Jazz Bridges
About the Jazz Bridges project:
Jazz Bridges was originally designed to bring together outstanding musicians from the United States and Burma in a fusion of instruments, musical styles and talent. The idea originated during American Voices' first visit to Myanmar in August of 2001 in a program featuring performances of American music for Rangoon audiences, donations of music scores and workshops and seminars in American music and composers. However, once we had heard the great musical traditions and instruments of Burmese classical and traditional music, the idea was born to return and perform together.
Since the first Jazz Bridges project in Burma in 2002, American Voices has taken this concept to Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and soon to Afghanistan.
The recordings features not only what each solo artist or ensemble does best in their own genres, but also the results of many days of exciting experimentation with American and local musical traditions.
The resulting recordings in Burma, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Afghanistan are, to our knowledge, the first of their kind in this genre.
Read the Downbeat article about Jazz Bridges Afghanistan 'Swinging Afghanistan'.