The festival took place in Perugia in Umbria between 12-21 July as jazz lovers know. We had the opportunity to attend some of the events between 17-21 July due to our work schedule, even though we were aware of the detailed program of the festival. The information we will share here on the musicians and concerts will be from the eyes of a jazz lover and not from those of a musician as well as about the general pros and cons of the festival.
The city of Perugia in Umbria area has a population of 165000, consists of new and old parts, and is a 2.5 hour train ride from Rome.
The festival program between 12-21 July surprisingly presents so many jazz musicians that would outnumber those at Northsea, Montreaux and Marciac Festival in France. Add the non-jazz pop-rock concerts and the free gigs on the streets on top of this…
To name a few; Ray Gelato Giants, Allan Haris Band, Diana Krall (with Joe Lovano), Beny Green Trio, Veronica Swift, Fred Hersh Trio, Michel Camilo, Terence Blanchard, Kenny Barron, Chick Corea (The Spanish Heart Band), Richard Bono (a de la Frontera feat Antonio Rey), Joachim Kühn, Charles Lloyd, Paolo Fresu, Lars Danielsson, George Benson Enrico Rava 5tet (pay attention to pianist Giovanni Guidiy in the future), Peter Erskine, Eddie Gomez, Dodo Moroni trio, John Patuticci…
Many concerts outside the jazz genre, such as King Crimson, Snarky Puppy and Thom Yorke, concerts of jazz schools (Berklee, California Conservatoire, Philedelphia Jazz Orchestra, Missuori Jazz Orchestra)…
It is impossible to list all the Italian artists and other jazz-related events within this article alone…
The sponsors include the European Union, the European Union Culture Fund, Italian Airlines, Municipality of Perugia, Italian Red Cross and many others that add up to more than 40…
All of the events took place in the old city, high above the rest of the city with its untouched historical texture. The most important venues include 4 November Square, Santa Giuliana Arena, the park across Sina Brufani, open air stages and free concerts… The indoor venues include the Teatro Morlacchi, an buiding that hosts operas and concerts that was built in 1781, and the concert halls in Sina Brufani Hotel. We were easily able to find tickets to Dianne Reeves, Charles Lloyd, Paolo Fresu ve Lars Danielsson – Enrico Rava concerts on 17th of July when we arrived from Rome in the afternoon. The ticket prices are really affordable as well, the events that took place at Teatro Morlacchi that we attended were 25 Euros for the balcony and 15 Euros for the booths.
81-year old musician Charles Lloyd gave an incredible concert without compromising his youthful energy, along with two master guitarists Marwin Sewel and Julian Lage, bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Eric Harland, who has visited Istanbul many times (We listened to Eric Harland at CRR in 2015, accompanied by Dave Holland and Chris Potter).
Dianne Reeves was accompanied by an impressive band on the stage. The main accompanying musicians included Reginald Veal (bass) and Peter Martin (piano). We weren’t able to understand how Dianne Reeves, whose repertoire mainly included Afro-American pieces, was able to sing comfortably in pants and a long tunic in the hot concert hall with the weather exceeding 31 degrees Celsius…
Paolo Fresu played his cello a lot along with his bass, accompanied by Omar Sosa, whom we have listened to during Izmir Jazz Festival, and the trumpet master Lars Danielsson, who made a big impression on us.
We were amazed by the pianist called Giovanni Guidi who was one of the members of Enrico Rava’s 5tet during his 80th birthday celebration concert. We hope that this young pianist will gain popularity in the European jazz circles in the future.
The sweetest surprise for us was our sincere dialogue and warm conversation with Benny Green, who was featured by the jazz and hard pop legend Ray Brown’s Some of My Best Friends Are…The Piano Players album. Benny Green is a regularly featured musician during the festival, and he played every day at Sina Brufani Hotel with his trio.
Diana Krall @ Umbria Jazz Festival (Photo: umbriajazz.it)
The vocalist of the trio was a 24-year old singer called Veronica Swift and her sound was good despite being new in the jazz world. We went to the backstage after the concert. We told him we had been wanting to meet him ever since Ray Brown’s album, and that we wanted to listen to him in Europe, especially in Turkey, but we couldn’t. He said he was very happy to hear this and he would definitely perform if Istanbul Jazz Festival invited him and could be a guest musician during Izmir European Jazz Festival. When we called his vocalist Veronica Swift “the next Roberta Gambarini” he motioned higher, better with his hand (Veronica is also Italian-American).
4 November Square hosted jazz orchestras and Ray Gelato frequently during the festival. The concerts ended around 2 am in the morning… The streets were filled with people despite this and especially the young people didn’t sleep sleepy at all.
One of the cons of the festival and Perugia was the fact that all the good hotels (except Brufani) are located in the new city below and the number of taxis in Perugia is 40. The only means to return to the hotels after the concerts are taxis and it is very hard to find one. Teatro Morlacchi is a historic building in a historic area, and it is prohibited to do any construction on it; there are no air conditioning units. The concert halls (which were full) got up to around 30 degrees Celsius during the concerts. It is hard to stand this without a fan. We don’t know how they could remedy this but it is our duty to warn those who might visit. Wishing you jazz-filled days.
