This year’s Malta Jazz Festival is being hailed as the most eclectic to date.
Musicians from Brazil, Jamaica, the Middle East, the Mediterranean and Africa will perform numbers including American jazz, reggae, samba and bossa-nova.
The festival opens with Benin guitarist Lionel Loueke, a Blue Note recording artist and a frequent collaborator of Herbie Hancock. His particular blend of jazz and African elements will be followed by Monty Alexander and the Harlem-Kingston Express.
In a career spanning five decades, Monty has built a reputation exploring and bridging the worlds of American jazz and reggae, the music of his native Jamaica.
Contemporary cutting-edge New York jazz artist Ambrose Akinmusire, another Blue Note recording artist and a winner of the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition will feature in a double-bill with the charismatic Brazilian legend João Bosco, a must for lovers of samba, bossa-nova and MPB.
Another familiar name on the New York scene featuring this year at the Malta Jazz Festival is sax player Seamus Blake, another laureate of the Thelonious Monk competition, who will be presenting his new electro/groove project featuring drummer Jorge Rossy.
The festival will close with virtuoso bass-player/vocalist Avishai Cohen, whose blend of jazz, Mediterranean and Middle-Eastern influences has made him a prominent figure in world of jazz today.
Local talent will be represented by vocalist Nadine Axisa, the Argotti Jazz Ensemble (with musical direction by Dominic Galea) and the quintet of guitarist Marc Galea (featuring saxophone player Robin Nicaise).
The festival will be held at Ta’ Liesse, Valletta on July 14, 15 and 16. It is organised by the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts under the artistic direction of jazz musician Sandro Zerafa. For further information, visit www.maltajazzfestival.org or e-mail info@maltajazzfestival.org.
The lineup
July 14
Nadine Axisa Band
Lionel Loueke
Monty Alexander Harlem
Kingston Express
July 15
Argotti Jazz Ensemble
Ambrose Akinmusire
João Bosco
July 16
Marc Galea Quintet
Seamus Blake
Avishai Cohen ‘Seven Seas’