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Azerbaijan: Baku Caspian Jazz and Blues Festival 2003
Caspian Jazz and Blues Festival 2003
As in 2002, this year's oncerts were a resounding success. A live audience of over 8000 was reached in four evenings of concerts at the Republican Palace and many more through subsequent re-broadcast of all concerts on Space Television.
Headline artist Maynard Ferguson took Baku by storm and, together with the debut of the Baku Big Band, put on an evening that will long be remembered in Azerbaijan.
Other festival highlights included Deborah Carter and Mike Del Ferro Trio's immensely popular rendition in Azeri of Tofig Guliyev's popular songs, the stunning virtuosity and Jazz/Mugham fusion of the Norwegian multi-instrumentalist Stian Carstensen, Sabina Rakcheyeva's Azeri debut as a jazz violinist and the heartthrobs of the festival, the 'New Cool Collective'of Amsterdam.
Other featured performances included the Okay Temiz Quartet from Istanbul, Vagif Sadikhov Quintet from Moscow and the Azeri Jazz Night with its striking new talent - Emil Mammedov Trio and Emil Ibrahim-oglu Quartet.
Speaking of highlights, perhaps the biggest source of pride to all involved was the debut of the Baku Big Band. Under the expert guidance of Werner Englert of Germany's Sax'n Hop group, the Baku Big Band put on a great show that not only warmed up the public for Maynard Ferguson and his band, but also proved that Baku does have ample young talent eager to perform in a Big Band ensemble. Stay tuned for future performances of the Baku Big Band and please check out the photos below of Baku's latest addition to its jazz scene.
This year's workshops were focused on ensemble playing and Jazz with Azeri National Instruments. The Baku Big Band and Mike Schweizer's Jazz Ensembles at BulBul were immensely popular with students from throughout the city. In addition, the violin made its debut as a jazz instrument with Sabina Rakcheyeva's workshops at the BulBul academy.
Stian Carstensen's workshop focused on young guitarists and preparing performances together with the Azeri Garmon (see photo) and traditional drumming culminating in an exciting performance on the main stage of the festival on opening night. American Voices is currently planning further projects to support Jazz and traditional instruments in Azerbaijan for 2004.
Deborah Carter's workshops for young singers was a very well-attended affair at the Jazz Club. All of the workshop students and faculty came together at the Baku Jazz Club for a performance of Young Azeri Jazz Stars on Saturday May 17th. American Voices is planning more similar events focusing on youth jazz education in Azerbaijan - stay tuned...
The festival was opened by Ambassador Ross Wilson and the Minister of Culture. Without the support of our sponsors (see photos of banners) and our volunteers (see photos) none of this would have been possible. To all of you who helped make this great event possible - THANK YOU!
American Voices returns from India, Afghanistan and Thailand
