A unique three days of world class jazz are being expected at this year's Jazz Festival which will feature influential artists as John Scofield, Brad Mehldau, Kurt Rosenwinkel and Miguel Zenon.

The festival, being organised by the Matla Council for Culture and the Arts, was launched today by Culture Minister Dolores Cristina.

Guitar legend John Scofield will be returing to the Malta Jazz Festival with The Piety Street Band, his latest project. With this new line-up, Scofield rediscovers his roots and delivers music which is heavily tinged with R&B, Blues and Gospel flavours. Brad Mehldau, a performer who has redefined the sound of the piano trio, is set to open the festival on July 16 and Sandro Zerafa, the festival's artistic director, assures that this will be one of the year’s highlights which will certainly return Malta to its former prestigious position on the European Jazz festival circuit.

For those less familiar with Jazz, the festival will offer Salsa and Afro-Cuban music performed by Grammy Award winning, virtuoso flutist, Orlando Maraca Valle. Hailing from Cuba, Maraca’s band is a must for lovers of danceable latin music, said Sandro Zerafa. Quality and eclecticism are the two main elements which characterise this year’s event, he pointed out, and great care has been taken to create a balanced line up which attracts the majority of musical tastes whilst still boasting the biggest names in the contemporary Jazz scene, he added.

As pointed out by Minister Cristina Maltese talent will be represented by Dominic Galea and Oliver Degabriele’s respective trios. Professional bass player Oliver Degabriele will be joined on staged by vocalist Alison Galea, whilst Dominic Galea will be be presenting a set of new compositions in the be-bop vein. Both groups will feature foreign musicians thus encouraging interaction between the local and foreign jazz scenes.

Award winning alto saxophonist Miguel Zenon, one of the leading voices in the New York Jazz scene will close the festival on July 18 following captivating Bossa Nova performances by Brazilian singer and pianist Eliane Elias as well as mesmerising Jazz guitar renditions by Kurt Rosenwinkel accompanied by Eric Revis and Rodney Green,

This year’s installment of the Jazz Festival, restored to its home at Ta’ Liesse, promises to reclaim the glory of past editions whilst keeping pace and not losing sight of major developments in the international contemporary Jazz scene.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.