METHENY – HADEN. A DUO MADE IN HEAVEN

Last night Pat Metheny and Charlie Haden performed to full house at the Morlacchi Theatre. 
The audience gave the artists an enthusiastic welcome when they took on the stage at the Theatre.
Metheny and Haden are the most accomplished and talented players of their respective instruments in the world and together they formed a formidable and magical unit. 
They presented a concert as part of the “Beyond the Missouri Sky” project where they created a unique and magical atmosphere.
The concert is repeated at the Sala Podiani of the Gallery of Umbria on the 20th and again at the Morlacchi on the 21st.

(by Giovanni Serrazanetti)

CHICK COREA

Chick Corea presented a solo concert 19 July at the Teatro Turreno that paid tribute to masters of the jazz piano tradition that influenced his creative development and that also made clear not only why he is one of contemporary music’s leading improvising artists but also so popular with audiences around the world. Corea dedicated the first two selections, George Gershwin’s “Someone To Watch Over Me” and “Armando’s Rhumba,” to his father, who introduced him to jazz as a child, and then paid tribute to three of the most important figures in modern jazz with performances of Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Lady,” Thelonious Monk’s “Blue Monk,” “Monk’s Dream” and “’Round Midnight” and Bud Powell’s “Dusk In The Standee” and “Oblivion.” ...continua

(by Mitchell Feldman)

AVISHAI COHEN & INTERNATIONAL VAMP BAND 

Avishai Cohen, the talented young bassist in pianist Chick Corea’s Origin ensemble, mostly plays piano in his International Vamp Band, a sextet that made its debut in February 2001 at the Jazz Gallery in New York. The band, which appeared at the Teatro Turreno 19 July after a solo concert by Corea, performed selections from Unity, Cohen’s fourth recording for Corea’s label Stretch and a project he conceived as a prayer for peace, particularly in his native Israel. Cohen’s music is notable for combining the various musical styles that have influenced him which range from traditional Sephardic melodies from the Middle East to Latin rhythms, classical music and modern jazz improvisations... continua

(by Mitchell Feldman)

CLAUDIA ACUÑA

Last night at 6:00 pm Claudia Acuña made her debut performance for this years edition of Umbria Jazz in front of a passionate audience at the Santa Cecilia Auditorium. Her last appearance at UJ was in 2000 and today she is in Perugia as leader of a quintet composed of talented New Yorker musicians. She presented a selection from her last recording for the Verve label, titled “Wind from the South”. The Chilean singer creates a unique sound which is created from a mix of South American styles with many other influences from the New York Area...continua

(by Giovanni Serrazanetti)

GIANNI COSCIA
During the press conference Egea Records held at the Hotel Brufani on Saturday morning 20 July, Umbria Jazz Artistic Director Carlo Pagnotta joked that the Perugia-based label had banished the drum set from its recordings as effectively as Gerry Mulligan got rid of the keyboard in his famous “piano-less” quartet with Chet Baker. And it’s true that with the exception of ethnic instruments like the tambourine, percussion is a rarity on Egea recordings. Yet this hasn’t stopped the artists whose projects the label lovingly curates from coming up with highly unusual and always intriguing formations.
The quartet Gianni Coscia led later that day at the Oratorio Santa Cecelia during the fourth in the series of five noontime concerts...continua

(by Mitchell Feldman)

BERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC
In 1985 the famous double-bass player, composer and arranger Giovanni Tommaso invited the Berkley College of Music to the Umbria Jazz festival for the first time. Together they organized a school department of jazz music which continues to be held during the Festival to this day. 
Today, 17 years after their first appearance at UJ, the Berkley school has become one of the most important aspects of Umbria Jazz.
The school, which has over the years educated many important jazz musicians such as Joe Zawinul, John Scofield, Keith Jarret, Bill Frisell, and Gary Burton, has this year received more than 200 hundred students from every part of the world.
... continua

(by Giovanni Serrazanetti)