Eight top-class jazz musicians and their bands near the end of June in Poreč!
In less than two months, Poreč will be the host to the top jazz musicians for the fourth time in a row and become the center of world jazz for five days! Valamar Jazz Festival, under the direction of Tamara Obrovac, will be held from June 25 to June 29 at several town landmarks. It is our pleasure to announce that the main festival program has been decided upon and made public – eight different, world famous musicians and their bands will be your special jazz treat the last week of June in Poreč.
The main program features eight different, world-known artists and their bands. Eddie Palmieri is one of the great icons of salsa and Latin jazz music. Over the past five decades, Eddie has released 36 albums and has received nine Grammy Awards for his contribution to world music. In Poreč, Eddie Palmieri will perform with his Afro-Carribean Jazz All Stars, one of the most energetic American latin-jazz and salsa bends.
Renaud Garcia-Fons, French composer and virtuoso on double bass, is famous for his absolutely unique way of playing, which has earned him a great number of admirers around the world. Striving to expand the scope of his instrument’s performance that would allow him greater improvisation, he added the fifth string to his double bass, and then combined his invention with his arco and pizzicato techniques.
The choice of instrument for Indian musician Trilok Gurtu, who started playing as a child with his mother, turned out to be a result of pure coincidence. Trilok Gurtu moves so effortlessly between different musical worlds. His sense of musical direction is very complex and his spirituality and non-judgmental empathy for different cultures has lead him on an unending search for new ways to express himself on the solid foundation of authentic traditions.
Ayşe Tütüncü is a Turkish pianist who is well known to the Turkish audience, but less familiar to ours. This year’s Festival is therefore an opportunity for us to meet contemporary Turkish music that blends jazz, classical, and Turkish traditional sound.
Mo’ Blow is one of the best German club bands which masterfully combines soul, funk and jazz. In ten years of its existence, this energetic quartet has gained quite a reputation among clubgoers in a series of tours across Germany, England, Russia, Belgium, Poland and Denmark.
Marcin Wasilewski, Slawomir Kurkiewicz and Michal Miskiewicz are undoubtedly one of the most exciting jazz piano trio in Europe, if not the world – Marcin Wasilewski Trio. After five albums recorded for a local label and a series of Polish musical awards, since 2004 to this day they have recorded three albums for the prestigious EMC label.
Poreč will also welcome already announced Billy Childs, perhaps the most sought after jazz composer, arranger, and piano player at the moment, who will bring along his All Star Quartet. Buster Williams, an icon of modern jazz with over fifty years of performing history, will light the town up with his Something More quartet.
Accommodation will be just as exquisite; the Festival sponsor Valamar Hotels & Resorts offers you an array of hotels and camps to pick from. For this special occasion, you can book one of the packages that include hotel accommodation at Valamar Riviera, Valamar Club Tamaris, Valamar Rubin, or Fortuna Island, and tickets for all Festival performances. Details on the packages and booking are available at www.valamar.com/en/jazz-festival.
