The Jazz Festival that really is a Jazz Festival returns once again!
The Miami Beach Jazz Festival brings you Jazz and only pure Jazz! This year’s performance highlights the “Living Legends Of Jazz” and features: Bucky Pizzarelli, Monty Alexander, Rufus Reid, Giacomo Gates, Aria Hendricks and Federico Britos, all performing individual sets and then combining for one mind-blowing jam! Scheduled for Saturday, January 10th, 2015 at the intimate New World Center for the Arts, 500 17th Street on Miami Beach, the event promises to capture the excitement of fans throughout South Florida and bey”This is a music festival that can truly call itself ‘Jazz’,” says event founder and producer, Carmen J. Cartiglia. “The Miami Beach Jazz Festival showcases performances from exceptional true jazz artistFor more than six decades, the legendary Bucky Pizzarelli has had a stellar career. His superior mastery of the seven-string guitar is unparalleled and he has developed a very personal style that sets him apart. The list of big bands and vocalists with whom Bucky has performed and recorded reads like a veritable Who’s Who of Jazz. In a career spanning five decades, pianist Monty Alexander has built a reputation exploring the worlds of American jazz, popular song, and the music of his native Jamaica, finding in each a sincere spirit of musical expression. In the process, he has performed and recorded with artists from every corner of the musical universe: Frank Sinatra, Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Clark Terry, Quincy Jones, Sly Dunbar, and Robbie Shakespeare, among many others.
Rufus Reid’s began his major professional career in Chicago and continued in New York City. Playing with hundreds of the world’s greatest musicians, he is famously the bassist that saxophonist Dexter Gordon chose when he returned to the states from his decade-long exile in Denmark. His colleagues include Thad Jones, Nancy Wilson, Eddie Harris, and Bob Berg.
Giacomo Gates does more than sing “a bunch of songs.” He is truly an entertainer, for all ages and styles, as audiences enjoy the music, the interaction on the bandstand between him and his musicians, the spontaneity, the humor, the stories about the music and composers, along with their relation to everyday life. Blessed with a full-bodied and mellifluous voice, extraordinary rhythmic precision and an unerring sense of lyricism, Gates’ total command of the vernacular, boundless creativity and exuberant passion set him apart from nearly every other vocalist on the scene.
Aria Hendricks is a New York City based singer who specializes in the jazz styles of Swing and Be-bop. At the tender age of three weeks old she was taken to the Village Gate where her father, legendary jazz vocalist, Jon Hendricks was performing. “It was an unwritten rule in my family that when you turned seven, you had to go on stage and sing with dad. He would write a song based on your favorite nursery rhyme and the older siblings would sing background. When the time came, I was quite literally pushed out on stage by my mother. It was at Ronnie Scott’s iconic jazz club in London”. Since then, Aria has appeared all over the world in all the major jazz clubs and festivals including venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center. Aria has performed nationally and internationally at such venues as: Montreaux Jazz Festival, Umbria Jazz Festival, Playboy Jazz Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, London Jazz Festival and many more.
Federico began playing violin at age five. Serving as principal chair, soloist, and ultimately Concertmaster with some of the great symphony orchestras of Uruguay, Venezuela, Peru and Cuba, Federico has toured extensively throughout the Americas and Europe. As a composer, Federico has written and recorded many works for orchestra, chamber ensemble, ballet and dance. He has also composed music for film, TV and theater. He is currently Concertmaster of the Miami Symphony Orchestra. Federico would, in time, perform with some of Latin America’s greatest musicians, such as Joao Gilberto and Cachao.
From now through October 31st, student musicians and bands from all over South Florida will be able to apply for a competition that could lead them to be chosen as the opening act for the Festival and an appearance at the prestigious Saulkrasti Jazz Festival in Latvia/ July 2015. Applications for the Miami Beach Student Competition powered by Juicee are available at the website: www.miamibeachjazz.com. Additionally Master Classes will be offered to students during the week before the concert.
There will also be a series of Thursday Night Concerts at the Raleigh Hotel at 1775 Collins Avenue on Miami Beach leading up to the Festival. Performances are scheduled for October 16th,November 20th, December 18th and January 8th.
“We’re bringing the people of South Florida a true Jazz event that they can be proud of!” Mr. Cartiglia goes on to say that “this is the second year of an annual Jazz festival that will continue to grow and establish Miami Beach as the home for ‘True Jazz’ and the revival Jazz is enjoying.”
Tickets for the Festival are $46.50 and $56.50 in advance for Reserved Seats and $56.50 and $66.50 at the door. Student Reserved Seat tickets are $21.50 and $31.50 in advance and $31.50 and $41.50 at the door. There is also a limited number of VIP tickets available that include special features and entrance to the exclusive after party with the musicians. Tickets are on sale now atnewworldcenter.com or call 305 405-JAZZ (5299).
All dates, acts and ticket prices are subject to change without notice. All tickets are subject to applicable taxes, parking and service and handling charges. All sales are final
The Festival is being sponsored by: Steinway & Sons, City Hall the Restaurant, Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau, New World Center, Thierry’s Catering, Juicee and the Saulkrasti Jazz Festival.
For more information go to www.miamibeachjazz.com or call: (305)405-JAZZ (5299).