Havana in Orbit with Jazz

Photo feature by Elio Delgado Valdes

HAVANA TIMES — Havana is the host city for the activities this week which accompany celebrations for International Jazz Day which will be commemorated on April 30th 2017.

The performance this Wednesday by Cuban pianist Alejandro Falcon with his group and students from the “Thelonious Monk” Jazz Institute, which is based in the United States, kicked off the Jazz descarga and Jam Session at the Plaza Cultural Center.

The program will go on until April 30th and there are free performances, educational activities which include master-classes, improvisation workshops, accompanied by great TV coverage, where movies and shows will document the history of Jazz.

The program includes a live streaming of the concert which will close the global event at the Gran Teatro de La Habana, where masters of Cuban jazz such as Chucho Valdes, Bobby Carcasses and Gonzalo Rubalcaba will perform with international artists Herbie Hancock, Casandra Wilson, Esperanza Spalding, Marcus Miller, Carl Allen, to name a few.

This will be the sixth edition of International Jazz Day, which is recognized by UNESCO and the United Nations to be an official celebration since November 2011.

Toyota, Carnival Corportation and United Airlines are the sponsors of this musical event.

The strength of jazz, which was born in the United States in the second half of the 19th century, quickly spread across the world because of its liberating, creative, diverse and uniting power. It wasn’t immune to Latin fusion, Afrocuban Jazz was steeped with Afrocuban music and the creativity of great Cuban musicians such as Chano Pozo and Mario Bauza will take over several venues in the city, promoting intercultural dialogue and social integration.

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