Puerto de la Cruz & Santa Ana Square once again host the traditional end to the festivities
- Jonathan Kreisberg Quartet, Ana Popovic, Theo Croker, Adédèji, Polo Ortí New Project, Germán López, Perinké Big Band and the Orquesta Jazz de Canarias will stage their performances on the last three sessions of the festival
- Concerts will also be staged this weekend on the islands of Lanzarote (Arrecife) & El Hierro (La Frontera)
Islas Canarias, thursday 24º July 2024. The end of the Festival Internacional Canarias Jazz & Más Músicas Creativas will light the flares of the closure of its 33rd edition in grand style with a long weekend featuring three concerts in Puerto de la Cruz & Santa Ana Square, plus occasional visits to El Hierro & Lanzarote. Prominent among the groups & artists that will take the stage at the different venues are the Jonathan Kreisberg Quintet, Ana Popovic, Theo Croker, Adédeji, Polo Ortí New Project, Germán López, Perinké Big Band y la Orquesta Jazz de Canarias, in addition to D’Local Groove, Morgan Hernández vs Fernikhan backed by Dj Cisco and Vaneesa Lemoine in the After Concerts.
Puerto de la Cruz will once again open the doors of Lake Martiánez to jazz. Over the course of three nights, the tourist complex in the north of Tenerife will host a total of six concerts, that will feature some of the best artists programmed in this 33rd edition, among them being the excellent American guitarrist Jonathan Kreisberg in a quartet formation and Theo Croker, one of the most important emerging artists of the genre and coming to the festival for the second time. Another outstanding guitarrist, Ana Popovic, the Nigerian Adédeji and the new project by Polo Ortí together with the Orquesta Jazz de Canarias complete the musical offering. A sequence that is repeated in the capital city of Gran Canaria, at one of its hallmark venues, the public square of Santa Ana, with only one change in the initial line-up: the Perinké Big Band.
This year, on the island of El Hierro, the concerts have been moved to the municipality of La Frontera, where there will be a performance by the Polo Ortí New Project on Friday 26 at 20.30 hours, and at a new venue, the Plaza del Mercadillo (Market Square), which substitutes the Plaza Tigaday (construction work in progress). There is no change in venue in Lanzarote, quite the reverse – the Plaza del Almacén in Arrecife, is consolidated as a meeting place for lovers of the genre, where they will get the chance to enjoy two concerts that fit perfectly into the name that distinguishes the festival “Más Músicas Creativas” (More Creative Music), featuring both the timple player from Gran Canaria Germán López, who interweaves his songs with traditional music, jazz and world music and Ana Popovic, with an accent more on rock, linked to jazz through R&B.
Guitarist and composer Jonathan Kreisberg has built a strong worldwide following and has influenced the next generation of musicians with his unique combination of timeless melodicism and forward thinking lines and textures. He is known as a player who has thoroughly studied the language of jazz while enriching it with fresh new ideas, expanding the possibilities of the guitar. Jonathan has led various groups with star musicians and has performed as a sideman with such notable musicians as Lonnie Smith, Joe Locke, Ari Hoenig, Yosvany Terry, Larry Grenadier, Bill Stewart, Gary Versace, Will Vinson, Kevin Hays, Mark Ferber, Matt Penman, and Martin Bejerano, among others.
Award-winning guitarist Ana Popovic combines electric funk and slide guitar, jazzy instrumentals, and a tight blues groove with soulful, feminine vocals. Add to the mix her incredible stage presence, all of which makes her an irresistible force in the world of contemporary blues music. Popovic forms part of a select group of excellent modern blues guitar players. One reason could be the fact that she’s always willing to work a little harder and travel a little further to master her craft. Ana and her powerful band are tirelessly touring, playing major blues, jazz & rock festivals. She is endorsed by Fender, D’Angelico, Jim Dunlop and DR strings. She has shared headlining stages with B.B. King, Joe Bonamassa, Gary Clark Jr. and many others.
Theo Croker is a storyteller who speaks through his trumpet. This Grammy award-nominated artist, composer, producer, thought leader and influencer projects his voice through music. After seven years of sojourn in Shanghai, Croker crash-landed with a simmering original sound on the 2014 Dee Dee Bridgewater-assisted album Afro Physicist. Following the success of Escape Velocity in 2016, he ascended to a new stratosphere with Star People Nation in 2019. The record garnered a nomination in the category of Best Contemporary Instrumental Album at the 62nd Grammy awards. It attracted widespread acclaim from the critics, such as Stereogum. Paste and The New York Times who called it “an album that gallivants from swirling, left-field hip-hop beats to propellant swing to entrancing passages of African percussion.”
Adédèji is the new phenomenon of Afro Funk in Nigeria, nominated as Best Artist 2023 by Songlines, and the recent album Yoruba Odyssey is among the 50 best albums of 2023 on World Music Charts Europe & Transglobal World Music Charts. His music is a contemporary mix of Yoruba rhythms with Afro Funk and Jazz, but at the same time has a totally personal musical style, rooted in complex Nigerian rhythms and choirs, respecting his roots while taking the music to a contemporary, futuristic level with a show and performance that can be compared with artists like Prince, Earth Wind and Fire & Fela Kuti. A show like a volcanic explosion that is hard to stand still to, prompting the audience to sing along as if they already knew the music well. Adédèjì is an indispensable artist to feature at any current festival.
The Canarian pianist, composer and teacher, Polo Ortí, is proud to present, for the first time and exclusively, for this 33rd edition of the Canary islands Jazz Festival (Festival de Jazz de Canarias), his new project that brings together a group of young and talented musicians. The repertoire will include various genres, from original compositions to reinterpretations of classical standards, through incursions into various genres such as Jazz Fusion, Latin Music & Electro Jazz. An eclectic musical show that promises a load of energy & spontaneity. The participants in his new project are Chipi Chacón (trumpet vocals), Samuel Kèri (electric bass & loops) & Naíma Acuña (drums).
Germán López is a timple player who since his professional beginnings has been focussed on the sound possibilities of the instrument away from the folkloric field, in a clear commitment to dialogue and fusion with other cultures and artists of different styles. His new album is titled Alma. According to the artist himself, it is a work that opens new sonic horizons in his career, recorded with the prestigious producer from LA, Gregg Field, winner of 8 Grammy awards and drummer with Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald & Frank Sinatra. Gregg has also produced works by Ray Charles, Barbra Streisand, Natalie Cole, Michael Bublé & Jason Mraz.
The Orquesta Jazz de Canarias (Canary Islands Jazz Orchestra) brings together a cast of Canarian artists from the islands of Lanzarote & Tenerife who, for the most part, have interacted in the Big Band created by René P. González, trumpeter, composer and artistic & musical director, who graduated in Musical Performance/Professor of Trumpet and Composition at Berklee College of Music, Boston. The orchestra has been working for years on the arts & music scene of the islands and Cuba, carrying out an arduous cultural task that highlights the original & laborious nature of their projects, among them being the didactics it has represented for about 18,000 schoolchildren, concerts, festivals, musicals, conferences, shows, workshops & events that revolve around an objective theme – open to the public the wonderful doors of the world of music, delving into the origins, blending & influences of Canarian music, idiosyncrasy and culture.
The Perinké Big Band was formed in 2004 within the activity of the Professional Conservatory of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, conducted by Ximo Martínez, who continues to lead the band, constituted the seed of what, in 2009, by dissociating itself from the Conservatory, would end up consolidating as the Perinké Big Band. It is composed of twenty musicians, united under the name of this characteristic endemic reptile of the Canary Islands. During all this time it has gradually become one of the most important formations in the city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and of Gran Canaria in general, besides having a presence in the rest of the archipelago. A highlight in its beginnings was the opening concert of the cycle “Noches de Jazz” (Jazz Nights) in the municipality of Firgas in the year 2007.
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.
Morgan Hernandez vs. Fernikhan backed by Dj Cisco, is an exciting musical ensemble with an impressive variety of styles, talent and creativity that come together in a unique symphony that awakens emotions and energy, and all with original compositions that leave no one indifferent. What makes them really special is their ability to embrace multiple genres, from rap to jazz, rock, pop, soul, blues and many more.
The young voice emerging from Fábrica Isleta is that of Vanessa Lemoine and after studying at Fábrica MAT, she has now taken the leap to higher education at the University of Basel (Switzerland); nevertheless, she still keeps visiting the Canary Islands and for this occasion will delight us with an intimate & special concert where you will be able to listen to the classics of jazz, boleros and a few surprises, accompanied by a trio of local musicians.
CONCERTS:
Tenerife – Puerto de la Cruz (Lago Martiánez)
Thursday 25
Polo Ortí New Project / Ana Popovic
Friday 26
Jonathan Kreisberg Quartet / Adédeji
After Concerts: D’Local Groove
Saturday 27
Theo Croker / Orquesta Jazz de Canarias
After Concerts: Morgan Hernández vs Fernikhan backed by Dj Cisco
Gran Canaria – Plaza de Santa Ana (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria)
Thursday 25
Perinqué Big Band / Adédeji
Friday 26
Theo Croker / Ana Popovic
Saturday 27
Jonathan Kreisberg Quartet / Polo Ortí New Project
After Concerts: Vanessa Lemoine Quartet (Buenos Aires Jazz Café, 23.30h.)
El Hierro – Plaza del Mercadillo, La Frontera
Friday 26
Polo Ortí New Project
Lanzarote – Plaza del Almacén, Arrecife
Saturday 27
Germán López / Ana Popovic
