Inside the Centro Cultural La Plaza de 31 y 2

ENGLISH: During JoJazz 2017, Bill Tilford also had the opportunity to visit the Centro Cultural La Plaza de 31 y 2, which contains the excellent new Casa de la Música Plaza. For a look inside, here are two photo galleries with commentary:
ESPAÑOL: Durante JoJazz 2017, Bill Tilford tuve también la oportunidad de visitar al Centro Cultural La Plaza de 31 y 2, que contiene la nueva y excelente Casa de la Música Plaza. Para un tur virtual, aquí están dos galerías de fotos con comentarios:

Inside the Centro Cultural La Plaza de 31 y 2, Part 1
Inside the Centro Cultural La Plaza de 31 y 2, Part 2

Tuesday, 02 January 2018, 11:50 PM

ENGLISH: Bill Tilford attended the 20th Anniversary of the Concurso de jóvenes jazzistas (JoJazz 2017) in Havana, Cuba in November at the invitation of the National Center of Popular Music (CNMP). More than merely a competition for Cuba's finest young Jazz talent, it also provides a glimpse of things to come in Jazz in Cuba. We are pleased to present the most comprehensive look at JoJazz that you will find anywhere outside of Cuba (possibly inside for that matter - it includes a couple of hundred photos). For the article, documents and several photo galleries with commentaries,
CLICK HERE.
ESPAÑOL: Bill Tilford asistió al 20 aniversario del Concurso de jóvenes jazzistas (JoJazz 2017) en La Habana, Cuba en noviembre por invitación del Centro Nacional de Música Popular (CNMP). Más que una mera competencia para el mejor talento joven de Jazz de Cuba, también ofrece una idea de lo que vendrá en Jazz en Cuba. Nos complace presentar la mirada más completa de JoJazz que encontrará en cualquier lugar fuera de Cuba (posiblemente dentro también, porque incluye un par de cientos de fotos). Para el artículo, documentos y varias galerías de fotos con comentarios,
HAGA CLIC AQUÍ.

COMING SOON:

ENGLISH: The 33rd Festival International Jazz Plaza will be taking place in Havana from the 17th to the 21st of January using several locations (as always) including Teatro Mella, Jardines del Mella, CIDMUC, Casa de la Cultura de Plaza, and the clubs and hotels always have late night presentations as well. There is a nice website dedicated to the festival this year:
CLICK HERE FOR THE OFFICIAL JAZZ PLAZA WEBSITE
ESPAÑOL: La 33ª edición del Festival International Jazz Plaza tendrá lugar en La Habana del 17 al 21 de enero en varios lugares (como siempre) incluyendo Teatro Mella, Jardines del Mella, CIDMUC, Casa de la Cultura de Plaza, y los clubes y los hoteles siempre tienen presentaciones nocturnas también. Hay un sitio web, bilingüe y bien hecho, dedicado al festival este año.
HAGA CLIC AQUÍ PARA EL SITIO WEB OFICIAL DE JAZZ PLAZA

Tuesday, 05 September 2017, 06:30 PM

Miami, Florida, Saturday, September 9:
Sintesis, one of Cuba's most important Afrocuban Fusion groups, will be performing at Copper Fest at the Museum of Contemporary Art, 770 Northeast 125th Street, North Miami, Florida.. They are the last of four bands and the festival and are scheduled for 9pm. Degnis Bofill, one of Cuba's most impressive young percussionists (and a 2016 JoJazz winner as a soloist) will be on tour with them. More details about Copper Fest can be found on the Copper Fest web page.

New York, Saturday, September 9:
Albertico Lescay will be playing with Arturo O'Farrill and Blitz at the 4th Annual Music on Southern Blvd Festival (Southern Boulevard and 163rd St, NYC) at 12:30 in the afternoon. More information is available at the Casita Maria website. This is an excellent opportunity to hear Albertico, one of Cuba's rising young Jazz and NuJazz artists who is visiting a few cities in the Eastern US. He has been collaborating with a few groups while here, and one hopes that we will eventually be able to see his ensemble, Formas, perform in the United States.
As for Arturo O'Farrill, he has been doing a lot of impressive work both in the studio and on stage with musicians from Cuba and may now have the most extensive current resume of such projects among Jazz musicians in the US.

Palm Springs, California, Saturday, October 14:
Most of Chuchito Valdes' recent outings in the US have been with a trio, this is an opportunity to hear him with percussionists Calixto Oviedo and Luis Conte as well as Diego Figueirdo, Carol Welsman and Geraldo Aguillon. More information and tickets can be found at tickets.psmuseum.org.

Chuchito Valdés, incidentally, will soon release a new album, Sueño que te beso, in collaboration with Juan Poch. More on this in the future.

Tuesday, 15 August 2017, 06:39 PM

Chuchito Valdes, who has graced these pages many times in recent years, is currently on tour in the US, and his next performance is at the Jazz At Five festival on the corner of State and Mifflin Streets in Madison, Wisconsin on Wednesday, August 16 at 4:00-8:00pm. You can find more information about this free concert at the Jazz at Five Event Page
Chuchito will also be releasing a new album very soon, Sueño que te beso. This is a collaborative project with Spanish composer Juan Poch, and it will be something of a departure from Chuchito's earlier recorded work. Chuchito tells us that with the state of heightened tensions in the word right now, he wanted to release something a little mellower to help send a message of peace. We'll have more about the album when it is ready for release (it is still in its final stages).
Finally, there is now a Chuchito Valdes website, chuchitovaldes.com

Brenda Navarrete will soon release her debut solo album Mi Mundo, with the digital release coming in September and the physical CD after the first of the year. At the moment she is on tour in Canada with performances on Friday August 18 at Hugh's Room in Toronto (details and tickets here) and at the Markham Jazz Festival at the MacKay Art Centre on Sunday, August 20 (details here)

(Photo courtesy David Pye)