The shock wave of jazz comes this weekend to La Gomera, La Palma & La Graciosa
- The festival also takes over the surroundings of the Tenerife Auditorium and the Municipal Park of Santa Brígida
- Aleph Quintet, Loris Tils, Alto For Two, Dainius Pulauskas Group, Yone Rodríguez Quartet & D’Local Groove are the featured musical ensembles
Islas Canarias, 18 de julio de 2024. The Festival Internacional Canarias Jazz & Más Músicas Creativas is present during this third week of concerts on five islands: Tenerife, Gran Canaria, La Palma, La Gomera & La Graciosa. A total of eight musical groups from all over the world will stage thirteen concerts to complete yet another week of the festival, before closing in just ten days.
One of the great events will take place in the City Square – Plaza Ciudad, in the surrounding area of the Tenerife Auditorium. During two consecutive nights, Friday 19 & Saturday 20 (free entrance) the Festival Canarias Jazz & Más will stage a programme of concerts featuring the groups Aleph Quintet, Loris Tils, Alto For Two & Dainius Pulauskas Group. The performances will start from 20.30 hours onwards. There will also be activity at the Café Teatro ‘La Rayuela’ these very same nights featuring performances by Sara Lilu & Alesander Peña and GAC Trío.
In Gran Canaria, the venues where the concerts will be staged are the Municipal Park of Santa Brígida, Friday 19, with performances by the Aleph Quintet and Loris Tills (free enrance); and the Buenos Aires Jazz Café in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, on Sunday 21 featuring Alto For Two.
The rest of the concerts which are programmed for this weekend will be held on the islands of La Graciosa, Friday 19, featuring the Yone Rodríguez Quartet (Muelle de Caleta de Sebo – Caleta de Sebo Pier); La Palma, Saturday 20, with Alto For Two and Dainius Pulauskas Group (Plaza de España – Spain Square, Los Llanos de Aridane); & La Gomera, Sunday 21, featuring D’Local Groove (Playa Santiago – Santiago Beach).
GROUPS
Aleph Quintet brings together five skilled musicians, among whom Wajdi Riahi, a young virtuoso pianist, avant-garde of the Belgian jazz scene, stands out. Winner of the Carthage Musical Journees in Tunisia, as well as the Prix de la presse Musicale in France, Aleph Quintet is one of the revelations of the Brussels scene, especially with their album Shapes of Silence, released in 2023 by Igloo Records.
The formation Aleph Quintet highlights the union of these five musicians, bears witness to its roots and traces the years of travel during which the group got together concerning this music. Without imposing limits and driven by its generosity, North African music mixes with jazz improvisation, Gnawa rhythms, Arabic classical and cultural Sufi music. The formation is composed of Akram Ben Romdhane (oud), Marvin Burlass (violin), Théo Zipper (bass), Wadji Riahi (piano) & Max Aznar (drums).
Loris Tils is a bassist with an unstoppable groove, condensed of seventies-eighties energies with pop-rock and funk accents. This applies currently, as the artist has never hesitated to reinvent himself in order to follow what his creation dictates. He has just released a new album called Mystic Bayou. Originally from La Louvière in Belgium, Loris played in various eclectic groups before returning to a style of music based mainly on improvisation. The result was two albums titled One Take, whose aim was to record a jam session in a bar with special guests in just one take, without artifice or preparation of any kind.
He is now back with a new studio project developed during the confinement. Loris describes it as an “American soap opera”, with all the influences of funk, disco music & soul that permeated the soundtracks of the old television series of the 70’s and 80’s. The Line-Up of the group is Loris Tils (bass), Samuel Jonathan Rafalowicz (drums & percussion), Gregory Chainis (guitar) & Michael Chainis (guitar).
Dainius Pulauskas Group was formed in 1996 and instantly became one of the most influential and leading Lithuanian jazz units and an internationally renowned ambassador of Lithuanian jazz. Jazz critic Jan Patterson, in his article portal All About Jazz (October 10, 2011) described the group as “a unique sextet whose mixture of melody and muscle, lyricism and the unexpected, places it firmly at the forefront of progressive European jazz-fusion” and the group leader is characterized as “pianist/keyboardist Pulauskas is without a doubt, one of the most interesting composers at the fusion end of European jazz, and has been at the helm of this sextet for seventeen years”.
The group began its career path in 1996 at the Birštonas Jazz Festival. In 1997 they released the debut album Penetration. Dainius Pulauskas Group has beaten all local records by rising to the hall of fame of Lithuanian jazz in an amazingly short time. During the years of its existence D.P.G. has participated at many prestigious European, African, Asiatic and American jazz festivals. The band consists of Dainius Pulauskas (keyboards), Valerijus Ramoska (trumpet, flugelhorn), Liutauras Janusaitis (tenor sax), Tomas Botyrius (alto sax), Domas Aleksa (bass) & Domantas Razmus (drums).
Alto For Two is the project led by two of the most innovative saxophonists in Europe today: Kika Sprangers and Irene Reig with a repertoire of their own compositions. The union of the musical backgrounds of the two artists results in an eclectic and distinctive proposal that offers a wide range of sonorities that they translate into a quintet format. They will be releasing their first disc shortly, composed of a new original repertoire which shows the artistic direction and the evolution of the formation. Alto For Two is made up of Kika Sprangers (saxophones & composition), Irene Reig (saxophones & composition), Xavi Torres (piano), Thomas Pol (double bass) & Wouter Kühne (drums).
Yone Rodríguez stands out as one of the greatest exponents of the timple of his generation. During the course of his career, Yone has developed a language of his own in his compositions, characterized by the fusion of styles, achieving an open and universal sound, but with the Canary Islands at the forefront. From an early age, Yone showed a fervent interest in the timple, influenced by the rich musical environment that characterized his family and his hometown, Agaete, known for its long-standing musical tradition. Yone began his studies at the age of seven under the tutelage of the maestro Rafael Garcia, thus marking the beginning of his musical journey. At the age of nine, he took a step further in his training by being guided by one of the great exponents of the timple, José Antonio Ramos.
Through his music, he has travelled not only around the Canary Islands but both nationally and internationally, participating in outstanding concerts and festivals such as Womad, TD Sunfest in Canadá, Jazztonic & Suseong World Music Festival in South Korea, as well as at the 30th edition of the Festival Internacional Canarias Jazz & Más. In addition, he has been selected to present several showcases at fairs such as Visa for Music in Rabat, Mapas & Seoul Music Week, being awarded “Best International Showcase” in the latter. Yone Rodríguez (timple & Contra) is accompanied on stage by Néstor García (guitar), Leandro Ojeda (electric bass) and Ayoze de Alejandro López (drums & percussion).
D´Local Groove, ensemble that started out in the year 2017, is a band formed by seven musicians with extensive experience on the Canarian musical scene and who have merged together in this band of very urban music; a live performance full of energy & songs that vary in their generic conception, but have a common factor, groove, a term used to describe a kind of music that gets you moving & dancing. In their compositions we can enjoy very special and harmonically rich arrangements, with references to neo-soul, R&B, reggae, funk & blues. The songs feature fun & ironic lyrics but are also assertive. D’Local Groove are Alba Serrano (vocals), Miguel Ramírez (saxophones), Miqui Delgado (keyboards), José Carlos Cejudo (electric bass), Javi Montero (drums); César Martel (trumpet) & Luis Merino (electric guitar).
GAC Trio’s new project takes its career one step further in contemporary European jazz, working with musicians linked to the contemporary jazz movement, and thus developing their music, bringing their personality & experience to this new musical adventure. The repertoire features a review of the music of “GAC trio” as well as the presentation of new compositions written expressly for this format. GAC Trio works from the personal acoustic timbre of the formation and as always, with improvisation as an engine. The Trio consists of Gino Marcelli (piano), Agustín Buenafuente (double bass) & JM Churchi (drums).
Sara Lilu & Alesander Peña is a musical duo that was created in 2019 in the vibrant city of Barcelona. The connection between the two musicians emerged almost instantly, and their collaboration has led them to forge a distinctive sound that stands out on the jazz scene in Spain. They not only exhibit a high level of technical skill and conceptual solidity, but also maintain a deep connection with the most visceral essence of music.
CONCERTS:
Friday 19
Tenerife – Plaza Ciudad (Santa Cruz de Tenerife)
Alto For Two – Dainius Pulauskas Group
Café Teatro Rayuela
Sara Lilu & Alesander Peña
Gran Canaria – Parque Municipal de Santa Brígida
Aleph Quintet – Loris Tills
La Graciosa – Muelle de Caleta de Sebo
Yone Rodríguez Quartet
Saturday 20
Tenerife – Plaza Ciudad (Santa Cruz de Tenerife)
Aleph Quintet – Loris Tills
Café Teatro Rayuela
GAC Trio
La Palma – Plaza España (Los Llanos de Aridane)
Alto For Two – Dainius Pulauskas Group
Sunday 21
La Gomera – Playa Santiago (Alajeró)
D’Local Groove
Gran Canaria – Buenos Aires Jazz Café (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria)
Alto For Two
