[NYTr] Cuba: First but not Last Varadero Jazz Festival Wraps Up
 
Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2007 18:09:33 -0500 (CDT)

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First but not Last Varadero Jazz Festival Wraps Up

Havana, September 10 (acn) The first Varadero Jam Session said "au 
revoir" on Sunday after delighting jazz lovers for four days in Cuba's 
most renowned beach.

Several generations of jazz musicians headed by the emblematic jazz 
star Chucho Valdes shared the stage of the festival focused on the jam 
session, known in Cuba as "descargas".

The Chucho Valdes Quartet, featuring percussionists Yaroldi Abreu and 
Juan Carlos (El Peje) Rojas, and double-bassist Lazaro (El Fino) Rivero 
alongside Chucho Valdes on piano packed the Plaza America's auditorium 
at the festival's opening concert with guest blues singer Lazaro Morua, 
trumpet players Yasek Manzano and Reinaldo Melian (Molote), guitarist 
Elmer Ferrer, and Sexto Sentido.

The Cuban jazz dynasty was well represented night after night by the 
sounds of pianist Ernan Lopez Nusa, jazzman Bobby Carcasses and his son 
Roberto Julio, and flutist Jose Luis Cortes, among others.

The afternoons were dedicated to the younger generation of musicians 
including pianist Alejandro Vargas, trumpeter Yasek Manzano and Habana 
Ensemble, led by saxophonist Cesar Lopez.

"Cuban is a power house in jazz, with excellent musicians and an 
abundance of tasty rhythms, tumbaos and montunos," said Chucho shortly 
before the festival's opening concert.

The Varadero Jam Session, organized by the Cuban Ministries of Culture 
and Tourism, will take place annually in September as a local 
complement to the Havana Jazz Plaza Festival with more than two decades 
of tradition gathering together some of the best jazz musicians from 
around the world.

The president of the Cuban Institute of Music told Granma that this 
year Jazz Plaza returns to its original timetable in February, with 
concerts at the Plaza Culture House and the Amadeo Roldan Theater.
 
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