The public square Plaza Santa Ana & Puerto de la Cruz play host to the three final sessions of concerts

• The 27th Canarias Jazz & Más Heineken enters its final stage featuring performances by Nalaya Brown, Iñaki Arakistain, Naughty Professor, Eva Cortés, Julian Lage, Gilad Hekselman, CMS Project, Ida Nielsen, Michael Olivera & Simbeque Project

The 27th edition of the Festival Internacional Canarias Jazz & Más Heineken reaches its closing stage this week in Gran Canaria & Tenerife with three nights of music; from Thursday to Saturday, taking place in the public squares – Plaza de Santa Ana in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Plaza Europa in Puerto de la Cruz, respectively (21.00 hours, free-entrance). Ten bands, three for each of the venues, closing for yet another year a festival that strives to enrichen even more its offer of quality cultural activity for the municipalities.

In Gran Canaria the performances programmed for Thursday19 will feature the avant-garde electronic vocalist Nalaya Brown, the artistic academism of Iñaki Arakistain and the revolutionary sound of Naughty Professor; on Friday 20 we have the flamenco touch of Eva Cortés, the classicism of Julian Lage and the Afro-Latin rhythms of Michael Olivera; Saturday will feature the virtuosity of guitarrist Gilad Hekselman, funk music by Ida Nielsen and the innovative CMS Project. In Puerto de la Cruz the billing for the concerts programmed in the square Plaza de Europa will feature Eva Cortés, Gilad Hekselman & Michael Olivera for Thursday 19; Nalaya Brown, Iñaki Arakistain & Ida Nielsen for Friday 20 and on Saturday 21 will be Simbeque Project, Julian Lage & Naughty Professor.

A menu rich in prime ingredients, with the right spices in adequate proportions; perfect for experimentation, a maestro’s touch in the preparation and a superb presentation – haute cuisine for all tastes. An explosive end to the festivities of an edition that yet again has taken the risk to provide a balanced billing with the presence of renowned figures of the genre, established artists who feature prominently at the main festivals of the world, like Dhafer Youssef, Joao Bosco & Kenny Garrett, but with a look not only to the present but to the future also. And of course, not forgetting the local talent.

Eva Cortés, singer, lyricist and composer born in Honduras and raised in Sevilla, has a unique and convincing voice within the scene of jazz and creative music. Her music reflects & lives up to its roots and looks to the future with depth and passion. Eva is considered a woman of today with the advantage of growing up in a multicultural environment where musical experience prevailed, since in her family there were singers, instrumentalists and music teachers. She has been a member of a number of bands and has a fairly extensive recording career: in 2012, she released her most ambitious project, a live recording (CD/DVD) Jazz One Night with Eva Cortés in Madrid. After touring Spain, France, Holland and New York, she created a great union and rapport with her band … one that is created after travelling and being continuously together for a long period of time. Jazz One Night is probably the most definitive musical portrait of Cortés to date. Her latest work In Bloom was released in 2015 (Truth Revolution Records).

Band Members
Eva Cortés: Vocals
Trevor Coleman: Piano/Trumpet
Álvaro Vieito: Guitar
Juan García: Contrabass & Chorus
Nacho Megina: Drums

Gilad Hekselman Gilad Hekselman has gained a reputation as one of the most promising guitarists in New York since his arrival in 2004. After only a few years, this native Israeli has shared the stage with some of the greatest artists on the New York City jazz scene including Chris Potter, Mark Turner, John Scofield, Anat Cohen, Ari Hoenig, Esperanza Spalding, Sam Yahel, Jeff Ballard, Gretchen Parlato, Avishai Cohen, Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts, Tigran Hamasyan, Aaron Parks and Greg Hutchinson. Gilad studied classical piano from the age of six and began studying guitar when he was nine years old. From the ages of 12 to 14 he performed regularly with the band of a weekly children’s television show. He attended the prestigious Thelma Yellin School of Arts, graduating with excellence from the Jazz department at the age of eighteen. Gilad received the America-Israel Cultural Foundation Scholarship for studies abroad to attend The New School in New York, where he completed his BFA in performing arts in 2008. In the year 2015 Gilad released his fourth album, titled Homes, which is a wonderful exploration of his many trips, capturing their distinct musical personalities as well as the human values they represent.

Band Members:
Gilad Hekselman: Guitar
Rick  Rosato: Bass
Jonathan  Pinson: Drums

Michael Olivera was born in Santa Clara (Cuba), a central area of the island. He finished his music studies at the National School of Art (ENA, La Havana) and, from an early age, has developed a long and intense professional career. He is one of the most important artists on the current Cuban & Spanish music scene. In spite of his young age, he boasts a fairly extensive career as drummer, producer, composer & arranger. Olivera presents us with his new work, Oasis, a live album which is characterised by its gaiety, force and the Cuban touch; a clear demonstration of the experience of the artist and his accompanying musicians, all leaders of their own respective groups.

Band Members:
Miron Rafajlovic: Trumpet
Rafael Águila Arteaga: Saxophone
Jorge Moreno del Barco: Trombone
David Sancho Mangas: Piano & Keyboard
Miryam Latrece Sánchez Roldán: Vocals
Yarel Hernández Espinosa: Bass
Víctor Manuel González Aceituno: Percussion
Michael Olivera García: Drums, Vocals & Direction

Nalaya Brown (Tenerife, 19 November 1983) is considered as one of the greatest electronic music vocalists around today. Highly sought after in Ibiza (Spain) since the year 2006, her style has influences of rhythm & blues, jazz, soul & Latin music. Composer-songwriter, her first hit was in 2008 at the ‘SuperMartXé’ festive occasion, a dance theme that was broadcast on radio networks all around Europe & South America. In Spain she has attained three number 1 ratings on national radio featuring electronic music, with her compositions SuperMartXé, Don’t Stop till you get enough and Let you go. Loved and admired by LGBT fans, Nalaya has sung at the best Gay festivals in the world, including  ‘Europride’ in Rome 2011, where she was the opening turn for the Lady Gaga show. She is currently working on a personal project, recording an album in which, at the end of the year, we can hope to uncover the most intimate side of the artist.

Band Members:
Natalia Rodríguez: Vocals
Shayan Fathi: Drums
Iván Ruiz Machado: Bass
Jorge Javier Maleta Sánchez: Piano

With three of his own discs on the market, Tiempos de búsqueda (New Mood Jazz 2008), Plan B (Youkali Music 2010) and Saxual (Youkali Music 2014), Iñaki Arakistain has become a musician with an extensive career path, whose standing has been recognised both by the specialised press as well as other artists who have collaborated and/or shared the stage with him. Arakistain  opens us to a musical concept unprecedented until now in Spain made by a saxophonist, in which Groove music coexists with influences from Brazilian music, Latin Funk, as well as recently merging Flamenco with those styles; thus enriching its new projects united by the common language of jazz. In his facet as a jazz artist, he has played and shared the stage with musicians of the calibre of Jayme Marques, Miguel Blanco, Jerry González, Danilo Peréz, Sean Levitt, Mark Redford, Jean Marie Ekay, Benny Green, Lewis Nasch and many more.

Band Members:
Iñaki Arakistain: Soprano & Tenor Saxophones
Cristina Morales: Percussion & Vocals
Víctor Alonso: Keyboard
Santi Greco: Bass
Valentín Iturat: Drums
Israel Sandoval: Electric & Spanish Guitar

Ida Nielsen is a Danish bass player (and multi-instrumentalist & composer) who is mostly known for the honourable task of holding down the low end for the legendary artist Prince. She joined his band NPG (New Power Generation) in 2010 and started touring the world, staging concert after concert. In 2013, she formed part of the rockband “3rdeyegirl”, a group which Prince toured with in the year 2014, when he returned to the recording studio Warner Music; and she stayed with him till his tragic & untimely death in April 2016. Following the release of her third solo album turnitup (Autumn 2016), she literally has been touring the world with her sensational band and she is currently working on her fourth solo album, on which she (like on all the others) produces, programmes and (except for the live drums) plays almost everything herself.

Band Members:
Ida Nielsen: bass & vocals
Mika Vandborg: Guitar & vocals
Phong Thanh Le: Keyboard & vocals
Patrick Dorcean: Percussion & electronics
Martin Andre Hadland Son of Light: Rap

Simbeque Project continues being immersed in its core essence: delving deeply into the folklore of the Canary Islands paying special attention to the purest sounds of Canarian culture, while always maintaining the defence of contemporaneity and without losing sight of the notion of its internationalization; as was successfully done with other folklore, like the genre ‘son cubano’, Brazilean music and flamenco. They will present numbers from their disc Vol. II, featuring a repertoire that doesn’t comply with a preconceived idea. As well as wanting to complete the circle giving enough attention to themes pertinent to each & every island of the Archipelago, the guidelines were the possible voices & sounds that the originals rendered in the achievement of the ‘simbequean sound’ in this process of finalising and providing the group’s personal hallmark.

Band Members:
Miguel Manescau: Guitars & Musical Direction
Yul Ballesteros: Guitar
Jonay González Mesa: Guitar
José Alberto Medina: Keyboards & Piano
Beatriz Alonso: Vozcals
Roberto Domínguez: Electric Bass
Akior García: Drums
Luis Suárez: Percussion
Norberto Arteaga: Saxophones & EWI
Gustavo Gamaza: Tenor Sax
Idafe Pérez: Trumpet

Naughty Professor is an iconoclastic New Orleans-based jazz-funk sextet whose recordings and high-energy live performances have earned them an enthusiastic fan base, critical acclaim, and widespread attention from their musical peers. Weaving together complex, inventive compositions and loose, organic improvisation, the band pays tribute to their hometown’s jazz, R&B and brass-band traditions, while looking to the future. The band raises the stakes based on its origins for its latest album Identity (2017). Whereas their prior four releases showcased the group’s knack for self-contained instrumental experimentation, Identity finds the band teaming with a stellar assortment of more than a dozen cutting-edge collaborators, whose vocal, instrumental and compositional contributions expand the music into new musical territory.

Band Members:
Bill Daniel: Guitar
Noah Young: Bass
Sam Shahin: Drums
Nick Ellman: Alto & Baritone Saxophones
Ian Bowman: Tenor Sax
John Culbreth: Trumpet

Twentyseven year-old guitarrist Julian Lage, born in California and now resident in New York, has collaborated with such musical giants as Gary Burton, Jim Hall, David Grisman, Béla Fleck & Charles Lloyd. He has released three albums as band leader, the most recent at the World’s Fair this year, and some others playing in duo configurations with Wilco’s guitarrist Nels Cline, pianist Fred Hersch and the Punch Brothers’ guitarrist, Chris Eldridge. In spite of his young age, he already boasts a career curriculum any artist twice his age would be proud to have. Some critics have placed Lage above certain jazz guitar legends, such as Bill Frisell, John Scofield & Pat Metheny. But Lage maintains his humility & honesty when responding to these comparisons, “Those people are my heroes and I try to keep all things in perspective,” he says. “I want to build on a modern definition of what it means to be a jazz guitarist. It’s a really diverse discipline, but I feel like we’re in a beautiful stage for improvised music in general.”

Band Members:
Julian Lage:  guitar
Eric Boob: drums
Jorge Roeder: contrabass

CMS is a new group by the Canarian saxophonist, composer & arranger Claudio Marrero, now resident in the city of Barcelona. This new venture undertaken by the Canarian musician is loaded with pure energy and feeling. In the presentation album of this new idea he expresses through its music the experiences, adventurous, musical & personal experiences during these last few years in Barcelona. In musical terms, the compositions are inspired by the new musical trends which revolve around more current jazz; like hip-hop, electronic music, classical music, etc.

Band Members:
Emilio Martín: Electric Bass
Pierre Haessler: Drums
Tomás Fosch: Piano & Rhodes
Pere Navarro: Trumpet
Claudio Marrero: Tenor Sax, Flute & Synthesizer

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