SFJAZZ Collective opens the first week of concerts in Gran Canaria, Tenerife & La Palma
- 37 musical ensembles will perform at the main auditoriums, theatres & squares on the Canaries between 1st & 24th July 2022
- Marcus Miller, Gregory Porter, Avishai Cohen ‘Big Vicious’, Septeto Santiaguero, Nate Smith + Kinfolk, Ben Wendel Quartet, Immanuel Wilkins, Fuensanta & Louis Cole and Samantha Fish complete part of the billing for the 31st edition
Islas Canarias, 28 de junio de 2022. Concerts for the 31st editión of the ‘Festival Internacional Canarias Jazz & Más’ start being held this week featuring the presence of one of the great bands of the genre, SFJAZZ Collective, who will perform at the Pérez Galdós Theatre on Friday 1 July; the Tenerife Auditorium on Saturday 2; and in Los Llanos de Aridane (public square-Plaza de España) on Sunday 3. The weekend will be complete with concerts by the Trio Corrente and Jesús Prieto ‘Pitti’ at the Santo Domingo Convent in La Laguna (Friday) and the ‘Rincón del Jazz’ – Jazz Corner (Saturday). The island of La Graciosa will also feature at the start of the festival’s programme with a concert by Jesús Prieto ‘Pitti’ in the Parish Hall.
This will be the start of four weeks in which more than 60 concerts staged at 26 venues on the eight islands will take place, where 37 musical ensembles will participate following the recent additions of Fuensanta & Louis Cole and Los Aurora. Out of all these groups, 14 of them stem from the Archipelago. There will be a total of close to 200 musicians who will transit between 1 & 24 July for this cultural gathering, which for yet another year is backed by the Canarian Government through the Deputy Minister of Culture & Heritage, and present Marcus Miller, winner of two Grammy Awards and Gregory Porter, with another two, as the main attractions.
Juan Márquez, Deputy Minister for Culture at the Canary Islands Government, officiated the event in an act at which Juan Armas (projects director at ‘Promotur’); Guacimara Medina (Councillor for Culture at the Cabildo (Island Council) of Gran Canaria); Alberto Aguiar Lasso (Councillor for Culture at the Cabildo (Island Council) of Lanzarote); Prisco Navarro (District Councillor at the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria City Hall); Elena Espino (Councillor for Culture at the San Bartolomé de Tirajana Town Hall); Carolina Alonso (Councillor for Culture at the Santa Brígida Town Hall); Tilman Kuttenkeuler (Managing Director of the Auditorium & Theatre Foundation of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria); & Miguel Ramírez (director of the Festival Canarias Jazz & Más), were also present.
Márquez assessed the great artistic “quality” of the festival at this 31st editión, “one of the main attractions and that is repeated year after year with the best musicians of the genre”. In addition, he emphasized the staging of concerts on the eight islands “something we have always insisted on since we decided to firmly support this event” which is already one of the “main cultural attractions on the Canary Islands”.
For his part, Miguel Ramírez pointed out the effort that “we have made this year so that the festival attracts a foreign audience” with advertising & marketing deployment that is reflected in the “main specialized media outlets in Europe and also in the USA”. The Festival’s director looked pleased “to be able to open the webpage of the prestigious American magazine Downbeat and see our festival, with a lovely photograph of one of our concerts staged in the Santa Ana Square, one of the most emblematic venues of our festival”. Along these lines, Canarias Jazz & Más also features in other magazines in “Germany, United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Holland, Austria & Switzerland”.
Among the artists & groups to add to those that have already been mentioned are trumpeter Avishai Cohen ‘Big Vicious’, Nate Smith + Kinfolk, Ben Wendel Quartet, Immanuel Wilkins, Samantha Fish, Kadri Voorand in Duo with Mihkel Mälgand, Septeto Santiaguero, Ángela Cervantes y Pepe Rivero Quartet, Trio Corrente, Philip Lassiter, Yusan, Barencia, Pokaz Trio (Ukraine), Lucía Fumero Trío, Jesús Prieto ‘Pitti’, Pepe Bao Sextet, Berta Moreno, Sumrrá and 14 Canarian ensembles: Gran Canaria Big Band, Carlos Meneses Trío, Ernesto Montenegro Quintet, Gabriela Suárez Trío, La Local Jazz Band, Rayko León Quartet, JC Machado, Anna Rodríguez & Eliseo Lloreda, Jonay Martín Trío, Los Jinetes del Groove, Projeto Brasileiro, 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.
