The 43rd Voll-Damm Barcelona International Jazz Festival | Oct. 16th-Dec. 1st, 2011

This 40 day marathon has something for everyone with more than 60 concerts and artists not just from Italy, which will be featured in a festival within a festival from November 7th to the 14th, but also Luísa Sobral from Portugal, Marcin Wasilewski from Poland, The Pepper Pots from Catalonia and 16-year-old sensation Andrea Motis from Barcelona, as well as Paolo Conte, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Jaques Morelenbaum, Tigran Hamasyan Trio and a concert with the Sant Andreu Jazz Band, a big band comprised of members who range in age from seven to nineteen, with special guests Jesse Davis, Terrell Stafford and Wycliffe Gordon, among many others.

Umbria Jazz and Barcelona International Jazz have formed a new partnership titled in Italian Umbria Jazz Barcelona. These two respected festivals feel it is important to support musical culture and one of  the most exciting jazz scenes in Europe. Italy is a big country with many influences and a vibrant and lively jazz scene. The festival will present world caliber Italian Jazz performers in a week long celebration from November 7th to the 14th. Featured are Danilo Rea with Flavio Boltro, Gabriele Mirabassi Trio, Giovanni Guidi and Gianluca Petrella, Enrico Rava Tribe, Omar Sosa with Paolo Fresu, and Stefano Bollani.

 
On November 18th at the Mandarin Hotel there will be a special dinner prepared by Carme Ruscalleda and a solo concert by Alfredo Rodríguez. Ruscalleda is the only female chef in the world to have earned six Michelin stars for her restaurants in Spain and Tokyo, and heads with her son Raül Balam the kitchen at Moments Restaurant in the Mandarin Hotel Barcelona.  

 Maria Schneider

The Gold Medal Prize, which has become an honored tradition of the Barcelona Jazz Festival, will be awarded to Maria Schneider. She has the distinction of being the first female and youngest person to receive this annual award now in it’s 4th year. Previous honorees have been Bebo Valdés, Wayne Shorter and Sonny Rollins. “I like to think Maria’s orchestra and her musicians are like the Duke Ellington Orchestra of our time,” states artistic director Joan Cararach. In the last seven years she has played four times at the festival and Barcelona can’t get enough of her lyrical and inspired compositions.

The festival will present three highly anticipated programs at the world renowned Monvínic, which the Wall Street Journal proclaimed as “the best wine bar in the world.” DownBeat magazine will present a Blindfold and Winefold test moderated by journalist Ted Panken and JazzTimes will present a Before & After with alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa moderated by Ashley Kahn.
 
The third event, will be the “Omar Sosa Monvínic Experience”  with eight wines and winemakers chosen by the six sommeliers at Monvínic:
 
Heretat Mont Rubí HMR (Penedès) Josep Queralt
Celler Pardas (Penedès) Ramon Parera
Recaredo (cava) Ton Mata
López de Heredia (Rioja) M. José López de Heredia
Quinta da Muradella (Monterrei) José Luis Mateo
Emilio Hidalgo (Jerez) Juan Manuel Martín Hidalgo
Casa Castillo (Jumilla) José María Vicente
Mas d’en Gil (Priorat) Marta Rovira

Original music composed by Omar Sosa, his melodies will be inspired and in the spirit of the wines.
 
November 2nd at 7:30 at the Hotel Gran Havana Barcelona will be opening night for Michael Weintraub’s exhibit INSTRUMENTHEAD, a photographic series created to tell the story of the musicians in a surrealistic style without showing their faces. Some of the artists that have participated in this project to date are: Bootsy Collins (James Brown, P-Funk), Mickey Hart (Grateful Dead), King Sunny Ade, Tina Weymouth (Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club), Zakir Hussain (Shakti, Masters of Percussion), Lenny White (Miles Davis, Return to Forever), Bill Summers (Herbie Hancock and The Head Hunters), Derek Trucks (Allman Brothers Band), Peter Asher and many more.
 
Spain hosted their first professional jazz festival in 1966, it began with a concert at the historic Palau de la Música in Barcelona featuring pianist Dave Brubeck with his classical quartet. Despite surviving the turbulent times of the Franco dictatorship, the festival ceased operations in 1977 and 1980, which ironically were the first years of a democratic Spain. Since the late ’80s, the festival has been organized by The Project, a year round presenting organization whose efforts reach upwards of 300,000 people annually. The Project was founded in 1988 by producer Tito Ramoneda, who today serves as the organization’s president. In 2011, the festival celebrates its 43rd edition with around 400 musicians, again making the Barcelona Jazz Festival one of the largest and most ambitious jazz festivals in Europe.