The concerts move to Adeje, Maspalomas & Fuerteventura

• Richard Bona & Alfredo Rodríguez feat. Michael Olivera feature with a repertoire of traditional African & Latin rhythms
• The fusion of bands like Second Brain & Kutu and the more contemporary jazz of Mo Van Der Does complete the offer
• MUNA, Café Teatro La Rayuela & La Fábrica host concerts featuring local artists such as Althay Páez, Furte, the LuisMo Valladares Quartet & the José Vera Bello Quintet

Islas Canarias, 06 de julio de 2023. The Festival Internacional Canarias Jazz & Más moves this weekend to two of the tourist areas par excellence of the Archipelago. Most of the concerts programmed will be held in Maspalomas (Gran Canaria) & Adeje (Tenerife), but will keep the pace going in the two Canarian capital cities, Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, where there will be performances by a fair number of local groups. Fuerteventura completes the programme of concerts, where the star feature will be the bassist from Cameroun Richard Bona, one of the greatest exponents of the four strings, winner of a Grammy Award and who has a close relationship with the Canary Islands.

Richard Bona will perform in a trio formation, accompanied by two exceptional Cuban musicians, the pianist Alfredo Rodríguez and drummer Michael Olivera. They will stage two concerts, one on the esplanade at the Lighthouse – Faro of Maspalomas (Friday 7) and the other in the public square – Plaza Salytién in Adeje (Saturday 8), sharing the stage on both occasions with the Dutch saxophonist Mo van der Does’ band ‘Motet’.

Winner of a Grammy Award, Bona is one of the most accomplished international bass players, composers, and multi-instrumentalists around. With his unique sound and vocal gift, he is continuously representing his African origins. His music addresses the continent’s traditions, culture, beauty, and issues. His purpose and the way he connects with his audience have turned him into a staple name in world, jazz, and Afropop music. He is currently producing and recording for Latin & Brazilian artists in the realm of pop, Brazilian songbook, Flamenco, and Caribbean music.

Motet is a young band of seven musicians led by alto saxophonist & composer Mo van der Does, based in Amsterdam. The group consists of some of the most promising jazz musicians in the Netherlands. With the force of a big band but the flexibility of a small group, they explore the world of improvisation, the orchestration & composition inspired by artists such as Charles Mingus, Ambrose Akinmusire & Maurice Ravel. Their long social & musical friendship enables the band members to trust each other as they delve together into the depths. The members are Mo van der Does (alto sax, clarinet & composition), Matthias van den Brande (tenor sax), Jessie Brevé (bass clarinet), Alistair Payne (trumpet), Floris Kappeyne (piano), Wouter Kühne (drums) & Tijs Klaassen (double bass).

The concerts at Maspalomas and Adeje are completed featuring performances by Kutu and Second Brain, who share the stage on Saturday 8 (Gran Canaria) & Sunday 9 (Tenerife). Already one of the revelations of the 2022 panorama, KUTU is the fruit of the encounter in Addis Ababa between the French violinist & composer Théo Ceccaldi and Ethiopian vocalists Hewan Gebrewold & Haleluya Tekletsadik. Unleashing hypnotic and trance-heavy grooves, thanks to a forceful rhythm section, cosmic keyboard lines and stellar vocal performances, KUTU merges the freedom of jazz, the immediacy of dance music and the incomparable depth of the Ethiopian sounds. KUTU is madness, trance & mead vapours of starry nights and the brilliant singers of Addis Ababa, building channels & bridges with rock, jazz and electronics, connected with the music of the past and the future. KUTU is Théo Ceccaldi (violin), Haleluya Tekletsadik (vocals), Hewan Gebrewold (vocals), Valentin Ceccaldi (bass), Cyril Atef (drums) & Akemi Fujimori-Poivre (keyboard).

The story of Second Brain began in London, with the composer & guitarist Adrien Pigeat, and continued on Réunion Island, where he faced local music to synthesize a unique blend. In a process he describes as “jazz in spirit, rock in shape and funk in background”, it cultivates ambiguity between styles and seeks the freedom that makes each concert a new experience. Collective of variable numbers, ranging from quartet to decet, Second Brain offers music that is complex but easy accessible, danceable, ethereal, spectacular and in constant fusion, with echoes of Frank Zappa, Claude Debussy, Snarky Puppy, Igor Stravinsky and the masters of blues guitar. The band consists of Adrien Pigeat (electric guitar/conductor), Lucas Baret (electric guitar), Ludo Prieur (bass), Nicolas Py (drums), Robin Rivoire (keyboard), Jean Sloube (trumpet/ flugelhorn) & Jean-Baptiste Rannou (alto sax).

On Friday 7 (20.30 hours), the  Palacio de Formación y Congresos de Fuerteventura (Training & Congress Centre) (Puerto del Rosario) will host the concert of Jazzmeia Horn and Second Brain. In 2015 Horn (Dallas, Texas, 19/04/1991) won the Thelonious Monk International Vocal Jazz Competition and in 2013 the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition. She has a name that speaks for itself capturing her very essence. Her reputation as a rising star didn’t take long in reaching New York. Wishing to pursue a solo career, Jazzmelia moved to the Big Apple and got her degree at the The New School for Jazz & Contemporary Music and soon began performing with prominent musicians: Winard Harper, Junior Mance, Billy Harper, Lincoln Center Alumni Vincent Gardner, Delfeayo Marsalis, Mike LeDonne, Peter Bernstein, Johnny O”Neal, Vincent Herring, Kirk Lightsey, Frank Wess & Ellis Marsalis

The activity in Santa Cruz de Tenerife involves the concerts this Frida 7 July of Althay Páez and Furte at the Museum of Nature & Archaeology (MUNA) at 20.30 hours and of the LuisMo Valladares Quartet in the Café Teatro La Rayuela (23.00 hours). Páez is a young Canarian ‘timple’ (Canarian plucked string instrument) player who among his peers is recognized as a virtuoso of the instrument, both for his technical abilities as well as his language and the feeling he conveys in his live performances. Despite having cultivated these virtues from a very young age, he is currently facing a project of his own, in which tradition and avant-garde are harmonized from a distinctive conceptual perspective within the contemporary ‘timple’ scene. Althay Páez (timple) will be accompanied by Thomás Figueroa (electric guitar), Juanka Trujillo (bass) & Totó Noriega (percussion).

Furte is a musical duo created by Germán G. Arias & Augusto Báez. Two years ago these two musicians got together to recreate the personal & popular stories that have made a mark on their lives in one way or another. And thus was born Furte’s first work, Historias (Stories). An ensemble composed of nine musicians with two violins, a viola, cello, double bass, drums, percussion, flugelhorn & piano; difficult to label and that move through different styles, all those that also formed part of their lives. ‘Furte’ aims to excite, amuse and recreate in the listener experiences that are common in everyone’s lives.

The LuisMo Valladares Quartet is made up of very versatile and open minded musicians, all of them having extensive experience on stage, refined technique and feeling. The ensemble will present its own pieces, standard cover versions and some new compositions. Their show is an undertaking for ineffable experimentation, the pursuit of beauty through progressive rock and the most contemporary aspects of jazz. Inviting us to enjoy an open concert, with emotions that will make us immerse ourselves in an original language and will show unpublished images in a landscape context, where the spirit of music will remain intact. The quartet is composed of Luismo Valladares (electric bass), Cameron Rivero (alto & tenor sax), Pablo Díaz (piano & keyboard) & Sergio Díaz (drums).

Lastly, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria the weekend’s programme will close with the performance by the José Vera Bello Quintet at La Fábrica, on Sunday 9 at 20.30 hours.

The quintet of the composer & saxophonist from Gran Canaria will offer an original repertoire of pieces that will form the material for their first album in this formation. For this, it features some of the most creative & brilliant musicians on both the national scene and that of the Islands. A repertoire that brings together compositions with many different styles, but all with a common denominator: improvisation. Compositions that produce an organic repertoire, fresh & personal, played by a band that exudes energy & sensitivity. The band consists of José Vera Bello (tenor & soprano sax, compositions), Kervin Barreto (trumpet), Luis Sánchez (piano), Nelson Savedra (double bass) & Juan Pérez (drums).