer Issac Delgado’s band.
Iván has been leading his own Quartet since 2003, participating in several of the most prestigious Jazz festivals around the world, like The Montreux Jazz Festival, Jazz in Marciac, Montreal Jazz Festival, Jazz en Tete, Nice Jazz Festival, Festival de Jazz de Vitoria, Festival de Jazz de Barcelona, Jazzuv Xalapa Festival de Jazz (Mexico) etc., and sharing the stage with world-class Jazz artists like Mulgrew Miller, Bebo Valdés, John Hicks, Giovanni Hidalgo, Jerry González, Joe Lovano, Paquito D’Rivera or Wynton Marsalis, among many others.
A very versatile Musician, “Melón” has developed a parallel career playing and recording with some of the best established Spanish, Portuguese and Cuban popular Artists, like Issac Delgado, Soledad Giménez, Joan Manuel Serrat, Joaquín Sabina, Victoria Abril, Ainhoa Arteta, Javier Limón, Mariza, and -specially- Buika, with whom he has cooperated for more than five years.
For the last 10 years, Lewis has appeared in some of the most famous venues around the World, like the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, The Town Hall, The Lincoln Center and The Blue Note Jazz Club in New York, The Kennedy Center in Washington, Fábrica de Arte Cubano of Havana, Yoshi’s Jazz Club in San Francisco, l’Olympia in Paris, Teatro Jorge Eliecer Gaitán in Bogotá, Palau de la Música in Barcelona, Teatro Lope de Vega in Madrid, “El Lunario” of the Auditorio Nacional de Ciudad México or The Queen Elizabeth Hall in London.
Iván can be seen (with Buika) in Pedro Almodovar’s 2010 movie “La piel que habito”.
ELLIOT SHARP TRIO
(CLEVELAND, NEW YORK)
Sharp is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, and performer.
A central figure in the avant-garde and experimental music scene in New York City for over 30 years, Elliott Sharp has released over eighty-five recordings ranging from orchestral music to blues, jazz, noise, no wave rock, and techno music.He leads the projects Carbon and Orchestra Carbon, Tectonics, and Terraplane and has pioneered ways of applying fractal geometry, chaos theory, and genetic metaphors to musical composition and interaction.
His collaborators have included Radio-Sinfonie Frankfurt; pop singer Debbie Harry; Ensemble Modern; Qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan; Kronos String Quartet; Ensemble Resonanz; cello innovator Frances Marie Uitti; blues legends Hubert Sumlin and Pops Staples; pipa virtuoso Min-Xiao Feng; jazz greats Jack deJohnette, Oliver Lake, and Sonny Sharrock; multimedia artists Christian Marclay and Pierre Huyghe; and Bachir Attar, leader of the Master Musicians Of Jajouka.
Sharp is a 2014 Guggenheim Fellow, and a 2014 Fellow at Parson's Center for Transformative Media. He received the 2015 Berlin Prize in Musical Composition from the American Academy in Berlin. He has composed scores for feature films and documentaries; created sound-design for interstitials on The Sundance Channel, MTV and Bravo networks; and has presented numerous sound installations in art galleries and museums. He is the subject of a new documentary "Doing The Don't" by filmmaker Bert Shapiro.
MATT SCHOFIELD
(MANCHESTER, LONDON, FLORIDA)
Matt Schofield continues to push the frontiers and reshape the boundaries of the British Blues tradition. Guitar virtuoso, singer, songwriter, producer and band leader. Ten years into his solo career, Schofield's impact as one of the most influential and distinctive guitarists of his generation is unquestionable. Along with his ever growing fan base from performances around the globe comes awards, industry, peer and critical acclaim - three time "British Blues Guitarist of the Year", "British Blues Album of the Year" (Heads, Tails & Aces - 2010) and the first guitarist inducted into the "British Blues Awards Hall of Fame". Mojo Magazine "Blues Album of the Year" (Anything But Time - 2011) and Guitar & Bass Magazines "Top Ten British Blues Guitarist of All Time" alongside Eric Clapton and Peter Green. Schofield's inimitable playing and tone has inspired legions of guitarists, and a signature Two-Rock Matt Schofield amplifier. With his Hal Leonard "Blues Guitar Artistry" Instructional DVD, Matt became one of the few British blues artists to join the company of Buddy Guy and Eric Johnson. What remains most impressive is Schofield live. From main stages at prestigious festivals such as Montreal or North Sea Jazz, to packed houses in iconic clubs like New York's Iridium or London's 100 Club, Schofield's ability to connect with audiences immediately and profoundly is unforgettable. His authenticity, mastery of guitar, emotive vocals, and improvisational brilliance are brought to life with innovative original compositions, as beautifully captured on the current live album "Ten From The Road".
Schofield's guitar playing is often likened to that of Robben Ford in its melodic and fluid style, and jazzy lines.
He has been influenced by B.B. King, Freddie King, Albert King, Muddy Waters, Steve Winwood, Eric Clapton, Albert Collins, Jimi Hendrix, Billy Gibbons, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimmie Vaughan...
KENNY GARRETT (DETROIT) & SOUNDS FROM THE ANCESTORS
After two concerts in Portorož by music giants Mike Stern and Bill Evans that come from the environment of the cult Miles Davis electric bands, we now add to the coastal tourist offer the saxophone player Kenny Garrett, who enriched Miles’s sound until the end of his career. Kenny's first time in Slovenia was as a member of Miles's ensemble on his famous and only concert in Slovenia in Cankarjev dom in Ljubljana on 30 March 1991, a few months prior to Miles’s death. Kenny performed in 2000 in Studio 1 (Slovenian national TV, Behind the Stage show) with Victor Bailey’s all-stars band (Jim Beard, Dave Fiuczynski, Dennis Chambers), who was one of the greatest jazz bass guitar players.
Kenny Garrett’s latest release, Sounds from the Ancestors, is a multi-faceted album. The music, however, doesn’t lodge inside the tight confines of the jazz idiom, which is not surprising considering the alto saxophonist and composer acknowledges the likes of Aretha Franklin and Marvin Gaye as significant touchstones. Similar to how Miles Davis’ seminal LP, On the Corner, subverted its main guiding lights – James Brown, Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone – then crafted its own unique, polyrhythmic, groove-laden, improv-heavy universe, Sounds from the Ancestors occupies its own space with intellectual clarity, sonic ingenuity and emotional heft. “The concept initially was about trying to get some of the musical sounds that I remembered as a kid growing up – sounds that lift your spirit from people like John Coltrane, ‘A Love Supreme’; Aretha Franklin, ‘Amazing Grace’; Marvin Gaye, ‘What’s Going On’; and the spiritual side of the church,” Garrett explains. “When I started to think about them, I realized it was the spirit from my ancestors.” Indeed, Sounds from the Ancestors reflects the rich jazz, R&B, and gospel history of his hometown of Detroit. More important though, it also reverberates with a modern cosmopolitan vibrancy – notably the inclusion of music coming out of France, Cuba, Nigeria and Guadeloupe.
With his illustrious career that includes hallmark stints with Miles Davis, Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers, Donald Byrd, Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw and the Duke Ellington Orchestra, as well as a heralded career as a solo artist that began more than 30 years ago, Garrett is easily recognized as one of modern jazz’s brightest and most influential living masters. And with the marvelous Sounds from the Ancestors, the GRAMMY® Award-winning Garrett shows no signs of resting on his laurels.
FIESTA LATINA VIOLIN
ALFREDO DE LA FÉ
(CUBA, NEW YORK, SAN FRANCISCO, COLUMBIA )
& MERCADONEGRO ORCHESTRA
What would Giuseppe Tartini say to the sound of electric violin and Alfredo’s improvisation?
Alfredo was born in Havana, Cuba, to a family of musicians. His music talent was discovered very early and at the age of 7 De La Fé began studying at the Amadeo Roldán Conservatory in Havana. He continued with his violin studies in Poland, at the age of eleven he moved to New York, where he performed compositions by Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky in Carnegie Hall. A scholarship to renowned Juilliard Arts enabled him to further his studies, he continued to performe with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and later he switched from classical music to salsa and joined José Fajardo's orchestra.
He performed with many great salsa artists such as: Celia Cruz, Cheo Feliciano, Hector Lavoe and Ismael Miranda. He met Eddie Palmieri in 1972 and he helped De La Fé become the most sought after violinist in many salsa ensembles. In 1976, he moved to San Francisco and performed frequently with Carlos Santana; returning to New York, De La Fé joined Típica 73. In 1979 he released his debut solo album, Alfredo, and was nominated for three Grammy Awards. He performed with Dizzy Gillespie, Chick Corea, Larry Coryell etc. and produced over 40 albums for performers such as Roberto Torres, Papaito and Charanga 76. In 1981, De La Fé became musical director of Tito Puente's Latin Percussion Jazz Ensemble and travelled the world with them. In 1981, he resumed his solo career and his albums were ranked amongst the most popular. After relocating to Colombia in 1983 De La Fé recorded a very successful album Made in Colombia. Among De La Fé’s records from this period are Salsa and Los Violines de Alfredo de la Fé (1990) with the most famous traditional Cuban songs, Salsa y Charanga (1991) and Con toda la salsa (1993). In the late 90’s, De La Fé performed at the biggest European festivals and became one of the most successful salsa and Latin jazz musicians.
De La Fé first performed in Slovenia with his orchestra in the full Gallus Hall in Cankarjev dom in December 1994. Alfredo and his violin were also part of the famous project Pavarotti and Friends and at the renowned gala The Rose Ballwith the queen of salsa Celia Cruz in Monte-Carlo 2000
GALA WITH THE GREATEST ACCORDION AND BANDONEON VIRTUOSO
RICHARD GALLIANO
NEW YORK TANGO TRIO
Richard Galliano started studying piano and accordion at the age of 4 with his father Lucien Galliano, accordionist and teacher. Particularly gifted and invested, he quickly entered the Nice Conservatory, directed at that time by organist Pierre Cochereau, and followed courses in harmony, counterpoint and trombone.
He won first prize in 1969 with trombone. He arrived in Paris in 1975 and met Claude Nougaro, becoming his friend, his accordionist and conductor until 1983. The author and composer had found each other. They got along beautifully. From this close collaboration many songs that are part of the heritage of French music, such as Allée des brouillards, Des voiliers,Vie Violence were born. The second decisive meeting took place in 1980, with the Argentinean composer and bandoneonist Astor Piazzolla. Astor strongly encouraged Richard to create the French “New Musette”, as he himself had previously invented the Argentinean “New Tango”.
During his long and prolific career, Richard Galliano has recorded more than 50 albums under his name.
He has also collaboratds with an impressive number of prestigious artists and musicians:
Jazz: Chet Baker, Eddy Louiss, Ron Carter, Wynton Marsalis, Charlie Haden,
Gary Burton, Michel Portal, Toots Thielemans and Kurt Elling.
French songs: Serge Reggiani, Claude Nougaro, Barbara, Juliette Greco,
Dick Annegarn, Georges Moustaki, Allain Leprest, Charles Aznavour,
and Serge Gainsbourg.
He has also collaborated with Nigel Kennedy for his classical repertoire and a large number of orchestras. During his world tours, he has performed in the most prestigious theatres: the Lincoln Center in New York, the Victoria Hall in Geneva, the Accademia Santa Cécilia in Rome, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, the Théâtre Marinsky in Saint-Petersburg, as well as the New Philharmonies in Hamburg and Paris.
In 1997 Richard Galliano was awarded a “Victoire de la Musique Jazz” for his album New York Tango.
In 2009, he was appointed Officer in the Order of Arts and Letters.
In 2010, he received the “SACEM Prize for the Best Pedagogical Work for the Accordion Method”, written by him and his father Lucien Galliano, for Lemoine Publishing.
He recorded a Bach album with Deutsche Grammophon in 2010. This album broke classic sales records with more than 70,000 copies sold.
He was named Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters in 2011.
He won the “Victoire de la Musique Classique” in 2014 and also received the “Best Composer of the Year 2014 Award”.
Increasing his classical repertoire recording, he recorded a new album in 2016, this time dedicated to the work of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
The year 2016 also saw the release of a new quartet album New Jazz Musette released under the Italian label Ponderosa music&art, thirty years after his 1985 album Spleen, which introduced the musical concept New Jazz Musette.
In 2016 he was promoted to Officer of the National Order of Merit by the French President, François Hollande.
In 2017 the album Aria was released, which was recorded as a duet in the Reformed Church of Bern (CH) with the organist Thierry Escaich at Jade-Universal. This album showcased the unexpected alliance between the organ and the accordion, made more sublime by the remarkable acoustics of the church and the quality of the organ.
A few weeks before his death, Michel Legrand entrusted Richard Galliano with the artistic direction of two “Tribute to Michel Legrand” concerts planned for April 2018 at the Grand Rex in Paris, together with Michel Portal, Ibrahim Maalouf and Natalie Dessay. In May 4, 2018 Richard Galliano performed solo at the Tokyo International Forum.
The album The Tokyo Concert was released in spring 2019 under the Jade-Universal label. This is the album of his maturity, greeted with great enthusiasm by the international press “Richard Galliano at summit of his art ”and by the ever larger audiences.
He gave more than 60 accordion recitals, notably as part of the Festival de Saint-Germaindes-des-Près, the Montreal Jazz Festival and the La Roque d’Anthéron Festival.
His next creation was an oratorio Les Chemins Noirs, based on the novel by René Frégni. The first performance took place at The Musical Scene of Boulogne Billancourt on January 30, 2020.
In 2020, Richard Galliano celebrated his 50th anniversary in more than 15 countries. Celebration ended on December 12, his 70th birthday and the anniversary of 50 years of his musical career, on stage at the Salle Gaveau in Paris.
New York Tango Trio is the first ensemble with which Richard Galliano will perform in Slovenia..
BONEY FIELDS /CHICAGO/
"Nothing beats the pleasure that you get from being in front of a crowd surrounded by your band, making music together."
Boney Fields
“Real music by real musicians” as Prince used to say. Just like Prince, the trumpet player Boney Fields is part of this generation of African-American musicians born to tame the stage.
So it is no coincidence that his playing partners are named Lucky Peterson, Luther Allison, James Cotton, Buddy Guy, Liz Mc Comb, as well as George Clinton, Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley or Bootsy Collins.
Boney Fields faithfully merges Funk and Blues, the two sides of the same Great Black Music, and he does so with the skills acquired during a career spent playing on stages all over the world.
When this child of a Chicago-based large family started his career, he realized that he could have turned bad. But growing up both to ghetto songs and Gospel songs praised by his parents, Boney Fields chose a unique voice, his own, that he enhanced with the practice of an instrument, the trumpet. The two-fold talent of this singer/trumpet player propelled him from one session to the next alongside those legends. He accompanies them in studio sessions or on stage and additionally composes – during his “spare” time- complex arrangements for brass sections like those of Tower of Power or Earth Wind and Fire.
Far from Tinseltown glitz and glam, it is on stage that Boney Fields learned the profession and enriched his artistry. The tours are long, the roads not always paved with gold. No matter the lack of sleep or number of miles traveled, being on stage is the only thing Boney Fields lives for.
And the stage is where he finally carved his own style, a retro-futuristic mix of Blues and Brass Funk. A genuine aesthetics that he deploys on records as well as on stages with his own band, an explosive septet who mastered the magical formula of the groove of the origins long ago. Everywhere they go Boney Fields & his Band leave like a highly energetic and exhilarating streak of powder.
A relentless showman, Boney Fields makes his music travel in each and every corner of the planet when invited to prestigious festivals such as Jazz à Vienne, Jazz in Marciac, Madajazzcar, Tabarka Jazz Festival… It is during these shows that he perfected the vibrant repertoire of his 6th album “Changing for the Future”, a record made with the help of a renewed collective of musicians.
And those, who will will want to see and to hear him, will have to come to Piran, where he will perform for the first time in Slovenia, and see him play fohis new collection of “real“ songs performed, as Prince used to say, “by real musicians”.