Tenerife & Gran Canaria add to the programme with four concerts & cinema

• The public square Plaza de España in Adeje hosts concerts featuring the Mónica Santana Project and North Sea String Quartet & Javier Infante
• Guiniguada Theatre (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria) is the venue for the pianist from Tenerife Polo Ortí’s new group, OMN
• ‘Jazz & Movie’ offers music by Augusto Báez and the film ‘The Connection’ in the Espacio La Granja (Santa Cruz de Tenerife)

The second session of the Festival Internacional Canarias Jazz & Más travels to the islands of Tenerife & Gran Canaria this Saturday. In a new edition of the festival, Adeje in the public square ‘Plaza de España’ is the venue for a double concert featuring the Canarian vocalist Mónica Santana and her group; the Dutch quartet North Sea String Quartet & Javier Infante. This very same day and at the same time (20:30 hours) the Guiniguada Theatre opens its doors for the staging of a brand new musical undertaking by the renowned pianist from Tenerife Polo Ortí and his ensemble, called OMN, initials representing the surnames of Orti, the Uruguayan violinist Federico Nathan and the percussionist from Madrid, Sergio Martínez. On Sunday 2 August, the festival will pay a visit for the first time to the ‘Espacio La Granja’, in Santa Cruz de Tenerife (20:00 hours) with a programme titled “Jazz & Movie” integrating music & cinema by means of a piano concert by Augusto Báez and the projection of the film ‘The Connection (1961)’.

The Dutch jazz-folk string quartet North Sea String Quartet and Canarian composer & guitarrist Javier Infante present Electric Amazigh, in a vibrant & unique collaboration in which acoustic & electric sounds converge. By virtue of eight fascinating pieces written by Javier Infante, influences of North-African music (berbers), sephardic songs and contemporary jazz, blend.

Mónica Santana started her career linked to traditional music. After years of performing and developing, she decided to record her first disc as a composer. Under the production & musical direction of Miguel Ramírez & Miki Delgado respectively, she was able to record the disc, titled I’m gonna love you, featuring seven numbers of her own original work and two versions with very personal arrangements. They are pieces that contain the eclecticism of her musical tastes, but from the world of jazz: bossa, swing, bolero, blues, modern jazz etc.

At the 29th edition of the Festival Internacional Canarias Jazz & Más, Canarian pianist & composer Polo Ortí will present his new group, OMN, a trio also featuring the Uruguayan violonist Federico Nathan and the percussionist from Madrid, Sergio Martínez. Three generations of composers & musicians from a solid training background and recognised artistic careers, whose common thread revolves around the Berklee College of Music campus in Valencia, where these musicians practise their teaching activies. OMN is an invitation to a warm & enigmatic visual & sound journey by means of scrutiny, fusion and the exploration of new ways & channels of artistic expression, a music that is quite unrestricted, more versatile and unpredujiced, a project that is risky, interesting and profoundly imaginative.

Graduated in advanced studies in piano at the Nizhny Novgorod State Conservatory M.I. Glinka (Russia) with the qualification as concert performer, chamber music artist, concertmaster and specialist teacher of instrumental interpretation, Augusto Báez from Tenerife has received the ‘David Williams Jazz’ prize. He currently combines his educational activities with participating as a musician in different groups. He is presently working with the Municipal Symphony Band of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria , Luis Morera, Taburiente, Germán López, Son de la Tierra, as well as staging solo piano performances and with his trio.

The Connection (1961) is the first feature film directed by the American experimental film-maker Shirley Clarke having made several short films over the previous decade. Jack Gelber  wrote the screenplay, adapting his play of the same name. The movie was the subject of significant court cases regarding censorship.  It follows a young filmmaker who attempts to film junkies waiting for their heroin dealer to arrive, many of them jazz musicians. All the musicians from the original stage production appeared in the film: Freddie Redd (composer, piano), Jackie McLean (alto sax), Michael Mattos (bass) & Larry Ritchie (drums). The movie had its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in 1961.

In closed venues, (theatres, auditoriums, halls) the festival will apply the health protocols which are already in force. At the open-air venues, measures will be taken which would involve closing them in order to control audience capacity. At these concerts, prior registration will be necessary to limit attendance. The festival will apply all the recommendations & established rules or standards, in coordination with the health authorities.