Santa Cruz de Tenerife recoups the Festival Canarias Jazz & Más Heineken open-air concerts

• The 27th edition opens tomorrow featuring Keyon Harrold, Christian Sands and the Atlantic Jazz Ensemble in the square – Plaza de los Alisios (at the rear of the Auditorium)
•  On Saturday Myles Sanko, Jungle Fire and the Alexis Alonso Quartet will perform at the same venue

The Festival Canarias Jazz & Más Heineken kicks off this weekend with a double session of open-air concerts in the square – Plaza de los Alisios (at the rear of the Tenerife Auditorium). On Friday 6 July the billing will feature the local band Atlantic Jazz Ensemble, pianist Christian Sands in a trio formation and trumpeter Keyon Harrold. The concerts commence at 21.00 hours and are free-entrance. In this manner, Santa Cruz de Tenerife is able to recoup the open-air concerts it once staged, with a double programme as on Saturday 7 (same time & place) both lovers of good music & faithful fans of the festival, will be able to enjoy a second session featuring performances by the Alexis Alonso Quartet (Canaries), British artist Myles Sanko and the Californinans Jungle Fire. Two eclectic nights of entertaining exposure to two different ways of understanding & appreciating jazz, encountering from the classic & pure to the fusion of related rhythms like hip hop, soul & Afrobeat.

There will be more than 50 concerts featuring 28 groups to be staged at venues on five islands- La Palma, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria & Tenerife-, for yet another year and another edition, as a result of the collaboration of the municipalities of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Adeje, Puerto de la Cruz, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Santa Lucía de Tirajana, Santa Brígida, Puerto del Rosario, Teguise & Los Llanos de Aridane, and the sponsorship of the Canarian Governmant and the Island Councils of Gran Canaria, Tenerife, La Palma, Fuerteventura & Lanzarote, Casa África, the Tenerife Auditorium, the Auditorium & Theatre Foundation of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Theatres Leal & Guiniguada and the airline Binter. Organised by Colorado Producciones, yet another edition has received the sponsorship of the company Heineken.

Christian Sands, five-time Grammy Nominee, is an emerging jazz force. His abundant piano technique perfectly matches his conception, accomplishing a much deeper musical goal: a fresh look at the entire language of jazz. Whether it’s stride, swing, bebop, progressive, fusion, Brazilian or Afro-Cuban, Sands develops the past while providing unusual and stimulating vehicles for the present… and for the future.  He expresses himself through an extensive vocabulary of patterns, textures and structures, all the while maintaining a strong sense of sensitivity, taste and swing. His career took a significant leap when he caught the attention of Grammy award winning bassist, Christian McBride, who asked Sands, then 20 years old, to sit in at the Village Vanguard with his big band. That appearance led to Sands becoming a member of bassist Christian McBride’s Trio, with whom he has toured throughout the world.

Members:

Christian  Sands: Piano
Yasushi  Nakamura: Bass
Jonathan  Barber: Drums

Keyon Harrold was born and raised in Ferguson, MO, a St. Louis suburb. While Ferguson looms large in Harrold’s album The Mugician, it examines the troubled times its most humble inhabitants underwent. Sweeping and cinematic, the music draws on elements of jazz, classical, rock, blues, and hip hop to create something uniquely modern, unmistakeably American. Guests including Pharoahe Monch, Gary Clark, Jr., Big K.R.I.T., Guy Torry, Georgia Anne Muldrow and Robert Glasper add to the record’s eclectic nature, but it ultimately triumphs as a unified, cohesive whole, both because of Harrold’s virtuosic skill as a trumpeter and composer and because of his relentlessly optimistic belief in “brighter days to come”. In his work Mugician, which is a portmanteau of “musician” and “magician”, Harrold pushes beyond the traditional boundaries of jazz trumpet. In fact, the album doesn’t even begin with trumpet, but rather with a track called ‘Voicemail,’ which features an inspirational message from Harrold’s mother set to a stirring, orchestral soundscape. Entirely unedited, her words lay the groundwork for an album that celebrates the importance of family (ten of Keyon’s siblings appear on the record) and the absolute necessity of optimism in the face of darkness and doubt. Issues of identity and equality percolate throughout the record, sometimes subtly beneath the surface, and others more significantly.

Members:

Keyon Harrold: Trumpet & vocals
Shedrick Mitchell: Piano
Nir Felder: Guitar
Burniss Travis: Bass
Charles Haynes: Drums
Featuring Andrea Pizziconi: Vocals

The Atlantic Jazz Ensemble is a creation of the Atlantic Jazz Lab (Laboratorio Atlántico de Jazz y Nuevas Músicas – Atlantic Laboratory of Jazz & New Music), established with the aim of forming a regular group which would assist in developing, conserving & fostering the creation & pursuit of jazz in, for and from the Canary Islands. All this under the artistic direction of Natanael Ramos, founder of the Laboratory and one of the most outstanding Canarian musicians on the European jazz scene. From the year 2016 this ensemble has been leaving its mark on the public around the islands with a series of different itinerant projects, like the monograph of the album Round Midnight by Miles Davis, and since the end of 2017 with the project which they will present at this edition of the festival: The Music Of Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers.

Members:

Natanael Ramos: Trumpet & Artistic Direction
Claudio Marrero: Tenor Sax
Francis Hernández: Piano
Jose Carlos Machado: Contrabass
Nasim López-Palacios: Drums

Soul singer & composer resident in England known as Myles Sanko, made his debut with an EP titled Born in Black & White in 2013, which was acclaimed by critics & public alike. The disc consists of seven original tracks inspired by the style of some of soul music’s greats, such as Bill Withers, Otis redding, Al Green & James Brown; Myles openly and proudly acknowledging them as his main musical influences. It is a work that combines to perfection deep grooves and jazz. Dubbed “The Lovechild of Soul Music”, Myles began his journey singing & rapping alongside DJs in nightclubs. He has fronted some popular bands, like ‘Bijoumiyo’ and ‘Speedometer’. He will present his third album, with which Sanko adds another chapter to his particular and intense trip. Just Being Me “speaks of love, hope and policy and has a piece of me in every part,” he says.

Members:

Myles Sanko (Vocals)
Rick Hudson (Drums)
Tom O’grady (Keyboard)
Phil Stevenson (Guitar)
Jon Mapp (Bass)
Alex Hitchcock (Sax)
James Copus (Trumpet)

The sound of Jungle Fire delves deeply into Afro-Latin Funk with an authentic and highly explosive approach. This TropiFunk group from Los Angeles (USA) draw their influences from music legends like Irakere, Ray Barreto, James Brown, Fela Kuti & Manu Dibango (among many others), while creating a brew of Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Western rhythms with breaks of classic funk. Since their emergence in 2011, Jungle Fire rapidly attracted attention within the Funk scene in Los Angeles, scorching dance clubs and underground festive joints throughout the city. The diversity of the musical & cultural origins of the members of Jungle Fire are a reflection of the musical & cultural panorama of Los Angeles. The mixture of the international and multicultural sounds & flavours are fundamental components of the band’s overall sound. Individually & collectively, the members of Jungle Fire have performed, recorded and/or toured with such different artists as Stevie Wonder, Ozomatli, Breakestra, Alice Russell, De La Soul, Celia Cruz, LCD Soundsystem, U2, Greyboy Allstars, Kelis and a host more.

Members:

Alberto López: Percussion
Steve Haney: Percussion
Michael Duffy: Percussion
Sam Halterman: Drums
Patrick Bailey: Bass
Aquiles Magaña: Electric Guitar
Sean Billings: Trumpet
Sam Robles: Baritone Sax

One of the characteristic features of the Alexis Alonso Quartet is its original formation within the jazz spectrum, considering that it includes a cello as an important feature of its overall sound. The feeling & sensitivity of the great cellist Ciro Hernández, the versatility & talent of Agustín Buenafuente on contrabass and one of the best drummers on the current jazz scene, Roberto Amor, gel together in an amazing cocktail that has moved along with the compositions by Alexis Alonso, a veritable magician on the piano, resulting in a really potent act.

Members:

Alexis Alonso: Piano
Ciro Hernández: Cello
Agustín P. Buenafuente: Contrabass
Roberto Amor: Drums