La Gomera, Adeje & Maspalomas host the concerts for the second weekend

• Samantha Fish, Nate Smith + KINFOLK, Sumrrá, Lucía Fumero Trío, Los Aurora, Jonay Martín Trío, Gabriela Suárez Trío & D’Local Jazz Band will take the stage at the venues

This weekend the ‘Festival Internacional Canarias Jazz & Más’  moves to the touristic areas of Gran Canaria & Tenerife and to Playa Santiago in La Gomera, to complete a weekend’s programme staging 10 concerts which will feature an authentic guitar hero of blues rock; a quintet that deconstructs flamenco; sound experiments with all kinds of gimmicks; fusion of classical jazz with pop, R&B & hip hop; an encounter between jazz, classical music & folklore; as well as diverse local proposals. The event in Adeje will return to the public square at the CC Salytien on Friday 8 featuring Lucía Fumero Trío & Samantha Fish and on Saturday 9 with Jonay Martín Trío & Los Aurora; in Maspalomas the event will be staged once again on the La Faro (Lighthouse) of Maspalomas Esplanade, with concerts by Nate Smith + KINFOLK and Sumrrá on Friday and Samantha Fish & La Local Jazz Band on Saturday; and at Playa Santiago (La Gomera) there will be concerts by Gabriela Suárez Trío & Sumrrá. All concerts on all the islands will commence at 20.30 hours.

After launching her recording career in 2009, Samantha Fish, originally from Kansas, quickly established herself as a rising star in the contemporary blues world. Since then, the charismatic young singer-guitarist-songwriter has earned a reputation as a rising guitar hero and powerful live performer, while releasing a series of acclaimed albums that have shown her restless creative spirit consistently taking her in new and exciting musical directions. Her current album Faster is the follow-up to the acclaimed Kill Or Be Kind in 2019, and marked Fish’s first collaboration with producer Martin Kierszenbaum (Lady Gaga, Sting), who co-wrote eight of the album’s 12 new songs and helped Fisher to refine her sound and strike out into bold new sonic territory.

For nearly two decades, Nate Smith has been a key piece in reinvigorating the international music scene with his visceral, instinctive and deep-rooted style of drumming. He holds a diverse and extensive CV, which includes work with esteemed jazz leading figures such as Pat Metheny, Dave Holland, Chris Potter, José James, John Patitucci, Ravi Coltrane & Somi, among many others. In his debut album, KINFOLK: Postcards from Everywhere with two Grammy nominations, Smith fuses his original modern jazz compositions with R&B, pop, and hip-hop.

Los Aurora is a flamenco-jazz group that revolutionised the national and international music scene with the release of their first album, with which they toured venues and festivals all over the world. A daring and personal proposal that represents a breath of fresh air in a genre like flamenco. On the occasion of the release of the new album La Balsa de la Medusa, they present a new live show. It reflects a more electric and energetic sound, closer to rock, where they transform the classic references always present in the DNA of the Barcelona band. Their sound starts from flamenco and moves towards jazz, moving away from the more classical sonority of the compositions which it is inspired by.

Diverse styles have influenced the pianist, composer and singer Lucia Fumero. She is currently dedicating her time to the release of her own album and project, Universo normal (Seed Jazz 001), featuring a repertoire of original music that goes from one place to another, full of vitality and fresh air. The base of her universe is born in folklore and she transforms it through the knowledge & experience that she has consolidated in classical music & jazz, and this results in unique colours. Interested in both songs with vocals and lyrics and also in instrumental music, Lucia Fumero expresses herself with a rhythm marked by charisma and personality, and at the same time impressionistic; two apparently opposing concepts.

After 21 years together and hundreds of concerts around half the world, Sumrrá, the most international trio from Galicia present their seventh album, titled 7 Visions. The pianist Manuel Gutiérrez, contrabassist Xacobe Martínes Antelo & drummer L.A.R. Legido produced a new recorded work that marks the consolidation of a unique way of understanding live music. A maturity and freshness almost inconceivable today, that make the Galician trio a cult group that has been adding followers throughout all these years, through their discs, their concerts & tours; in Seoul, Morocco, Paris, Beijing, Shanghai, Mexico, Portugal, Bolivia, South Africa, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador… In this latest album, ‘Sumrrá’ carries out the inspiring exercise of gaining perspective & reconsidering through music their very own existence.

The year 2020 signified a before & after for Jonay Martín in many aspects. At that time the guitarist from Orotava (Tenerife), dedicated to creative music & improvisation, was on the verge of recording his second disc as leader. It was all cancelled when we entered ‘Covid’ territory. The result of this unprecedented period was a series of compositions that describe some of the experiences & emotions felt during that time. Agustín Buenafuente (contrabass) & Sergio Díaz (drums) accompany him on this venture.

At only 16 years of age, Gabriela Suárez is a vocal talent bursting onto the jazz scene to leave her mark. Her voice is from another generation, that goes back to the ‘30s and you can sense the influences by Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, & Sarah Vaughan. So close and yet so far from those influences, Gabriela also immerses herself in the Bossa Nova with great pieces by Jobim and hit numbers by Bill Withers, Nina Simone…She made her debut as a jazz singer and pianist at the ‘LPA International Jazz Day’ in the year 2017 and from thereon in her growth featuring voice and piano is limitless.

La Local Jazz Band is a group formed in 2008 by Miguel Ramírez & Miqui Delgado, with a view to promote & encourage this genre and also contribute to it, with their ample jazz repertoire acquired over the years. Didactic concerts for young students and the general public, as well as special shows and/or tributes to some of jazz’s greats and their different respective eras, are the band’s fundamental objective. They both have been collaborating & sharing the stage for more than thirty years, in which they have been set up various artistic projects & recordings jointly. Currently they remain active sharing the same dream, in the effort to create and produce music for their own ensembles and for other artists.

After this second weekend, the festival enters into a phase of two weeks of concerts staged daily until the end on 24 July; opening the week featuring concerts by Marcus Miller on Tuesday 12 (Theatre Cuyas) & Wednesday 13 (Theatre Leal). Among the artists & groups that will perform during the next few weeks are Gregory Porter, Avishai Cohen Big Vicious, Ben Wendel Quartet, Kadri Voorand in Duo with Mihkel Mälgand, Septeto Santiaguero, Fuensanta & Louis Cole, Pepe Rivero y Ángela Cervantes, Philip Lassiter, Yusan, Barencia, Pokaz Trio (Ucrania), Pepe Bao Sextet, Berta Moreno and Canarian ensembles: Gran Canaria Big Band, Ernesto Montenegro Quintet, Rayko León Quartet, JC Machado, Los Jinetes del Groove, Javier Montero Jazz Band, Alexis Alonso Ensemble and JM Churchi & Son de la Tierra.

The ‘Festival Internacional Canarias Jazz & Más’ will again have the support of the Canarian Government through the deputy minister of Culture & Heritage as main sponsor; the Island Councils of Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, La Palma, El Hierro, La Gomera, Tenerife & Gran Canaria; the Gran Canaria Tourist Board; the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria & Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Halls, the Santa Brígida, San Bartolomé de Tirajana, La Laguna, Puerto de la Cruz, Adeje, Los Llanos de Aridane, Alajeró, Arrecife & Teguise Town Halls; and stage venues, such as the Tenerife Auditorium, Theatre Leal, Auditorium-Theatre Foundation, Theatre Guiniguada, Theatre Cuyás, place of interest ‘Espacio La Granja’; the Elder Museum of Science & Technology, the ‘Paraninfo’ at the ULPGC, the Santo Domingo Convent in La Laguna, ‘Espacio R, Café Theatre Rayuela and Fábrica La Isleta.