In Miami, Jazz With a Beachtone

12 Wednesday Jun 2019

Posted by in Home, Jazz, Latin Jazz, On Music

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Pianist and singer Eliane Elias, headlining the Beachtone Jazz Festival in Miami, Saturday. Photo by Daniel Azoulay

Since jazz lost its place to rock ’n’ roll as the dance music of the day, oh, about 60 years ago, presenting it has become as much an art as a business. And with Miami’s privileged location, regular influx of tourists, diverse local population, and many attractions, few places offer the tantalizing opportunities and steep challenges for jazz artists and promoters as this city. 

On Saturday, June 15, at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, pianist and singer Eliane Elias, guitarists Yamandu Costa and Chico Pinheiro, and vocalist Mirella Costa will headline a program of jazz with a distinctly Brazilian flavor in the first edition of the Miami Beachtone Jazz Festival.

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Astrid Hadad And The Necessary Art Of Mockery

28 Tuesday May 2019

Posted by in Home, In Other Words, On Music

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Astrid Hadad

True, Jazz With an Accent is at times more about the “Accent” — the languages and ways in which, despite borders, walls and the awful noise, we try to share experiences and communicate — than it is about “Jazz.” But it was hard to pass up an opportunity to speak with the extraordinary Mexican singer, actress and performance artist Astrid Hadad and I hope after you hear her you’ll know why.
This piece was written for Artburst Miami

 

Astrid Hadad takes the absurd seriously. Her surreal brand of cabaret lampoons the marketing of Mexico’s cultural icons and reframes received historical truths. Her costumes, often marvels of movable set design, unfold, billow and blink. At one moment, she’s a living Diego Rivera calla lilies painting, and the next, a walking Aztec pyramid. She can turn herself into an altar, a revolver-shooting mama and a Frida Kahlo trinket. 

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Playlist

28 Tuesday May 2019

Posted by in Home, Jazz, Latin Jazz, On Music

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Dave Holland, Chris Potter, and Zakir Hussain

This was the playlist for The Sammy Figueroa Show with Fernando Gonzalez on May 27, 2019. The theme was the tabla in a few of our favorite (unusual) settings.

“Ragalegria  (Part 2)”         Louis Winsberg              Jaleo                (2003)
“Yerbaguena (Occidente)”   Pepe Habichuela & The Bollywood Strings   Yerbaguena  (2004)
“Baba”       Mickey Hart, Zakir Hussain, Giovanni Hidalgo, Sikiru Adepoju Global Drum Project (2007)
“Mazad”                            Dave Holland, Chris Potter & Zakir Hussain  Live Unreleased
“Breathing Light”            Nitin Sawhney         Live At Ronnie Scott’s  ( 2017)
“Waterwheel”                   Oregon                         Out of The Woods (1978)