Granada Jazz festival celebrates 40th anniversary

Granada will become the jazz centre of Europe this autumn thanks to a programme "full of soul" that will premiere at the Federico García Lorca Centre and has been designed to commemorate forty years of the festival

Over the past four decades, figures such as Miles Davis, Oscar Peterson, Herbie Hancock, Art Blakey, Tete Montoliu, Dizzy Gillespie, Wayne Shorter, Diana Krall, Bebo and Chucho Valdés, Stanley Clarke, among others, have passed through the Jazz Festival.

The "exquisitely intellectual" Fred Hersch Trio will kick off the festival on November 1st, bringing their experience of more than three decades of performance, 40 recordings and countless awards such as "Best Jazz Group" by DownBeat Critics Poll.

The director of the Festival, Mariché Huertas, and the Councillor for Culture, Lucía Garrido, today officially presented the programme that also includes performances and activities "in parallel", in which more than 80 establishments participate.

This year's festival will pay "deserved tribute" to Celia Mur, one of Spain's biggest jazz stars who passed away recently, with a special concert scheduled for November 2nd and led by the guitarist and director of the Big Band from Granada, Kiko Aguado.

On November 3rd, the Isabel la Católica Theatre will host a performance by Israeli musician Eli Degibri, admired by the jazz icon Herbie Hancok and one of the boldest performers of the new jazz generation.

The festival's main programme will continue on November 7th with a concert by Charles McPherson, the saxophonist responsible for the soundtrack of the movie 'Bird', directed by Clint Eastwood, a tribute to the life and music of Charlie Parker.

The sensuality and elegance that Lizz Wright's voice brings by mixing soul, gospel and jazz will make November 8th one of the biggest sell-outs of the festival, with Anthony Strong, known for his obvious similarities with Jaime Cullum and Michael Bublé, drawing the crowds the following night.

For the second year in a row, the festival incorporates a charitable aspect thanks to Obra Social la Caixa's sponsorship of Los Funktástico Viajes de Pepo, a didactic concert aimed at especially vulnerable children and children with disabilities which takes place on November 3rd.

Photo: American jazz songstress Lizz Wright