Miguel Zenon Quartet, Danilo Perez Trio y Ana Carla Maza: They gave Latin flavor to the Bergamo Jazz Fest 2024!!

 

Miguel Zenon Quartet: Luis Perdomo (piano), Miguel (alto sax), Hans Glawischnig (double bass) and Dan Weiss (drums) at Teather Donizzetti.

Bergamo, located some 40 km (25 mi) northeast of Milan, is a beautiful city for a jazz festival. Or rather cities plural, as the medieval and fortified Città Alta (‘upper city’) located on a hill is very different from the solidly modern Città Bassa (‘lower city’).

In 1780 the Donizetti Theater was designed by the architect Giovanni Francesco Lucchini and at that time it was known as Teatro Nuovo or Teatro de Fiera.

After its destruction in 1897, its original architect redesigned it and it began to be called Donizetti Theater in honor of the famous composer and the centenary of his birth.
Adjacent to the monumental theater they gave life to a beautiful park in honor of Gaetano Donizetti.

Last week the Bergamo Jazz Festival 2024 was held on this important arts stage and the performances of the Latin guests received constant ovations.

The media also highlighted the fabulous musical art displayed by Miguel Zenon Quartet, Danilo Perez and Ana Carla Maza.

Miguel Zenon (as) and Luis Perdomo (p) who recently won the Grammy for the best Latin Jazz album with "El Arte del Bolero V 2" always very well identified with Hans Glawischnig (db) and Dan Weiss (d), provided a fiery set in which Latin jazz and bebop thrilled an audience thirsty for joy and color.

Zenón proved a generous leader, giving his band plenty of opportunities for solos. For example, the second number started as solo piano, joined by bass and drums for a trio performance only occasionally interspersed with melodic fragments from the saxophone. The Quartet showed manifest energy in their presentation and a great class rhythm section.

Danilo Perez (p), John Patitucci (db, eb) and Adam Cruz (d) began with a jaunty tune called ‘Whistle Through Adversity’, and other tunes included ‘Alternative Realities’ (dedicated to the activist Angela Davis) and ‘Beloved’ (dedicated to Toni Morrison). I was expecting a straight-ahead jazz set and we certainly got some of that, but the performance often strayed into fusion and rock territory: synth/organ textures, electric bass and driving drums on more energetic numbers; but electric bass carrying the melody underpinned by synth washes and subdued drums for a Wayne Shorter dedication called simply ‘Wayne’. Top-level musicianship all round – but for me the highlight was the encore, an expansive all-acoustic ‘Round Midnight’ of delicate piano, lovely bass solo and subtle brushwork.

Concert three was billed as ‘Caribe’ (the Spanish for ‘Caribbean’) and featured Ana Carla Maza (cello and voice) as leader, Norman Peplow (piano), Marc Ayza (drums) and Jay Kalo (percussion). Maza is a Cuban singer and classically trained cellist, but this concert was all about creating a pan-Caribbean musical experience: from the clavé rhythms of Cuba and Brazil, to bossa rhythms, to the reggae of Jamaica. Rhythm and dance being key, Maza often danced with her cello, plucking rather than bowing, as if her cello were a scaled-down double bass. Throughout the concert, she sang with gusto and an almost relentless cheerfulness. An early equipment malfunction meant that Peplow’s synth keyboard or laptop irretrievably failed to work, but the music worked just fine as purely acoustic.

Partway through the concert Maza made a very valid point: that despite her studying cello for more than 15 years in Paris, not once was it proposed that she play a composition by a woman – so she hoped that her next composition, ‘Astor Piazzolla’ (inspired of course by the great Argentinian composer best known for his tangos), would inspire other women. It therefore felt like a missed opportunity when she resorted to tricks more suited to a pop concert, such as instructing the audience to clap and sing along, and even to wave their phone torches in unison. It made me think of Vanessa-Mae only for jazz: a musician (and supporting band) of abundant talent who shouldn’t need such gimmicks. But most of the audience got into the spirit, rewarding the group with standing cheers and enough lights from phones to fill a planetarium.

It is an honor to have Ana Carla Maza as "Lady of Latin Jazz".

Viva The Latin Jazz!!

www.jazzcaribe.blogspot.com

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